Six Washington, D.C. Area Churches Unite to Lift up Praise, Address Poverty

Six Washington, D.C., Area Churches Unite to Lift up Praise, Address Poverty in D.C.

Story by Noelle Green

Sabbath, July 25, young adults from six local Seventh-day Adventist churches hosted the third annual Park n’ Praise D.C. event seeking to minister to the homeless and raise awareness about inner-city poverty. The participants furthered this purpose by providing food, clothing, toiletries, prayer and fellowship to 500 homeless individuals in Farragut Square Park in Northwest Washington, D.C.

The day’s activities included a lively concert—with everything from a deaf poet to a youth gospel choir—an inspirational message, prayer teams and a health checkup station. With more than 800 people in attendance, the young Adventist group believes they attained their goal of uniting prayer, service and praise.

The Park ‘n Praise event, which stemmed from the ideas of young people from two area churches, has grown to include six Maryland/Washington, D.C., area churches from three conferences: Potomac Conference’s Seabrook, Community Praise Center and Restoration Praise Center congregations: Allegheny East Conference’s Metropolitan and Emmanuel-Brinklow churches; and Chesapeake Conference’s New Hope church. Already, additional Adventist churches and other denominations, governmental bodies and nonprofits have contacted the event’s organizers stating a desire to participate in Park n' Praise 2016.

“Our goal is to include all those who are passionate about addressing poverty. All [of our volunteers] say they were excited to serve God in a public space,” says Roland Blackman, event organizer. “Next year's event will be a bit different because we intend to expand our focus to include not just the homeless, as in years past, but also the poor. We will do that by ministering to women and children who live in D.C. public housing. Our goal will be to provide diapers and wipes for 500 women with young children. We have done the math and this undertaking will be our most ambitious yet, but we are confident that God will do something amazing through young adults who are on fire for him.”

For information about the Park n’ Praise, please email parknpraise@gmail.com or look for look for them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.