Mission
“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.”
Matthew 25:35-36.
This passage from Matthew describes the Presbyterian Church of Lake Travis’s vision for our church’s Mission and Outreach program. As our church matures we are enhancing our missional outreach. Its fundamental underpinnings will, however, remain unchanged. We are here to serve God.
This last year has been one of discernment and prayer for our church’s outreach, as we look to the Holy Spirit for guidance and direction. We believe that She has provided that guidance. Through the Spirit, we have been able to assemble an outreach program that we believe will enable us to follow in Christ’s footsteps in service to God, by serving our Community.
Critical to our community outreach is the need to recognize we are a small but passionate church with limited financial resources, but gifts and talents beyond expectation for our size. This combination of limited size, but extraordinary gifts suggested that to be most effective we needed to apply these gifts through partners in our greater community.
We have, therefore, reached out to six partners with which we have begun a relationship. Our outreach program thus consists of service to and with these partner ministries:
- Silverado Memory Center
- Life Works
- Lake Travis Crisis Ministry
- Mobile Loaves and Fishes
- GrassRoots/Sanctuary Movement
- Community First
Key to us in our selection was to ensure we included a broad base of services and people to be served. As is evident from our list, is the fact that through these partnerships, we can aid neighbors who range in age from teenage to the elderly as well as those in need of meals to others in need of sanctuary. Thus, we can also satisfy the passions of our own congregation while serving those who are in need.
Another driver from the very beginning of our efforts, has been the desire that whatever we elect to do, it be relational. That is, we work with the people being served by using our talents and gifts directly, not just make financial contributions.
Though we have made great progress in the last year, we recognize that our program is still in its infancy with specifics to evolve as our church community expands its service to the broader community in which we live. We encourage, not only our own congregation, but any in the community who would like to become part of our service to those in need.
