Monthly Archives: May 2017

Spark Limitless Potential through Short-Term Missions

in News. Posted May 22, 2017
How do short-term missions trips produce results that go beyond a feel-good mini vacation? We asked a panel of missions pastors/administrators to share their best practices in crafting valuable and effective short-term missions trips. Find out how to honor the mutually beneficial nature of the church/missionary partnership. How dreaming big resulted in a 9,000% growth in missions giving at one church. And why it's best to seek out invitations from long-term missionaries before planning a trip.
Read more

Pastor’s Column: God’s Kindness Shown Through Local Outreach

Portia Allen, Local Project Director at River Valley Church writes about how attendees at River Valley's 8 metro campuses make themselves available to their respective communities by being present and volunteering at community events and by partnering with local organizations to help them serve local residents. Allen shares the framework by which River Valley chooses to do local outreach in each community, and why it's important for a church to ask itself if outreach meets a real need in its community.
Read more

The Timeless Call for Racial Harmony

In April we launched a series of forums called Transform Ideas; conversations to help Christians explore biblical perspectives on important cultural issues. The theme for our first Transform Ideas forum was the Timeless Call for Racial Harmony held on April 27th at Hope Community Church. Four local speakers addressed 225 audience members with ideas relating to both our nation's history of racism and our present day reality of racial disparities in the Twin Cities. Our hope for The Timeless Call for Racial Harmony is to help Christians explore how they can pursue racial harmony, help rebuild, repair and find redemption from America’s sin of racism.
Read more