Our Faith
Community Outreach Ministries was originally founded in the Christian faith in the late 1990's as the "Bolivar Area Ministerial Alliance," a partnership of local churches. From the very beginning, our motivation for helping our neighbors has always been rooted in our Christian convictions.
As an organization, we believe the Bible is clear on our mandate to help the poor and to learn from them. Read below to see the key Bible verses that form our foundation, as well as our key beliefs.
KEY BELIEFS
We believe:
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In one God, known to us in three Persons--the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
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That God is the creator of all things, both visible and invisible, and that God Himself is uncreated.
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That God the Son became incarnate in history as the human, Jesus of Nazareth, and that He is the Messiah.
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That the Holy Spirit is personal and is living and active within the world. We believe the Holy Spirit indwells those who place their faith in Jesus Christ.
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That forgiveness of sins is through grace alone through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus died for the sins of all humanity, and all who call Him, repent of their sins, and declare Him as their “Lord” may find forgiveness.
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The Church is the body of all disciples of Jesus, both past and present. As such, the Church is called to be the bodily, physical presence of Christ participating in the Kingdom of God in a broken world and preaching the Gospel in both word and deed
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The Bible is the divinely-inspired record of God’s revelation to humanity.
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That the arc of Scripture calls all Christians to love their neighbor and to demonstrate care for the poor and oppressed around them.
SCRIPTURAL FOUNDATIONS
MICAH 6:8
"He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?"
MARK 12:28-31
One of the scribes came...and asked Jesus, “What commandment is the foremost of all?” Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
MATTHEW 25:31-46
Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’
JAMES 2:14-17
What use is it if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith by itself without works, is dead.
Although COM is a faith-based organization, we also recognize that others from outside our faith tradition will be attracted to our work and want to partner with us as we work toward the common good of our local communities. With charity, we welcome volunteers and groups who may not fully affirm our religious beliefs as we believe part of loving our neighbor and serving our society is also seeking out common ground with others of good will for the sake of the common good. However, we also ask that volunteers and partners respect our religious beliefs in the same way, and we always reserve the right to turn down partnerships that would cause us to contradict or deny our faith or values.
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