We are currently in the process of developing a three to five year community development plan to leverage existing and future resources to fulfill our mandate to "Make Disciples... who Make Disciples."
As a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization, we endeavor to use our Team Approach to Community Development as a framework for assisting the citizens of our community fulfill their divinely appointed purpose in life. To this end, we provide below a highlight of PBF's Team Approach to Community Development:
Our approach to community development is based on the acrostic TEAM. Each letter in the word TEAM represents a unique component of our community development plan. Each component is highlighted below.
Technology
Our world is rapidly changing. While the message of the cross transcends time and culture, our techniques do not. If we are going to be relevant and impactful in a global society, we must use resources and tools that address the needs of our communities. To this end, we plan to develop a state-of-the-art technology training center. The technology center will specialize in online learning management systems, virtual learning, and online curriculum development. Currently, our discipleship curriculum called Cultivation is being converted to an online course using Moodle technology. Look for Cultivation Online near the end of the year.
Education
We plan to leverage our technology training center and music and multimedia studio
(which will be explained later) to offer quality onsite after school and Saturday programs for our neighborhood youth and online tutoring support and enrichment for our virtual community.
Adult Community Services
At PBF, we have a vision for the whole family. The youngest, the eldest, and everyone in between in our community are precious in the sight of God. The heartbeat of the family is healthy fathers and mothers. We plan to further develop and publish our current marriage development system. A comprehensive financial and budget program is at the formative stage of development. Furthermore, we are currently designing several initiatives to assist the elderly in our community. Among them are home and yard clean ups.
Music and Multimedia
At PBF, we are blessed with a dynamic and gifted pastor of worship, along with several talented musicians and artists. We plan to design a recording and multimedia studio. Our world is in desperate need of quality Christian music and multimedia presentations. In the same way as you can't have too many healthy and well-balanced churches, you can't have enough of quality music and multimedia.
Furthermore, literacy in our world is changing. The traditional reading, writing, and arithmetic is being enhanced by emerging literacies, such as podcasting, vodcasting, and online broadcasts. Our recording and multimedia studio will train, develop, and deploy quality presentations for a global audience.
When the letter S is added to the term TEAM, we have TEAMS. The S in Teams represents the final component of our community development plan. The S stands for Sports and Health Services.
Sports and Health Services
We believe that God wants us to be healthy spiritually, emotionally, and physically. To this end, we plan to develop sports programs and health awareness and weight management programs for our community. Currently, we are designing a flag football league for teenagers in the community, a martial arts program, and a weight management and healthy eating support program.
A community is traditionally defined as a group of people who live in the same area or a group of people with shared interests.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “In a Christian community, everything depends upon whether each individual is an indispensable link in a chain. Only when even the smallest link is securely interlocked is the chain unbreakable... Every Christian community must realize that not only do the weak need the strong, but also that the strong cannot exist without the weak. The elimination of the weak is the death of the fellowship.”
A healthy and well-balanced church is concerned with the social and spiritual needs of the community it serves. A church that does not meet the tangible needs of the community will fail to meet Christ’s mandate to serve Him by serving the “least of these.”
Our church values our community and desires to continue to develop strong, purposeful, and meaningful relationships with the men, women, and families of the communities of Olney, Fern Rock, East Oak Lane, and beyond.
We want our neighbors to know their community church, the services we provide and how to access these services. Ultimately, we want our neighbors to see their core need for Christ and His delivering power.
Therefore, Community Connection is about connecting our community and culture to Christ. We strive to build relationships through meeting the tangible needs of people so that many might learn of their most pressing need – a relationship with Jesus Christ.
It is through our Community Connection that we host community meetings at the church building, provide regular elderly home cleanup and support, offer free fresh bread twice per month, provide quarterly family fun nights for the community, organize flag football competitions, offer periodic movie nights, provide Vacation Bible School in July and Harvest Fest on October 31, host monthly men and women’s fellowships, and address community needs as situations arise.
Check out our PBF Calendar on a regular basis and look for our quarterly newsletters sent directly to your home to find out more about our Community Connection events. If you do not currently receive a quarterly newsletter, the PBF Buzz, click on Contact Us to register.
Contact Us
Every first and third Sunday of the month we offer free bread made fresh the day before at one of several local bakeries.
The fresh bread is given out twice per month (1st and 3rd Sundays) at the end of Sunday morning worship service in our fellowship hall.
Simply come on the first and third Sunday of the month to get your fresh bread. The bread is given on a first come first serve basis.
It is our prayer that you would consider joining us for Sunday worship service at 10:30 AM, where Spirit-led and dynamic praise, prayer and proclamation of Word of God takes place. Jesus reminds us in Matthew 4:4, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."
So before you get the bread made with human hands, why not first receive the bread that comes from heaven! Oh yeah, we often get bread on other Sundays as well. There is no pre-registration on these Sundays. Whatever is available is given out on a first come first serve basis. See you next Sunday!
