2024-2025 Outreach: Beyond the Walls of Incarnation

Outreach is central to Incarnation's mission as we pursue worship, welcome, and wonder in South Arlington, now Maryland, and around the globe. We give away at least 10% of our income toward local and global outreach each year. We also collect special offerings for outreach during Advent, Lent, and in response to emergent needs throughout the year. We have an outreach team of volunteers who are responsible for vetting all our outreach partners and gifts, as well as special outreach projects. And we regularly preach about, pray for, and serve people in need. The following priorities guide our outreach: 

• Justice and Mercy

• Creation and Beauty

• Refreshing the Workers

• Evangelism, Church Planting, and Empowering Female & Minority Church Leaders

  
  

Outreach Looking Forward

In 2025, we elected to put a temporary pause on most outreach giving while we committed outreach resources to explore the next steps for a new worshipping community in Maryland. We’re so excited about the fruit that has come of the work in Maryland, and this also provided us with a unique opportunity to return to the fundamentals of Incarnation’s unique calling to ministry beyond the walls of our church. In preparation for this fallow season, the Outreach Team articulated the following principles to guide our approach to outreach:

Relational: We care about our partners as people, not just as causes, and we don’t view these relationships as transactions. We want our partners to sense that care from the initial application, to the end-of-year partner conversation that serves in lieu of a written report. We build trust with partners and give them trust to use our resources well across a period of time. We intentionally “refresh the workers” in order to safeguard against burnout and protect our investment in people and organizations over time. We care for the people who do the work, not just the work. 

Generous: We have been given much, and we want to give much in return. We give to a wide variety of partners, with a special focus on organizations that might be overlooked, or causes that might be difficult to raise support for, including general operating or administrative expenses. We want to give amounts that are meaningful, and we want to give to partners where our gifts will do the most good.

Intentional: We are purposeful about the people and organizations that we choose to support. We have well-articulated outreach priorities that our outreach gifts adhere to, and we care for “marginalized” people and causes. We take a holistic approach to outreach gifts and look for partners that complement each other and our identity as a church. We maintain a good balance of partners working locally and globally, as well as the partners who work with people from all nations in our backyard.

Incarnational: We are connected to the same body as our partners, and we want to be present with them in their work. We try to fund things that our congregation can participate in, or where congregants are already connected. We view connection to our church as a strength, but not a prerequisite, and we welcome growing our family to include those whose kingdom work is a good fit with our own.

With these principles in mind, we have taken this year to deepen our relationships with current partners. We continued to feature outreach partners of the month, and in many cases, these partners have worshiped with us and you were able to interact with them over coffee or a potluck. We also invited some organizations and individuals that we didn’t fund last year, but who we have funded in the past, so that we can continue building and exploring those relationships. 

We have also continued to collect a special offering for a designated partner during our seasons of preparation. In Advent, we supported Casa Chirilagua, and during Lent, we supported Five Talents, who joined us for World Mission Sunday. We’re grateful to be part of a generous congregation 

We’re also recommitting ourselves to pray for our partners! This is always an impactful gift even when finances are tight. You can join us by praying through the handout that you received on World Mission Sunday.

Finally, we want to show up physically for our partners. We had a record number of volunteers provide dinner at a Restoration Immigration Legal Aid clinic earlier this year. We have a small group of individuals who have expressed an interest in doing an Abara border encounter at the U.S.-Mexico border in February 2026, and there will be opportunities to learn more and get involved in that trip as details come together. In the meantime, read a reflection from one participant who went last year.

And if all this has you excited, I mean really excited, then email me and let me know you’re interested in getting involved with outreach at Incarnation. There are so many opportunities to get involved, and there is room for everyone. If you have any thoughts or questions, please reach out!

2024-2025 Outreach Partners

Below is the list of partners that Incarnation has provided support to in 2024 and 2025. Most of these have received some form of financial gift; others we have supported through prayer. All of these individuals and organizations have blessed our community with their stories of God’s faithfulness, expertise in their varied fields, and connection to diverse streams of kingdom work that they undertake.

Casa Chirilagua: A community of people “learning together to love our neighbors as ourselves” in a Latino neighborhood in Alexandria, Virginia. Its mission is to develop relationships with families to see the Chirilagua neighborhood transformed by Christ. Casa lives this belief in everything they do, and they offer a variety of programs that serve both children and adults in the neighborhood; from activities designed for the youngest learners to monthly family dinners to the Casa to College program for high schoolers. Pray for the peace and flourishing of the Chirilagua neighborhood.

Partners Relief and Development: Partners believes that children shouldn’t suffer because adults are fighting, and they go to some of the most difficult places on Earth to care for children in conflict zones. By working with local partners, they maintain a presence in hard-to-reach conflict zones to work towards full, free lives for children affected by conflict and oppression. Incarnation supports Partners’ work in the Al-Hol Refugee Camp in northeastern Syria where they run a pediatric clinic and a child friendly space to provide trauma care and learning opportunities. Pray for their ongoing work amidst the unfolding refugee crisis in Syria. 

L’Arche: The Greater Washington DC chapter of L’Arche is creating a more humane society, where people with and without disabilities share life together. It provides homes for life for adults with intellectual disabilities at four (soon to be five) residences in Washington DC and Arlington County. Each home has caregivers are direct support professionals who supply the day-to-day services and assistance that allow core members to live fully empowered lives within the broader community. Pray for the strengthening and flourishing of L’Arche communities in this area and for the development of its newest home in Arlington at the historic Reeves Farmhouse.

Vera Fernandes with For the Nations: Vera builds relationships with recently arrived Afghan immigrant families, especially women and children, and runs a reading club for elementary school children to support their language learning. Pray for deepening relationships between Vera and the families that she works with, and for the flourishing of these families as they make a new home in the United States. 

Abara: Located along the U.S.- Mexico border, Abara provides holistic services to migrant families on both sides of the border and hosts educational experiences to foster connection and understanding between communities. Incarnation sent a border encounter team in 2024 and hopes to send another in 2025 (see below for more info!). Pray for their ongoing work with migrants along the Texas-Mexico border.

Cornerstone Schools: Through a partnership of family, school, and community, Cornerstone provides a Christ-centered, nurturing, and academically robust education to under-served neighborhoods in Washington, D.C. Pray for strength, endurance, and joy for the students, teachers and faculty. 

Restoration Immigration Legal Aid: RILA supports immigrants in our community by providing free legal assistance to those who are most vulnerable and who have the fewest resources. Pray for the protection and flourishing of their clients and staff in this atmosphere of heightened fear and insecurity.

“Miranda” serving in South Asia: A new friend, “Miranda” works with a marginalized people group, providing hygiene education and sharing the love of Christ. 

“C & R” serving in West Asia: Our partners C&R live and work in a West Asian capital city with their children. Together, they participate in local life alongside their neighbors and have many opportunities to share good news in academia and relationships. Pray for their safety and longevity, as the climate is increasingly hostile.

Five Talents: Five Talents trains women and men to find sustainable paths out of extreme poverty through entrepreneurship. Pray for the provision and flourishing of their programs in Sub-Saharan Africa and South America.

Stephanie Dickerson with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship: InterVarsity is a campus community that helps students and faculty follow Jesus. Stephanie is the regional leader, training campus ministers across Northern VA and Richmond. Pray for revival on college campuses.

Rock Recovery: Rock Recovery provides affordable eating disorder therapy and support groups to help people find real freedom.  Offering both clinical expertise rooted in research plus spirituality for deeper healing and restoration, their doors are open to all, without regard to religion, race, nationality, gender, size, ethnic origin or sexual identity.