Youth pack MCC school kits for impoverished areas of the world, and the United States
House Churches
House Churches are a wonderful opportunity both to get to know others better and to experience the community aspect of church in a more intentional way. Groups vary in size and also in focus. Some undertake mission projects, some study books together, some go out to dinner - the agenda is up to each individual group. House churches often cook our Wednesday night suppers as a group activity as well. Let the pastors know if you would like to join a house church, or start a new one.
Monthly Men's Breakfast
All men, young and old, are invited to the monthly Men's Breakfast, the 4th Saturday of every month. Join the group if you can at 8:00 AM in the church Fellowship Hall. We share some food, fun, fellowship, and laughter. Bring along any wit or wisdom you would like to share with the group.
Chancel Choir
The Lorraine Avenue Mennonite Church Chancel Choir is an integral part of worship at the church, as it has been for many years. The choir has 25 - 30 singers, and serves in worship from September through May of each year. Repertoire is varied and consists of standard anthems by contemporary composers as well as more classical literature.
In addition to singing at Sunday services, the choir is the central part of the Christmas Eve service each year. A special Lenten service is presented, usually on Palm Sunday. This includes a larger work, such as "The Seven Last Words Of Christ" by Theodore Dubois, or a cantata similar in scope. New singers are always welcome.
Accountability Group
Take the time each week to review and report about your efforts to live a life of love. Your theology can be practical and specific. Accountability can be a wonderful tool if used regularly. Our health, who we are and how we feel is strongly influenced by our day-to-day activity. We have the opportunity to make profound changes by continually adapting our thoughts, beliefs and behaviors towards a healthy spirit, body and mind.
Mondays 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Congregational Wellness Committee
This committee of church members, some of whom are medical professionals, seeks to nurture and encourage wholeness within the church family. They perform monthly blood pressure checks, write helpful monthly health articles in the Messenger, take baskets of "goodies" to members who have been in the hospital, and check on those with health problems, or those who have been ill. They also have created a file of Medical Emergency Information for members, and have compiled a list of medical equipment available for members to borrow from one another. The Wellness Room, which they maintain, offers brochures on health issues.
Yoga
Yoga developed as a deeply spiritual practice which, while not explicitly Christian, is nevertheless in harmony with the Bible's emphasis on health and wholeness of body, mind, and soul. At LAMC, yoga is taught and practiced as a means of caring for ourselves as created in God's own image.
Yoga is a practical system of health care anyone can choose to practice. In the yoga class at LAMC we practice the stress management technique of mindful breathing as well as the yoga poses. Yoga breathing is the core of a yoga practice, and can be used to correct any imbalance. Yoga is not a quick fix, but is a practical and enjoyable way of learning to be the primary caretaker of your life. Church member Donna Froese, who leads the class, has been practicing yoga for many years, and began teaching in 1996. In this class Donna adapts the movements to any age or level of ability, emphasizing that participants should do what they can physically, not in competition with each other, but each within their own ability to activate this new way of moving, balancing, breathing and strengthening. All are welcome.
Menno's Closet
Menno's Closet was the creation of the "Voluntary Simplicity" Sunday School class in 1998. The purpose was to reduce unnecessary consumption and materialism by "opening their closets" to share items with church members. The Lorraine Avenue Mission Board is keeping the program going as a way to respond to the current economic situation. List's of items available to borrow include auto repair equipment, baby and children's items (car seats, high chairs, etc), health equipment, home repair tools, lawn and garden equipment, sports and camping equipment, and kitchen equipment. There is even a sewing machine, a guitar, a bicycle and an ice cream freezer! Church members borrow from each in good faith.
Camp Mennoscah
The purpose of Camp Mennoscah is to make God personal, living real, nature instructive, leisure meaningful, and service challenging. LAMC makes use of the camp facilities in the following ways. The LAMC young people from pre junior through senior high are encouraged to attend the regular camping programs and the Fall Holiday weekend. LAMC scholarships are available for some of these programs. A tradition of Church Weekend Camping together for our church has been established for the first weekend of June with an entire weekend of planned intergenerational activities and worship. At other times the LAMC congregation is active by providing volunteer people power to cook for various camping programs as well as providing counselors for various programs. Individual members also participate in the Grandparents / Grandchildren camps, Men's camp, Women's camp, Family camps, and the Work and Play camp. The Camp's Retreat Center is also available for family reunions, Sunday School class meetings, Church council meetings, school groups, etc.
Mission opportunities outside the church
Mission opportunities through Lorraine Avenue Mission Board (LAMB)
The Lorraine Avenue Mission Board (LAMB) sponsors periodic fundraisers each year to benefit a variety of mission opportunities. Often these events require the help of many volunteers, so in essence they become church-wide mission projects, as many join in making them a reality. In recent years, a series of fund-raising dinners called "Taste of......" have featured the cuisine of different countries. Sometimes church members who have come to the United States from elsewhere have taken part in introducing us to the foods of their country through these dinners. Proceeds go to mission projects as decided by the mission board. Hope Home Repair and Namaste India Children's Fund (both programs founded by church members) have been recent recipients of such fundraising events, as has Inter-Faith Ministries.
Year round, the Mennonite Central Committee asks congregations for health kits, school kits and other types that are shipped to other countries or to the needy in this country. Church members donate the requested items for these kits. In addition, the sale of "Dillon's Dollars" and Fair Trade Coffee raise funds for mission projects.
Special Events
The LAMC mission board,
LAMB (don't we love those acronyms?) Lorraine Avenue Mission Board
often sponsors fund-raising dinners or other events. This year LAMB,
along with the Peace Task Force, sponsored the Family Peace Festival,
and invited the surrounding neighborhood to bring their children and
celebrate the idea of peace. There was music, free food, a
ventriloquist telling Bible stories and several booths with activities
for children, all with a focus on fostering peace.
HOPE Home Repair
HOPE Home Repair is a faith-based organization that preserves and revitalizes homes in our immediate communities assuring that homeowners in need, particularly those who are elderly, disabled and low-income families with children live in warmth, safety and independence. Handicap modifications are a significant part of the work done. Lorraine Avenue Mennonite Church includes HOPE in the financial allocations of our mission board (LAMB) and there is church member representation on the board of directors of this 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization.
Namaste India Children's Fund
Namaste India Children's Fund (NICF) partners with Indian Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO's) serving the street children population - generally orphaned and abandoned children. Jointly, they are committed to providing a safe and loving place where these children can grow up, a place where education and nurturing are valued. Monies raised by NICF help the children of a village called Udayan, founded by another NGO called Vatsalya, where currently 55 children reside. The campus includes residential units, K-8 school facilities, a kitchen and dining hall, meditation center, on-site health clinic, recreational and vocational facilities.
Inter-Faith Ministries
Inter-Faith Ministries (IFM) mission statement reads: Working to build inter-religious understanding, promote justice, relieve misery, and reconcile the estranged. LAMC is an active member church of IFM, and two representatives from our church liaison with IFM each year, choosing from their many projects to offer volunteer opportunities to our church members. Several areas of involvement recently have been raising money through our Women's Fellowship to help the Food Bank and Operation Holiday. Crop Walk walkers raised money to benefit Church World Services and local food pantries. Coats and other warm clothing and non-perishable food items were collected for Operation Holiday. Our representatives keep our members apprised of the many opportunities to help our community through Inter-Faith Ministries.
Mennonite Housing Rehabilitation Service
In 1975, local Mennonite Churches had a vision for making the world better for senior citizens on fixed incomes by repairing homes of elderly people no longer able to do so themselves. Volunteers from these congregations formed the Mennonite Voluntary Service Unit and began operating from a small garage in the midtown area of Wichita. Volunteers from several Mennonite churches in Wichita and from Mennonite Voluntary Service accomplished the physical work. It was officially incorporated in 1977. Now, many years later, the organization has grown and evolved, and although rehabilitation is now a smaller part of the thrust of the organization, many are served through newly built senior apartment complexes, and through self-help programs, where several families can work together under supervision provided by MHRS to build their own homes. A new project of multi-family residences, with a community building and park, has begun. Taking advantage of federal and state funds available, the nature of the organization has changed, but the philosophy of benefiting those in need remains firmly as the focus of MHRS. LAMC always has two representatives on their board of directors.
Lorraine Avenue Mennonite Pantry (LAMP)
LAMP was envisioned as a means of ministering to our community to help fill needs that until now have not been met. Through our association with Youth Development Services, Inc. we are able to provide assistance to young families who are making the transition from government assistance to self-sufficiency. Here's how it works.
Youth Development Services (YDS) has several programs aimed at getting young parents (usually single mothers) off of Welfare rolls and into the working world. YDS provides extensive counseling, home visits and training classes to address all areas of family life, including parenting and family life skills, budgeting and finances, job interview preparation, education counseling, meal planning and many others. Most of the enrolled individuals qualify, during this transition time, for Food Banks and government help for obtaining food items. However, other essential items, such as bath soap, laundry detergent and baby diapers are unavailable through these programs. LAMP was designed to help fill the gap for a limited period of time during this transition. Families usually receive LAMP assistance for 2-3 months. Most of the participants move on from the YDS program successfully to self-sustaining lifestyles in 12-18 months. This is all made possible by the generous donations of items and money by church members, and the donation of time by a committee of people dedicated to this program.
Fran Jackson, Director of YDS, reports that our contributions make a huge difference, both practically and emotionally, to the program participants.
YDS Makeover Project
Youth Development Services (YDS), a nearly 30-year-old non-profit organization, sponsors numerous programs for inner-city children and youth from a small converted house that was in serious need of renovation. Since LAMC has partnered with YDS for several years with the LAMP project, the Lorraine Avenue Mission Board (LAMB) chose this organization to the recipient of our 75th anniversary gift to the community. The television program "Extreme Makeover" inspired the project. The work began in 2006 with a new roof, including the rebuilding of some of its sub-structure, and adding insulation. Other improvements included adding handicap accessibility with a ramp at a new, wider entrance, replacing windows and doors, and many gallons of new paint. The work was accomplished by LAMC volunteers, guided by Midtown Construction, Hope Home Repair, and Ediger Roofing each of whom graciously donated much of their time to the project.
Sunnyside Neighborhood Association
Residents of the neighborhood adjacent to Lorraine Avenue Mennonite Church some time ago established Sunnyside Neighborhood Association (SNA). An excerpt from their bylaws, reads "...To enhance the livability of the area by establishing an organization devoted to social involvement, safety, environmental soundness, and property upkeep; establish a caring neighborhood open to communication, for networking within government agencies and other neighborhoods, and establish a nonpartisan political voice; to get to know our neighbors through educational and fun activities."
In practical terms, this has meant keeping neighborhood crime down by knowing and looking out for neighbors, watching properties, and working with the community police officer. Neighbors also keep an eye on the church property and notify police and pastors of any suspicious activity. The association keeps property values up by encouraging people to take care of their homes and yards through clean-up weekends and working with various city departments such as central inspection, health department, hazardous waste disposal, recycling information, etc.
It is part of the Lorraine Avenue Mennonite Church mission statement to reach out to the neighborhood. Our pastors, Lois and Tom Harder, have helped pull the neighbors together further by offering the church as a meeting place for SNA potluck suppers and meetings. They have also personally helped neighbors in many ways - friendship, childcare, meals when a family is going through a birth/death/illness or some other crisis.
