For several years Portland Metro CCC has had a strong partnership with Pacific Christian Fellowship at Pacific University in Forest Grove. "PCF" embraces many of the same ministry distinctives as does Campus Crusade, so rather than compete with them for students on this smaller private school, we offer them resources such as materials, training, funding, conferences, and retreats throughout the year.
PCF benefits from this relationship by having access to the things a large international organization like Campus Crusade can offer. It is easier for us to plan retreats or service projects such as happened in New Orleans this past spring, for example, due to our size and experience.
CCC benefits because by giving them resources to reach that campus, they are owning a part of our vision, which is the whole city of Portland, meaning every student on every campus. PCF is there on the ground reaching students with the Gospel, and we are helping them to do it more effectively.
Here are a few words from Dave Miller, the director of PCF, regarding an outreach they did last week using Portland Metro's Freshman Survival Kits:
"Wow, you should have seen our table at the club fair this year at Pacific. For the entire time there was no question that we held a crowd the whole time. The kits were a hit this year especially. Many expressed an interest in service projects and getting involved this year. I truly hope the material will take hold on many who took a kit, knowing they probably didn't know much about Christ or Christianity. "
See, as we work to reach every student on every campus, we know that there are many other servants of God like Dave who are uniquely poised to reach people for Christ. So rather than roll into town and start our own program, we seek these opportunities to build the kingdom by working together when we can to maximize our efforts.
2 comments:
wow, that's so cool!! i've never heard of such a partnership done before... what a good idea! I am proud to be a part of a team as open-minded as ours! this doesn't happen often, does it?
This is really not an uncommon way to do ministry. If you think about it, this is basically how CCC does ministry. "OK local church, we'll take care of the college age because we are there. We just need access to some funding, accountability, and encouragement."
Jesus said to his disciples that those others who were not traveling with them and yet were powerful in Jesus' name were not against them, and so they were for them.
The fact is, we must seek out the right partnerships in order to be serious about reaching our whole city.
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