At Central Baptist, we believe in reaching out beyond our building, to both the local community and the world beyond. We support a number of outreach activities, both as individual members, and as a congregation. Below are brief descriptions of our outreach activities.
Community Service Organizations who use our building:
Scouting: We currently provide meeting space for three Girl Scout Troops at the Brownie, Junior, and Cadette/Senior levels, a Cub Scout pack, and a Venture Crew of mixed teens.
AA Meetings: groups meet every weekday at 12:15pm, and Sundays at 7:00pm. We try to encourage efforts to bring healing and hope to those with addictions.
Organizations we support
Chelmsford Food Pantry: The Chelmsford Food Pantry provides canned goods and more to the many families in need in our home area. We support the pantry through donations of food from our congregation
Habitat for Humanity: Members from our congregation from time to time will travel to a local Habitat for Humanity project to help with construction. Habitat for Humanity is an organization that provides home ownership opportunities through "sweat equity" for families in need of housing.
Direct Outreach
We partner with local nursing homes to provide worship services to the residents
Education: With an invited expert, we have begun an annual forum for community education around major health concerns. Our most recent seminar was on Alzheimer's disease and related healthcare issues.
At Thanksgiving and Christmas we provide food vouchers, presents, and other support to needy families in our community
We support global missions efforts through offerings to the American Baptist Churches/USA. This is support through our denomination as it partners with mission projects local to the area being served. This partnering with Christians local to the area being served does the most effective work with the smallest need for American Missionaries.
The World Mission Offering, taken in October, funds overseas mission projects.
The America for Christ Offering, received during any time of world tragedy, such as a tsunami or Hurricane anywhere in the world, helps to provide immediate relief.
The Retired Ministers and Missionaries Offering, taken in December, makes emergency money available to men and women who have served our churches faithfully, and are now in retirement
In addition, we have a number of individuals who provide monthly support for international mission families and children at risk through Gospel for Asia Missions, in addition to our local Massachusetts Baptist Churches "Mission Honduras" project. People in our congregation have gone on Mission trips, and we hope to grow in the area of encouraging hands-on mission involvement in the future.
We currently participate as a congregation in the "Mission Honduras" project along with many of our sister American Baptist churches in Massachusetts. One of the projects in "Mission Honduras" is to sponsor the children of Honduran American Baptist pastors serving a Honduran congregation. Our congregation has "adopted" a junior high aged son of a Honduran pastor. Each month, a different family in our congregation provides the financial support to meet the educational, medical, and dental needs of this young man.
Our Women's Fellowship adds additional funds to the denomination through the Love Gift. This change collection, given in gratitude for God's blessings, helps support our regional staff and sister churches.
The big mission focus of the Women's Fellowship is a major campaign called Break the Chains. This project funds efforts to release people from many forms of human trafficking, and to train them to be self-supporting.
Outreach emphasis is ongoing and growing!