Sundays
Join us online at 10:00 on Sundays!
Watch Sermons on Vimeo!
Parents, please see the RiverKids page
Caring
Helping the LTHC
Community Outreach
Local Service
Many of us have a deep sense that the world is not as it should be and most of us ache for a better world. The Good News is that Jesus came to restore the world and everything in it. One of the ways that Riverside proclaims this Good News of Jesus is by partnering with God to restore our community to the way God intended it to be. We go where brokenness is and work to restore our community spiritually, emotionally, physically, economically, and socially.
Our Community Outreach Ministry is how we work together to be the hands and feet of Jesus in Tippecanoe County.
Riverside currently partners with Habitat for Humanity, Lafayette Transitional Housing Center, Family Promise, Lafayette Urban Ministry, and many other Tippecanoe organizations to meet our community’s needs. We serve meals, collect and distribute food, help house homeless, give away Christmas gifts, mentor, teach job skills, host international students and generally meet needs as they arise. Riverside also has a benevolence fund that provides for the immediate financial needs of Riverside attendees and others within our local community.
You can learn more about the principles that guide Riverside’s Community Outreach here.
You can also find lots of volunteer opportunities in our community here.
Are you ready to help us meet the needs of our local community?
Email us at [email protected]. We need your help.
Family Promise
Family Promise has suspended all in-house volunteer involvement during this time. You can still support them monetarily or by donating cleaning items like, but not limited to:
- anti-bacterial hand soap
- cleaning spray
- cleaning wipes
- kids school and craft items (nothing very big)
- non-perishable food items
Please do not drop any items off directly to Family Promise, there are strict instructions on drop-off procedures.
Habitat for Humanity
Though they’re not accepting volunteers for the builds, they are welcoming and appreciative of all financial donations. You can help here.
Lafayette Transitional Housing (LTHC)
Thank you to all who have contributed to the ‘LTHC Donations’ box on the porch of the white house. Donation drop off’s are done weekly. If you have interest in joining for the drop off’s or have questions regarding donations, please contact Alivia Puterbaugh.
LTHC welcomes donations such as deodorant/razors, underwear (men’s and women’s), food, water, clothing, etc. but also welcomes financial contributions. If you wish to provide monetarily, please visit this link.
Prayer
Prayer at Riverside
Riverside’s Prayer Ministry encourages us to be a people of prayer.
Because God calls each of us to devote ourselves to prayer (Col. 4:2), prayer is not as much a ministry as it is a movement. Therefore, prayer is the umbrella over all that happens with Riverside.
Riverside wants to be people of prayer. We desire to continually grow in worship and faith and believe prayer is crucial to spiritual maturity. Prayer is communication with God and is essential to relationship with Him, just as communication is in human to human relationships. Prayer includes listening to the Lord as well as communicating honestly with Him about everything in our hearts and lives.
We want conversation with God to be the foundation of everything we do as a church and as individuals, couples and families. Prayer is not a separate ministry but a movement within all the ministries of Riverside. Various prayer practices are offered during worship services, pod gatherings, RiverKids classes, meetings, retreats, etc. We aim to be attentive to the Lord’s voice and align our hearts with His.
We seek to cover every aspect of Riverside in prayer with the following prayer teams:
- Pastor’s Prayer Shield—daily personal prayer time for our pastor
- Congregational Prayer Team—daily personal prayer time for requests we receive
- Sunday Worship Prayer Warriors—weekly prayer during the worship services on Sundays at 9:00 or 10:45
We want you to join us!
If you are interested in helping the Prayer Movement, praying for others regularly, or simply have a prayer request, contact our Prayer Ministry at [email protected].
“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know,” Jeremiah 33:3.
In recent days, as COVID-19 has been declared a global pandemic and countries have taken urgent measures to stem the spread of infection, I wish I could say that my first impulse has been to pray. It’s probably more honest to say that I’ve obsessively refreshed my feeds.
The crisis is urgent, and I feel powerless. But perhaps feeling small is the best reminder to pray. Prayer is how we actively practice believing, so simply, so confidently, that God has the whole world in his hands. It’s where we “let petitions and praises shape our worries into prayers, letting God know our concerns” (Phil. 4:6–7, The Message). Prayer is never the last resort of God’s people. It is our first point of action.
With that in mind, I’ve put together a list of 20 prayers to pray during this pandemic. Each one addresses the specific needs of a specific community. I’m fortunate to be a part of a church with many medical professionals, some of whom gave me advice on how best to pray for them at this time. I’ve included their responses here. I’ve also tried to think broadly about how the rest of us are impacted by the current crisis.
This list isn’t comprehensive, of course, but it’s a good place to start. My hope is that it can provide words for us as we pray collectively (if also virtually!) as a church body. We believe there is a God who bends his ear to listen, and so we pray:
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- For the sick and infected: God, heal and help. Sustain bodies and spirits. Contain the spread of infection.
- For our vulnerable populations: God, protect our elderly and those suffering from chronic disease. Provide for the poor, especially the uninsured.
- For the young and the strong: God, give them the necessary caution to keep them from unwittingly spreading this disease. Inspire them to help.
- For our local, state, and federal governments: God, help our elected officials as they allocate the necessary resources for combatting this pandemic. Help them to provide more tests.
- For our scientific community, leading the charge to understand the disease and communicate its gravity: God, give them knowledge, wisdom, and a persuasive voice.
- For the media, committed to providing up-to-date information: God, help them to communicate with appropriate seriousness without causing panic.
- For consumers of media, looking to be well-informed: God, help us find the most helpful local information to equip us to be good neighbors. Keep us from anxiety and panic, and enable us to implement the recommended strategies, even at a cost to ourselves.
- For those with mental health challenges who feel isolated, anxious, and helpless: God, provide them every necessary support.
- For the homeless, unable to practice the protocols of social distancing in the shelter system: Protect them from disease, and provide isolation shelters in every city.
- For international travelers stuck in foreign countries: God, help them return home safely and quickly.surroundsurround
- For Christian missionaries throughout the world, especially in areas with high rates of infection: God, provide them with words of hope, and equip them to love and serve those around them.
- For workers in a variety of industries facing layoffs and financial hardship: God, keep them from panic, and inspire your church to generously support them.
- For families with young children at home for the foreseeable future: God, help mothers and fathers to partner together creatively for the care and flourishing of their children. For single mothers and fathers, grow their networks of support.
- For parents who cannot stay home from work but must find care for their children: God, present them with creative solutions.
- For those in need of regular therapies and treatments that must now be postponed: God, help them to stay patient and positive.
- For business leaders making difficult decisions that affect the lives of their employees: God, give these women and men wisdom, and help them to lead self-sacrificially.
- For pastors and church leaders faced with the challenges of social distancing: God, help them to creatively imagine how to pastor their congregants and love their cities well.
- For college and university students, whose courses of study are changing, whose placements are cancelled, whose graduation is uncertain: God, show them that while life is uncertain, their trust is in you.
- For Christians in every neighborhood, community, and city: May your Holy Spirit inspire us to pray, to give, to love, to serve, and to proclaim the gospel, that the name of Jesus Christ might be glorified around the world.
- For frontline health care workers, we thank you for their vocational call to serve us. We also pray:
- God, keep them safe and healthy. Keep their families safe and healthy.
- God, help them to be knowledgeable about the diagnosis and treatment of this disease, as well as the changing protocols.
- God, help them to stay clear-minded in the midst of the surrounding panic.
- God, deliver them from anxiety for their own loved ones (aging parents, children, spouses, roommates).
- God, give them compassion for every patient in their care.
- God, provide for them financially, especially if they fall ill and are unable to work.
- God, help Christians in health care to exhibit extraordinary peace, so that many would ask about the reason for their hope. Give them opportunities to proclaim the gospel.
God, we trust that you are good and do good. Teach us to be your faithful people in this time of global crisis. Help us to follow in the footsteps of our faithful shepherd, Jesus, who laid down his life for the sake of love. Glorify his name as you equip us with everything needed for doing your will. Amen.
Jen Pollock Michel is the author of Teach Us to Want, Keeping Place, and Surprised by Paradox. She lives with her husband and their five children in Toronto. This piece was adapted from her recent blog.
Giving
Giving to Riverside
Start Giving Today!
Riverside depends on and is grateful for, the consistent generosity of our people to support our mission and ministries. We seek to faithfully share and steward our financial resources to God’s glory and appreciate all who partner with us.
If you are interested in reviewing Riverside’s annual budget and understanding how we steward our financial resources, our budget is published in our Annual Report each year. You can also learn more about the biblical call for generosity through our loving and giving brochure.
You have several options when giving to Riverside:
You can place a check or cash in the seed spreader, by the sound booth, on Sunday morning (Riverside does not pass offering plates during Sunday worship). You can also drop-off a gift directly to the white house, during business hours.
You (or your bank through Bill Pay) can send a check to our office at the following address:
Riverside Covenant Church
1850 Woodland Ave.
West Lafayette, IN 47906
Give through your checking account:
If you have any questions about your giving or need documentation related to your gifts, please contact Riverside’s Office Manager, Babby Porter, at the church office. The other Riverside Staff and Leadership Team do not have access to individual giving information.
If you have general questions about giving or questions about how your gifts are being utilized, please contact Riverside’s Treasurer, Kevin Jones.
News
Riverside 101, Sunday, April 7, 2024
Would you like to know more about Riverside? During Riverside 101, Pastor Ara explores the Christian faith, the Evangelical Covenant denomination, and life with Riverside. Riverside 101 will be offered on Sunday, April 7, 11:30 a.m. at Riverside with lunch provided. Childcare will be provided if requested by Monday, April 1st. Please sign up below […]
Family Worship-Palm Sunday 2024
It is time for another Family Worship Service. Which means Sunday March 24, 2024 we will all be waving our palm branches together. What a privilege to praise Him together with our children! What an opportunity to show our children how grateful we are for all Christ has done for us, especially as we approach […]
Good Friday, March 29, 2024
Join us on Good Friday, March 29th at 7:00 pm for a Tenebrae service. We will be reading the seven last words of Jesus and taking communion as we look forward to celebrating Resurrection Sunday. All ages welcome. We will celebrate Resurrection Sunday on March 31st at 10:00 a.m. This service will be a Family […]