Helping Children Affected By Poverty – Supporting NC Public Schools
About Us
Congregations For Children (C4C) is a statewide initiative of The United Methodist Church focused on reflecting the love of Christ to our neighbors by helping children in public schools who are living in poverty.
Congregations For Children is an effective way for churches to increase their outreach to their community mission field. The C4C model is based on best practices and is designed to set up churches for success and help them to avoid common missteps. Even if your church is already involved in public school ministry in some manner, C4C can help you to expand and strengthen what you are already doing. Today, over 80% of the 800+ United Methodist churches in the NC Conference are participating in school-church partnerships. We believe that by adopting the C4C model, churches can increase their effectiveness and success in those ministries.
Our Mission
K-3 Literacy
- Volunteer tutors
- Collecting/donating books
- After-school tutoring programs
- Summer reading camps
Basic Needs
- Food
- Clothing
- School supplies
Positive Adult Role Models
- Lunch buddies
- Morning greeters
Advocacy
UMAPS is a statewide initiative of The United Methodist Church, formed to advocate for public education throughout North Carolina.
Success Stories
Watch a short video about Harbor United Methodist Church in Wilmington and their C4C Partnership with Mary C. Williams Elementary.
Latest Posts
Introducing the C4C and UMAPS Website
You are invited to the unveiling of the merger of NCCUMC’s two laity-led and clergy-supported ministries focused on supporting our public schools – Congregations for Children (C4C) and United Methodist Advocates for Public Schools (UMAPS). To emphasize their natural relationship with each other, they are now housed together within the updated C4C website. In addition to…
All Children are Our Children: The Community’s Role in Education Webinar
On December 1, 2020 an excellent Zoom webinar was presented by Knollwood Baptist Church in Charlotte as part of their ongoing “Faith in the City” series. “All Children are Our Children: The Community’s Role in Education” focused on the partnership among the Winston-Salem/Forsyth Public School System, Galilee Missionary Baptist Church, and the nonprofit organization “Imprint…
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Soapstone UMC Creates Remote Learning Space for Local Students
Soapstone United Methodist Church in Raleigh (Capital District) began the “Soapstone Schoolhouse” in September 2020 to meet the needs of local students and families who made the sudden shift to remote learning this year. With the church sanctuary and classrooms unused by their traditional ministries, they were able to offer their space to 23 students in the…
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Community Connectivity Grants
Eleven churches and two NCCUMC organizations that work directly with public school children received over $9,000 to enhance during- and after-school programs that provide safe and supportive learning spaces equipped with sufficient internet access.
Food Truck in Alamance County Feeds Students
“When you talk about children who are hungry … that’s a sore spot for everybody. I think it worked because we had this partnership with everybody.”Margaret Skulnik The Congregations for Children (C4C) committee at First UMC in Graham worked with the nutritionists at Alamance County Schools to procure and set up a food truck. First…
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C4C Partnerships
Typically, when a church family commits to becoming a Congregations for Children (C4C) Partner with a local public school, a list of service possibilities follows. How can our church help these children and teachers? How can we show them the God we love? We often miss what these relationships can do for our churches and…
C4C is a proud partner of FAST NC. Florence Aid to Students and Teachers of North Carolina (FAST NC) is an effort led by a bipartisan group of current and former North Carolina education leaders to help the state’s public schools as students and educators struggle to return to normal following Hurricane Florence and its impact.
C4C is supported by The Duke Endowment.