At Lakeside, we love people. That means we want to have an impact in the lives of our neighbors right here in Ozaukee County and those living around the world, facilitating the vision of Lakeside Alliance Church by helping people locally and globally engage with Jesus and His church.
Globally, we do that primarily through our work with the Christian & Missionary Alliance. Together we seek to prayerfully, creatively, and energetically work toward helping our congregation engage in gospel expansion around the world through effective partnerships and activities aimed at those least reached. Learn more about our global work.
Locally, we recognize that the gospel changes things. Our intent is to overcome barriers and build bridges in our area to bless our neighbors, impact the community, and draw people to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our Engage-Local team exists to fulfill the second greatest commandment, so more people can fulfill the first as seen in Mark 12:29.
… you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.
In our local congregation, we seek to effectively share with and care for people in Jesus’ name. Specifically, we aim to employ our B.L.E.S.S. strategy, which is a simple and helpful acronym for how we go about the work of overcoming barriers and building bridges practically: B.L.E.S.S. stands for:
- Begin with prayer: Prayer is ministry and our lead card in reaching our area.
- Listen to them: Taking time to hear and understand the concerns and joys of those in our local area is key to being able to effectively meet people in the midst of their physical and spiritual needs.
- Eat with them: Creating simple touch points with our community around events, meals, and supporting our local foodbank is key to making long term connections with people.
- Serve them: Choosing to care for the practical needs that our community has matters deeply. In particular, we hope to understand and prayerfully seek ways for Lakeside to uniquely minister to the needs of those affected by or struggling with addiction.
- Share with them: Communicating the good news of the gospel individually, corporately, and regularly is vital to any genuine change in our area.