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Missions
at Neighborhood
Following God's Heart
From Neighborhood
Christian School's inception, a core value has been to teach our
children that we have been blessed to be a blessing! (Genesis 12:2-3)
The Lord says that as we have freely received from him, we should
freely give of our lives to help others. Educating our students with
this Christian principle is something we strive to see occur even at
our youngest grade level. As it states in Ephesians 2:10, “We are God's
workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared
in advance for us to do.”
Many of Neighborhood's
activities, both in the classroom and outside of it, are designed to
cause our students to grow in this desire to reach out to others. On a
regular basis, our classes visit the nearby convalescent home where our
children brighten the residents’ lives. Through our yearly canned food
drive, we help support the local needy with thousands of food items.
Every November, our classes participate in Operation Christmas Child, a
ministry of Samaritan's Purse, which is used to bless boys and girls
around the world with gifts.
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We teach the students to
show compassion and to pray for people caught in international
disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and floods. Mission
education at Neighborhood occurs even in small but significant acts
such as our students organizing bake sales at school. They have used
these sales to raise money to help people both locally and globally.
The funds have been used to help kids needing medical care like surgery
for cleft palates or in buying soccer balls to take to the needy kids
of Mexico.
In the spring of each year our 6th-8th graders go to Ensenada, Mexico on a one week
mission trip with Youth With A Mission (YWAM). This trip has
been a highlight for us and life changing for not only the students but
also for those parents who make the trip with us. The 6th graders do
ministry skits, songs, and performances while the 7th and 8th graders
help build a house for a poor Mexican family. Of course, everyone
enjoys playing with the kids of Mexico, too!
Neighborhood students are also educated in being a blessing to others
through their weekly missionary chapel offerings and are taught to pray
for others, especially those in regions with unreached people
groups—those who have not heard the gospel message. Learning about
other countries also occurs in each classroom so that our children can
intercede in prayer for other people while learning about the world as
they develop God's heart for the nations. In this manner, we have been
able to give help and provide financial support to an International
Christian School in Central Asia that ministers to the needs of many
missionary children.
Many of our Neighborhood teachers and staff have taken the class,
Perspectives on the World Christian Movement. This in depth class gives
missions from the Biblical, Historical, Cultural, and Strategic
perspective. This has helped all of us in keeping missions at the heart
of our school. Several of our Neighborhood staff have also been
involved in going on mission trips overseas. One former Neighborhood
staff family is even serving long term overseas in Central Asia.
We have had Neighborhood alumni who expressed to us that their lives
were touched through their education here in such a way as leading them
to go on short term mission trips in high school, college and beyond,
as well as seeing some committing their lives to following the Lord in
overseas career missionary work. As a school, we will always encourage,
pray for, and help support these students because, after all, we have
been blessed to be a blessing! |
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