RAC Bellingham - Open Sanctuary
Grant Amount Needed: $2,875
By supporting this project, you will be helping a local congregation offer warm hospitality to their neighbors who are experiencing homelessness. Reconciliation Anglican Church has a heart to love their neighbors well and serve as faithful witnesses to the gospel.Project Overview
Located just blocks from the homeless shelter in Downtown Bellingham, WA, Reconciliation Anglican Church is committed to providing a space for connection, discipleship, and community-building for all of their neighbors, including those who are experiencing homelessness. The congregation is re-envisioning their daily Morning Prayer with light hospitality as "Open Sanctuary," and inviting more partners in the community to make this offering more robust and sustainable. In doing so, they aim to serve our neighbors in need out of the riches of our faith, strengthen collaborative relationships within our community in the context of prayer, and create a model that can be replicated by other churches through the Province.
Project Impact
The Open Sanctuary project will help to formalize the justice and mercy work at Reconciliation Anglican Church, and deepen their connection with other efforts across the Province. In conversations with their community partners, the church has identified a "gap" in services available to their neighbors who are experiencing homelessness for safe, welcoming, non-commercial places to be and things to do.
The M25i matching grant will enable the church to improve the hospitality services they are able to offer their neighbors, making the space safer, and helping to offer more material amenities. By providing semi-structured, open space organized around the daily office, they hope to provide immediate value to those who participate day to day through light hospitality and prayer, and stability and growth to those who participate regularly.