How One Church Became a Children's Support Network

Written by Joel McGarvey, Pastor at Twin Valley Alliance Church

For the past twenty years, Twin Valley Alliance Church in Williamstown in Dauphin County has reached into its community through a Thursday night kids’ club called “The Gate.” 

The program, which serves children and youth from almost entirely unchurched families, offers both physical and spiritual food to kids who come from very difficult home situations where both are often in short supply. Our desire and prayer is to be able to reach the parents as well, but while we have seen some breakthroughs, it is challenging. We continue to pray for God’s intervention in their brokenness and for real change to take place.

Many of the kids who come to the Gate ministry are now coming to church regularly on Sundays. They are picked up in our church vans and given breakfast before Sunday School.  Each week they sit with the same people during the morning service, which has led to deeper loving and trusting relationships.

Those relationships bore amazing fruit recently when five siblings, ranging in age from 7 to 15, were removed from their home due to some serious issues that had placed the children at risk. Four of our church families immediately stepped in to take the children on a temporary basis (about 30 days, in some cases longer) until either remedial action took place or a more permanent placement could be found.  Others in the church offered support in other ways.

The case worker said that she had never seen this happen before, where an entire church became the children’s support network.

Although sadly the situation in the home has not improved and the children have now been placed in foster care, we are beginning to see new signs of openness on the part of the parents because of the love and support shown to their children by our church family.

This is not an isolated case. In another situation a couple in our church has taken in one of the teens in our youth group for the past year as his family was facing homelessness. As they have poured into his life the long-term impact has been very evident. In a few weeks we will be celebrating the baptism of several other teens who have been brought to Christ and discipled through our children and youth ministry.

As the Lord has led us deeper into the brokenness of our community, it has not always been easy. The challenges have been at times overwhelming, but God is at work. We see it not only in the lives of the kids, but also in the life of our church as we are increasingly sensing God’s heart for the lost and broken and as we are learning to see the world and our own community through his eyes.