Mid-Week Ministry Highlights
Mid-Week Highlights
What happens when it’s NOT Sunday? A LOT! Some of the most precious connections we get with our church family and neighbors in the community happen outside the walls of the Playhouse. Here are some updates from Prayer Counseling, Rise Up, and Immigrant Connection.
Prayer Counseling
Prayer Counseling helps you get clarity and resolution about what holds you back and weighs you down.
Prayer Counseling is a core ministry at Table Church. At its heart, these sessions are simply prayer; a conversation with Jesus. Think of it as two hours of time set apart to talk back and forth with Jesus without anything getting in the way.
Sessions are scheduled by appointment Sunday nights at the Ministry Center. Since launching in Fall 2023, we’ve trained 11 team members and served over 25 people.
“This ministry originally began over 10 years ago and we brought it with us here to Des Moines in 2019. Table Church trained a team of Prayer Counselors to serve this church before we even held our first Sunday gathering! The pandemic put an end to regular sessions. After spending a few years cultivating community in the midst of lockdowns and set backs, 2023 was the year the doors swung wide open to bring it back.
We were ready, and we have a beautiful team of people from this church eager to help people meet 1-1 with Jesus. I couldn’t be prouder to be a part of it. As a church that exists to invite people to the way of Jesus, this is a unique opportunity to pass along tools of prayer and connection with God that wake us up to the reality of life in the Kingdom of God.”
Rise Up
This year in Rise Up, we tutored around 13 students from our community. What makes this ministry even more beautiful is the collaboration with other churches. Our mentors represent 4 different churches in the area!
The impact of this program is especially obvious to the teachers in the schools we serve. Here’s one teacher’s observation:
““When I think of a community partnership, I immediately think of our partnership with Rise Up Tutoring. Table Church’s Rise Up program has been a huge asset for Edmund’s Elementary. Rise Up has continued to work closely with Edmund’s teachers over the last three years to ensure they are providing the best academic support to the students in the program. Mentorship is crucial to support our youth’s academic growth and social needs. Rise Up is a testament of true mentorship- not to mention their reading scores are showcasing the impact of the program. We feel so lucky to have an “all hands-on deck” partnership that continues to pour into our youth to make a difference.””
Immigrant Connection
Immigrant Connection at Table Church is part of the Immigrant Connection National Network. Our site has been approved by the U.S. Department of Justice, allowing us to provide high-quality, low-cost immigration legal services to immigrants in the Des Moines community and surrounding areas.
We serve clients who are seeking assistance with immigration services such as family and marriage based petitions, naturalization, work authorization, green card applications and renewals, and more.
“We have worked on 59 cases through Immigrant Connection’s partnership with Tyson. We’re really grateful for the opportunity to serve Tyson employees in this way. Just this Spring we began partnering with EMBARC to help their clients with immigration legal services. We’ve already worked 5 cases for EMBARC clients and have more clients lined up!
As word spreads about the services we offer, we are so excited to serve more and more people here in our community. We’d love to become known as a welcoming, safe place that serves immigrants in our community with open hearts. Another dream we have is to start a fundraising campaign that would be used solely to help cover office fees for refugees applying for their green cards. We’re working on the details and hope to be able to share more soon!”
Spring Stats:
Initial Consultations: 133 (this means we met with the client to answer questions about their immigration needs; some conversations turned into actual cases)
Citizenship Applications: 9 submitted, 12 in process
Celebration! Of the 9 applications submitted, so far 5 clients passed their interview and now have their oath ceremony scheduled for this summer!!
Work Permits: 12 submitted, 7 more in process
Family Reunification: 3 submitted, 7 more in process
Green Card Applications: 1 submitted, 4 more in process
Travel Permits: 2 submitted
Misc Cases: 7 submitted
Total Cases Submitted: 35!!