Local Mission - Community Flourishing Initiatives - by Shane Kahout 

Imagine with me for a moment. There is a woman named Alice who lives in an Altamonte Springs apartment. She is a single mother of a three-year-old and just found out that she is pregnant with her second child. Through a partnered church, we find out that Alice can’t afford a bed for her child, who is currently sleeping on the floor. 

Through a ministry of Community Flourishing, someone from Metro Life Church reaches out to Alice and drops off a bed. A week later, Alice gets another call to check in on her and see if there are any ways we could be praying for her. Alice shares that she is overwhelmed and unsure how she will be able to balance everything while being a mother to a newborn. She feels completely alone. After praying and meeting up for coffee, that Metro Life member asks her if she would be open to letting others come alongside her. 

In the coming weeks, Alice meets two other women from the church. Together, they want to commit to walking through the rest of her pregnancy and the first year of her precious child’s life. They celebrate moments like a baby shower, the birth, baby’s first Christmas and first birthday. In a partnership with a local photographer, Alice and her two kids are given the gift of their first professional family photos. Over the course of a year, these women grow a real relationship with Alice. They laugh together, encourage one another, and cry together. And these women share the good news of Jesus with her. 

Alice was also made aware of a 4-week mentorship for parents in the community. Her mentor took that time to make a budget with Alice and write out some financial goals. It seemed like such a small step but one she had never taken before. No one had ever bothered to show her how.   

Through their relationship, Alice realized that a lot of the dysfunction she experiences in her life and finances is influenced by the broken home she grew up in. It was actually her mentor who recommended that she meet with a counselor from Flourish Together Counseling Center. She had never sought a professional counselor before because she knew that she couldn’t afford it. However, because this counseling center is supported through Community Flourishing Initiatives, there is a scholarship fund for people just like Alice.  

Through all of this, the gospel that she had heard articulated by the women who walked through that first year with her has put on flesh. The incarnation of God who drew near to sinners felt real through the people who drew near to her. 

Through the person who first called her, the deliverer of the bed, the woman who followed up and prayed, those who gathered around her for that first year, the mentor, and her counselor, Alice has been surrounded by followers of Jesus who didn’t see her as a problem but as a person to be loved. I asked you to imagine with me. Alice was made up for this story. But in all honesty, Alice is not make-believe. There are many Alices who live in South Seminole County. 

So, the real task of our imaginations is not imagining Alice and her needs. It’s imagining a future where the Church, followers of Jesus, lovingly draw near to her and invite her in.  

Community Flourishing Initiatives was formed so that we wouldn’t be content to just imagine. All of the ministries mentioned in the story above are being formed and refined right now. They are all a part of our Family Advocacy Ministries, which seek to bring stability to hurting families, support them through their hardest moments, and strengthen them for years to come. 

If any of this stirs your heart or engages your thoughts, would you prayerfully consider how you could be a part of partnering with Community Flourishing Initiatives as we draw near to people in 2025?  

We know that there are Alices in our community. And there are Jacobs, Ashleys and Roberts. They have many names, but this truth remains the same: Jesus loves them and He told us to show them that love. Let’s together see what happens when we love Alice in the name of Jesus.