The Breakdown

The Christian Chain has the vision to see Christian churches working across denominational barriers, maintaining the Unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. To that end, our mission is threefold: to connect people to people, churches to churches and the world to Jesus Christ. Below I have a short synopsis on our three primary ministries and how they help support those mission goals.

To connect people to people

To help connect people to people, we have developed a ministry called “Prayer Nook”. This ministry provides and app available via the web and mobile apps and provides a way for people to maintain a dynamic prayer list. Often we may find ourselves offering to pray for someone, but then forget what we were going to pray for, forget to ask for updates, or find it awkward to let the person know each time we are praying for them. This app takes away these hurdles and allows its members to focus on simply praying for each other.

As prayer is a universal part the Christian Church, it is a great way to bridge over denominational barriers and come together no matter the theological positions that one might hold.

To connect churches to churches

To help connect churches to churches, we have developed a ministry called “Partners in Unity”. Currently, this ministry is only for the leadership within Christian churches, but there are plans for future growth of ministry projects that will help Christian congregations as well. Currently, Partners in Unity offers a church survey that leaders can use to see how they are doing in the area of ecumenical unity and offers practical ways to connect with other churches in their area to do ministry together.

Often a lack of knowledge is what hinders growth and progress. Partners in Unity offers a way for church leadership to gain the knowledge needed to help direct their steps towards ecumenical unity.

To connect the world to Jesus Christ

To help connect the world to Jesus Christ, we have developed a ministry called “Samaritan Bags”. This was the first ministry that we developed back in 2013 and provides a way for Christians to come together to pack bags of necessities for homeless and impoverished communities. These bags can then be carried in cars to be ready to hand out to those that people encounter. Each bag has items to aid with immediate and continuing needs, but also provides a Bible and Scripture references to help point the receiver towards Jesus Christ.

As serving those in need is a universal part of the Christian Church, this ministry is a great way to bridge over denominational barriers and come together no matter the theological positions that one might hold.

Supporting Projects

From time to time, we may develop an online resource or project that may not fit within our ministry goals or vision; but, whose service helps support the ministries that are part of our ministry goals. For instance, we developed an online login resource called Heis Soma. This resource is a way for people to create one login profile and gain access to all of our ministry websites. Another project that we created is called the Unity Accord. The Unity Accord is a statement of beliefs on what ecumenical unity means from a biblical standpoint. This project fits well under the "Partners in Unity" ministry as a supporting resource.

How You can Support our Ministries

Well, that is The Christian Chain in a nutshell. You can find out more via our website at: https://thechristianchain.org.

Along with realizing that I have not been vocal enough with the ministry I have been doing over the past decade; I have also realized that I have not been vocal about my need for support for this ministry. I have been blessed with a wife that is extremely supportive of my ministry as well as the ability 2 years ago to retire from corporate work and try and focus on this ministry full-time. With the pandemic came a great grant that allowed me to grow The Christian Chain quickly in 2020; but, also the pandemic came with a difficulty to find ongoing donors. So, I wish to have this letter serve on that front as well.

There are some easy ways to support us, and there are other ways that are more involved if you wish to help in those ways as well. I have listed a few below:

1. PRAYER: The easiest way to help us is through prayer. You can go to PrayerNook.com and signup for an account, then ask to join the Unity Prayer Group or The Christian Chain prayer group to follow along and receive prayer requests from us when they are needed.
2. PASSIVE DONATIONS: If you shop at a Kroger brand grocery store or on Amazon; you can add our organization as a recipient to receive a donation for each of your purchases. This is a completely passive donation meaning it doesn’t cost you anything extra but is something that the company automatically donates to us because you listed us as your recipient. (More information about this can be found on our website.)
3. ACTIVE DONATION: I am also looking for financial donors who can give on a monthly basis. These donations are 100% tax-deductible and it doesn’t have to be a lot; but, knowing that a certain amount is coming in each month to help cover our growing costs for our ministries will really help alleviate some of the financial strain.
   
   Now, I know that not everyone will be able to donate; but, truly, anything that can be donated is a blessing and greatly appreciated.
4. ACTIVE VOLUNTEERING: I have an ever-growing need for help with administrative type tasks. This is one area that is very easy for me to get bogged down in and not be able to grow the ministry as I am just trying to maintain. If this ministry sounds like something that you are excited about and could pledge time to, I would greatly appreciate the help. But, this help needs to be on a regular basis as most job needs are ongoing.