During GA 224 and as a part of the Office of the General Assembly’s Hands and Feet initiative, The Center: Mission Outside the Box will offer hands-on service opportunities for GA-affiliated visitors, family members, youth groups, and friends. We will offer up to 4 service options, from 8:30-noon, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, June 22, 24, 25 and 26.
The Center’s model places visiting group volunteers with local congregations and community partners who are engaged in long-term, partnership-based ministry with their neighbors. This model depends on prioritizing the cultivation and nurturing of relationships across a complex web of people and institutions, often across lines of race, class, theology, and culture. As a result, our partners’ concrete needs sometimes fall between the cracks.
Volunteers wanting to serve in Baltimore while attending GA 224 will be placed with one of The Center’s partners to support their neighborhood ministry. For instance, a highly-used food pantry may need to be cleaned out and organized. A growing neighborhood after school program may need its room painted and cleaned. An urban church with runoff challenges may need help installing a rain garden to stem runoff from sidewalks and roofs. Service options will vary, but all options will arise from projects designed by our partners
Housing: Local churches will provide housing for groups coming to serve during GA. These churches will have a kitchen and sleeping area. If they do not have showers, they provide contact information for the closest place for your group to shower. Your groups will be responsible for your own transportation. A liaison from The Center will meet you at your site each day to lead a devotion and to serve alongside you.
If your group is serving and needs housing at a church, please book “Housing and Service” tickets. If you are attending GA, staying in one of the hotels, and wish to serve on particular days, register for “Service Only” tickets. “Housing Only” tickets are available to groups that are serving other days. Please check that you register for the correct tickets.
Refunds: Up to April 1, 2020, we will refund half of your program fees for cancellations. After April 1, 2020, we cannot refund program fees.
Questions: Contact The Center with questions (Email: thecenterbmore@gmail.com / Phone: 410-433-2012).
Registration opens November 8, 2019 at Noon Eastern, and closes March 6, 2020 at 5PM Eastern.
You will receive a confirmation from our office when you register. In March, we will send you details of your housing and service schedules, and a checklist of what you’ll need to send in before your time in Baltimore.
Program Fees
Per day, per person, no housing = $30
Per day, per person, housing = $50