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Carpenter's Place Reaches Out to 'Street Population'

By Liz VerHage

ROCKFORD, IL (November 25, 2002) - What do a Covenant church, a businessman, the Central Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) and homeless people have in common?

They share an interest in The Carpenter's Place, an outreach center that reaches out to the street population of Rockford, a city of more than 150,000 people located about 90 miles west of Chicago.

The Carpenter's Place serves homeless, addicted, mentally ill and severely distressed individuals in Rockford through its day room and meal programs. It also offers professional case management and personal counseling. Allan Barsema, executive director, and his wife, Cathy, who are members of First Evangelical Covenant Church in Rockford, created the center two years ago. Volunteers from First Covenant volunteer time to do everything from office work and laundry to teaching classes and mentoring the guests.

"Most of our initial volunteer base came from First Covenant," Barsema recalled. Former pastor Roland Boyce "was also very instrumental in giving us wise advice and leadership as we got going."

First Covenant's support of The Carpenter's Place is one example of a church embracing the values of Churches Planting Ministries (CPM), a new ECC initiative. The program's mission is to facilitate church and community renewal through ministries of compassion and justice. In this case, the Central Conference contributed a percentage of the funding, with the church and the community providing the volunteer hours to make it run.

"Our church is very mission-oriented," said Barsema. "Now we have a local outlet for those who want to be involved in ministry here in town. It gives a good balance to our church."

The Carpenter's Place has served more than 1,600 clients and the staff has grown to the current level of 12 people. The center has received acclaim from the city's mayor and has gained heightened visibility through radio and television advertisements.

The center is involved in local civic efforts to address homelessness and substance abuse. Its many partners include other local service agencies, churches and service providers in seven other states.

"We say (to clients), 'we are not here to make it easy to stay in a destructive lifestyle. If you are serious about making a change, we will do everything we can to assist you,'" Barsema said. "We pray daily for wisdom in making these decisions."

For more information about The Carpenter's Place, contact Jerome Nelson, who serves as director of Church and Society Ministries and Churches Planting Ministries coordinator for the Central Conference. He can be reached by telephone at 773-267-3060 or by email at JeromeNcentral@cs.com. The Carpenter's Place was recently featured in the Central Conference Covenanter publication and is currently featured in the November issue of The Covenant Companion.

(Editor's note: Liz VerHage is associate director of Churches Planting Ministries. More information on this program is available online by visiting the Covenant home page at www.covchurch.org and selecting the Churches Planting Ministries link in the "Features" segment in the lower portion of the page.)

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