NewLife Church is committed to helping families in our community who are experiencing a difficult time.

NewLife Fairfield has partnered with Promise 686, which is a non-profit ministry committed to seeing vulnerable children get the care they need by partnering with local churches and state agencies. The stated goal of Promise 686 is to see every child in a safe, loving family. Their name comes from Psalms 68:6, which says, in part, “God sets the lonely in families.”

How It Works:

The Montana Department of Family Services (DFS) will identify a child who is at risk for entering foster care, in foster care, or reunited with their family.  They will send out a need the child or family has, and our Family Care Pastor, Char Bunker, will forward that need to the volunteers on our Family Care Ministries Team. If they can assist with that need, they will text or email Char of their willingness and ability to help meet that need. The DFS case worker will be notified, and the NewLife Family Care Ministry team will deliver the needed items to the DFS office or to the family directly, depending on the situation. Commonly needed items include food, clothing, beds and bedding, respite care, transportation, school supplies, and assorted toiletries. Financial help may also be a need to be met, but this will only happen in closely supervised situations. NewLife has set aside funds for this specific purpose.

Are you willing to serve on this important team?

If you’re willing to carry out Christ’s command to love our neighbor as ourselves by serving on the NewLife Family Care Ministry Team, CLICK HERE to apply.

Frequently Asked Questions:

How much time does Family Care Ministries take?  All team members will meet one for one 45-minute orientation meeting before joining the ministry, and daily monitoring of your text or email to check for current needs. Throughout the year, the team will meet every two months for a 30-minute meeting to discuss how we can fulfill God’s request to “Love our neighbors” even more and celebrate with each other.

How many needs will I be required to fill?  That is up to you.  In our partnership with Promise 686 we are expected to fulfill one need per month as an entire church, so some months you would have no needs to fill.  Some months we may not receive a request, but still need to love a neighbor that month.  If we have families in our church who are fostering children, providing the family with a meal would be a great way to fulfill our commitment to this ministry..

Who are the kids in foster care? Children are in foster care for a variety of reasons.  Some families have no other family or friends to care for their children when they are sick, ill, or deployed.  The parents in some families are deceased.  Some children have been removed from their families because of abuse or neglect.  Regardless of the reason for the removal, if we judge the situation, that is not loving our neighbor.  Sometimes the request will come from DFS for the child that is living with birth parents, but it may also come for children living with foster parents.

What are examples of needs?  The needs are carefully vetted by DFS before coming to us.  Children entering foster care take only clothes they are wearing.  When they are united with their family, they only take the clothes they are wearing.  That alone is traumatic.  A foster family may need a gently used bed. One foster family, for example, requested books the child could read because the books they had were for older children.  When reunited with families, the family may need a gift card for a birthday present or help with the registration for a child to play Heisey Basketball.  The needs are not great, but when met, they are great to the families who are receiving them.

Can we spend time with the children or families?  DFS has the discretion to let us deliver needs directly or drop them by the office, letting the neighbor whose need was met know that it was from New Life Family Care Ministries.  If we personally deliver the need to the neighbor, we NEVER go alone.  We always go in pairs, and the Family Care Pastor will go on all deliveries.  Children in foster care have experienced traumatic events, including just being in foster care, and sometimes that means loving them from afar.  We can certainly invite foster families and reunited families to church.