Adventist Community Services

Our mission

Adventist Community Services is the official community outreach ministry of the Seventh-day Adventist church in the North American Division territories which comprises of North America, Guam and Micronesia, and Bermuda. ACS serves the whole person, a concept known as holistic ministry whose mission is to “serve communities in Christ’s name.”

Our vision

• Expanding the scope of community services
• Building collaborative partnerships
• Integrating education in leadership development

Our core values

• Sharing – We proclaim the good news of salvation by actively demonstrating the love of God.
• Connecting – We build relationships by connecting people with their community family and to God.
• Ministering – We minister to the communities we serve by focusing on their physical, mental, social, and spiritual well-being.
• Discipleship – We empower and engage members to serve their communities by teaching, mentoring, and equipping in holistic ministry.

How we serve

• Equip pastors and lay members with skills and knowledge to help their church and community through the following seven families of ministries: Disaster Response; Emotional and Spiritual Care; Community Development/Urban Ministry; Older Adult Ministry; Hope for Humanity; Young Adult Emergency Services Corp.; and Tutoring/Mentoring Programs

Resources

• ACS A Quick Start Guide
• ACS Ministry Handbooks: Caregivers Ministry, Crisis Care Ministry, Elder Care Ministry (available on www.adventsource.com)
• Adventist Urban Congress DVD—Transforming the City
• Adventist Preaching DVD Volume #25—Sharing the Good News in the 21st Century
• Annual Community Partnership Programs 
• "Burst the Bubble: Finding Your Passion for Community Outreach," by Sung K. Kwon ($15.99 from  www.adventsource.com)
• CareOptions: Family Healthcare Advisory Program
• Catalog of materials, videos, activities for churches to communicate ministries of compassion
• Community Services & Urban Ministry (CSUM) Curriculum
• E-reporting: A free web-based software that is provided for all church ministires to collect and report community outreach service data to effectively demonstrate church engagement.
• Ministry Action Kits (such as the "Community Prayer and Blessing" program, and the "My Gift for Jesus" program)
• Special programs for small groups, women’s groups, youth, classrooms and schools, and business leaders
• Videos for churches and schools
• Optional, helpful materials to purchase: 
  Understanding Your Community, by Monte Sahlin  ($39.95 from www.adventsource.org)
  Churches That Make a Difference:Reaching Your Community With Good News and Good Works, by Ronald J. Sider, Philip N. Olson & Heidi Rolland Unruh (Approximately $15.00 from www.amazon.com)

Leadership Development

• Nonprofit Leadership Certification Program (NLCP) - The NLCP is an intensive flipped-classroom style summative learning program that equips pastors, church administrators, and members with strategies and professional skills to successfully lead. Participants are required to complete the “Community Services & Urban Ministry Certification Program” offered online for FREE at the Adventist Learning Community platform.
  • OPTIONAL: The summative learning session, after the participants complete the online program, as a face-to-face approach will be used for the following:
    • To review the main ideas of the online course that the participants have completed – unpacking content, debates, constructive disagreement, and problem-solving based learning.
    • To lay action plans to apply the content of the course to the participants’ local communities. The participants would leave with skills to apply their learning to impact change in their community.
• Community Services and Urban Ministry Certification Program (CSUMCP): This community-based program equips participants to be engaged with critical service learning to create a sustainable impact in their communities. The Community Services & Urban Ministry Certification Program course contains fifteen learning modules, which include instructional videos, learning activities, PowerPoint presentations, video scripts, and quizzes. After completing the entire curriculum, each participant will earn 2.0 continuing education units.
• Six ACS Ministry tracks (Disaster Response, Emotional and Spiritual Care, Community Development/Urban Ministry, Older Adult Ministry, Young Adult Emergency Services Corp, and Tutoring/Mentoring Programs).
  • Emotional and Spiritual Care Provider Program – ICISF
  • Older Adults Ministry Certification Program
  • Disaster Response Certification Program