Flourish Campaign 2025
“Seek the flourishing–shalom–of the city where I sent you,
and pray to the Lord on its behalf,
for in its flourishing you will flourish.”
(Jer. 29:7)
Imagine you’ve just been laid off from work for the first time in your professional life. You have a monthly mortgage or lease to pay, loans to pay off, and all the usual expenses. Your prospects for finding work are slim, as other employers are cutting back.
What are you going to do?
And more importantly, how are you doing?
That’s “Anna’s” story–and many like her in the Metro DC area. While she waited in line at our food pantry, she told me how she and her husband were now suddenly unemployed, fearful about their future and uncertain how to provide for their family.
Each week, over 1,000 vulnerable residents of Arlington receive food from our pantry. And in the last three months alone, the number of recipients has increased over 20%. Some have been coming to us for years, used to living on the social and economic margins. Many others like Anna, just started visiting. All of them struggle with shame and despair, just like you and I would. But all are welcome at the food pantry–a place where they can receive help with dignity and find hope on the road to flourishing.
At our Lead Pastor Fellowship gathering in March, we talked about people like Anna in our own churches. The pastors shared practical ways how they were caring for people in and beyond their congregations who were anxious about employment. We prayed for them, and for one another as well. Pastoral care can weigh heavy on one's heart, and it's good to have peers to support and encourage you.
In a nutshell, that's why we're here. Arlington Bridge Builders believes that if we help unite the Church in Arlington to work towards a common vision of flourishing for all, and if we enable churches to work together in their shared areas of concern, we can help Arlington experience true flourishing–or at least a taste of it, this side of heaven.
And you can be part of that vision. If you live, work or worship in Arlington–or have a heart for the community–we invite you to make a difference in the lives of our neighbors. The “Flourish Campaign” is an effort to raise $50,000 to support the expansion of ministry and staffing necessary for our shared vision of flourishing, where funds will support one initiative in each of our three ministry pillars:
1. For the pillar of Community Service, we seek to raise $35,000 to help cover the costs of providing a food pantry for the growing number of people facing food insecurity—a 31% increase since January.
Need:
Our neighbors who live on the social and economic margins are the most vulnerable in times of uncertainty. When costs for housing, utilities, transportation, and supplies increase, less money is available for food. And so the poor must search out alternate sources, such as food pantries. In the last few months, the number of people served by our food pantry has increased by over 20%. Not only are we serving neighbors who have struggled with poverty for years, we are also serving former Federal employees who were suddenly laid off work. The problem of food insecurity is growing dramatically, and our partnership can help provide physical and spiritual bread to those in need.
Response:
Meeting this need requires more staffing and volunteers to obtain, record, and distribute food at our pantry. While most of the food is donated, we need to buy food to supplement. And food costs are increasing. But most importantly, we want to provide food with dignity and hope. Thus, we are making improvements to the trailer, including replacing the metal skirt and widening the entrance ramp. We are also setting up a hospitality tent to welcome neighbors with coffee and books, including Spanish Bibles which people have been eager to receive. A new awning is needed for the hospitality tent. The tent and our new registration system allow us more time for personal interaction and prayer as requested.
2. For the pillar of Prayer, we seek $5,000 to create new guides to unite people to pray “on site with insight”
for the Arlington community.
Need:
Psalm 127 begins by declaring, “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” The verse is a great reminder that our busyness and hard work amount to nothing, if God is not in it. God calls us to pray to the Lord on behalf of the city where he sent us, so that we depend on him to redeem and restore our community. Imagine the difference if hundreds of people prayed on the same day for the same need.
Response:
We have developed a monthly prayer guide and want to distribute it more widely. We also want to develop materials for prayer tours, to encourage people to pray on-site for the seven focus areas in our monthly guide: Churches and Non-profit agencies, Education, Health, Public Safety, Government, Economy, and Arts & Recreation. These guides will lead individuals and groups to specific sites in Arlington to learn about the community and pray the Lord will enable these areas to flourish in the truest sense.
3. For the pillar of Church Collaboration, we seek $10,000 to support fellowships for lead pastors and other church ministry leaders, to connect, resource and foster unity among our congregations.
Need:
Churches often act in silos, focusing on the needs and issues of their own congregation. While church leaders must shepherd their flocks, Jesus also longs to see unity in the Body of Christ, such that the world takes notice of our love for another and our community (John 17:20-21). Church members are greatly encouraged by opportunities to get to know and serve with other churches. Imagine the impact if our churches worked together to serve the community and resource one another.
Response:
We currently are coordinating a monthly fellowship for Lead Pastors, which includes a complimentary meal, fellowship, prayer and discussion. The goal of the fellowship is developing trusted relationships with peers in other churches, for encouragement, growth and resourcing. We would like to expand these fellowships to other ministry leaders, e.g. worship, youth, children’s, mercy and outreach, so they could similarly develop and deepen relationships with their peers.
