Mercy Care

Emmanuel focuses on serving our neighbors in Arlington and the greater DC area through a variety of service opportunities. Our Mercy Ministry partnerships are dedicated to loving our neighbors as ourselves. Through these efforts, God's grace and mercy are powerfully demonstrated as His people serve others who are in need in a variety of ways. Our ministries are focused on serving the needs of the community we live in and being followers of Christ.

Team Vision

Vision: Relate and Restore

Goal: We will spread a passion for the supremacy of Jesus by 1) Meeting the needs of people in our networks of relationships and by intentionally developing relationships with those whom we serve, and 2) By seeking to not only meet immediate needs but also seek to restore just and healthy relationships with the body, the family, the church, the government, and the economy.

Congregational Mercy Needs

If you would like to receive assistance due to a sudden physical/mental illness, unforeseen financial strain, loss of employment, etc. then please email the Deacons. All information will be kept confidential. Please also read the Diaconal Assistance Policy.

Counseling
Emmanuel can also provide counseling or can connect you with a Christian counselor. All of us struggle with past hurts, baggage, and doubts that hinder, not only our walk with God, but our daily lives. If you are in need of counseling and would like to meet with someone or receive some resources, please email counseling@emmanuelarlington.org. If you have any questions, please speak with Young Lee.
EmPowerment Ministry
This ministry strives to come alongside those within our congregation who are unemployed or under-employed. The goal of the ministry is to go beyond benevolence and move towards development - to lovingly and relationally develop individuals towards financial self-sufficiency and independence. In order to achieve this goal, we maintain a tool called the Church Resource Database, which catalogues the resources, experiences, and skills within Emmanuel that are available to meet the various needs the church is presented with. If you would like to add your name to this database, please contact our Diaconate and we will provide you with our Resource Collection Survey.
We are called to not only meet the needs of those within our congregation, but to also redeem the brokenness all around us within our community and throughout the world. Emmanuel strives to live out the call of Isaiah 1:17 – Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause. We strive to do this by partnering with the incredible organizations listed below.

Community Mercy Needs

Serving the Poor & Underprivileged

Arlington Bridge Builders (https://arlingtonbridge.org)

ABB is dedicated to partnering with area churches, Christian organizations, and individuals who seek to positively impact Arlington through compassionate service and the sharing of the Gospel. They serve the needs of small congregations, especially local immigrant congregations, and the physical needs of those living in poverty in our community.

Get Involved:
  • Volunteer 10 hours a month by delivering food to neighbors, driving food to the pantry from several collection boxes, help with English practice, etc.
  • Participate in one of our Taco Crawls and get an ABB tour of South Arlington neighborhood
  • Adopt a neighbor through Building Bridges for Families (BBF), a 3-month wrap around care initiative with your small group.

Emmanuel Contact: Judy Kauer

Casa Chirilagua (https://casachirilagua.org)

Casa Chirilagua is a ministry that provides tutoring and spiritual mentoring to residents of the Chirilagua neighborhood located at the border of South Arlington and Alexandria. They seek to develop relationships with families to see this neighborhood transformed by Christ through living incarnationally among their neighbors and being the hands of feet of Christ daily.

Emmanuel Contact: Rebeca Gore

Serving Vulnerable Children & Families

Assist Pregnancy Center (https://assistpartners.org)
Assist Pregnancy Center exists to promote life through Christ to those vulnerable to abortion. Through the provision of pregnancy medical services, options for counseling, parenting education, and abortion-recovery programs, Assist comes alongside abortion-vulnerable individuals to affirm life and share the hope found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Assist is supported by many volunteers, individual donors, and churches committed to protecting life in Northern Virginia.

Get Involved:
  • Visit Assist to sign up for prayer updates and/or to learn more, including volunteer opportunities.
Emmanuel Contact: Peter Kauer

Project Belong (https://projectbelongva.org)
Project Belong inspires, recruits, and resources churches and families in Virginia to foster and adopt, in order to spread the love of Christ to children in crisis. More than 500 children are in foster care in Metro Northern Virginia. We need to step in and be Christ’s hands and feet to these children and the families who have stepped in to care for them. What is your role? You can volunteer at an upcoming Emmanuel event for foster families in Arlington, tutor a local foster child, or provide respite care for foster parents. You may even be called to foster or adopt a child in crisis - reach out and see what God can do through you!

Get involved: Join the Wrap Around Care team which supports a foster family by providing help through weekly meals, tutoring, help with chores around their house, driving the children to appointments, etc.


Emmanuel Contact: Marianna Stone

Serving Recent Immigrants


Restoration Immigration Legal Aid (RILA) (https://www.restorationimmigration.org)
RILA provides pro bono immigration legal assistance to those in the DC area who are most RILA provides pro bono immigration legal assistance to those in the DC area who are most vulnerable and who have the fewest resources - asylum-seekers and immigrant children who have been abused or abandoned. Applying for and ultimately obtaining legal status is life-changing and sets these populations on a path toward stability, security, and hope.

Get involved: We always need note-takers and Spanish interpreters for our client meetings as well as attorneys to help write legal briefs. Other service opportunities include: donating and delivering groceries to clients, video-editing, and providing childcare during client meetings.

Emmanuel Contact: Melissa Chang

Overseas Mercy Needs

Serving Children in Poverty



Compassion International (https://www.compassion.com)

Emmanuel’s community of Compassion sponsors collectively supports the poorest of poor children in countries all of the world but with a particular emphasis in Bolivia and in Nairobi, Kenya near the Kibera slum district. These Emmanuel families develop long-term one-on-one relationships with their sponsored children, encouraging them through regular correspondence, praying for them as they grow up in a challenging environment, and providing financial support that permits these boys and girls to benefit from Compassion’s church-based, holistic child development programs.

Get involved: Become a sponsor for a child.


Emmanuel Contact: Young Lee

Serving Victims of Trafficking & Slavery



International Justice Mission (IJM) (https://www.ijm.org)

IJM is a Christian human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. They rescue and care for the victims, prosecute the perpetrators, and promote structural change in the public justice systems. Their vision is to rescue thousands, protect millions, and prove that justice for the poor is possible.

Get involved: Become a Freedom Partner in order to support and pray for their work.


Emmanuel Contact: Young Lee

SaveThem (https://savethem.org)

SAVETHEM is a non-profit organization, founded by a member of Emmanuel, that is growing a counter human-trafficking network across South Africa and globally, with a focus on bringing under control the grip of organized crime. The team runs a safe house for victims and works very closely with national authorities to bring justice to this fight. SaveThem leverages a full mission profile of anti-trafficking work, ranging from rescue, to prosecution, and to victim restoration, with the aim of supporting this justice work in South Africa in partnership with the United States and other critical nations.



Emmanuel Contact: Young Lee

contact

Contact the church office