Within Your Gates is a program designed to promote, facilitate, and fund work parties to serve brethren and our local communities. It is also a powerful catalyst for connection across Church of God organizations!
Specifically, Within Your Gates connects brethren with willing labor, skill, material, and funding needed to execute work parties to serve other brethren and members of our local communities. We have a network of contractors, tradesman, skilled laborers, unskilled labor volunteers, material providers, donors, and good Samaritans ready to perform construction projects for those in need (both within, and outside of, the Church of God). Our main purpose is to share this network and connect YOU with the people and resources you need to help people within your gates whenever the need arises!
Within Your Gates Works in Two Ways:
- Individuals interested in conducting and leading work parties for those in need contact Church of God Network. After discussing the project, CGN will act as a promoter and facilitator. We will promote the project on social media and put the work party leader in touch with individuals within our network that are willing and able to assist with the project.
- Church of God Network will also choose, fundraise for, and lead several projects throughout the year. If you know of someone who is in need and may qualify to be one of our projects please contact us and let us know.
From Seth Forrestier (Within Your Gates program manager):
It is my experience as a contractor that my community peers whether in a Church of God or not are some of my most reliable volunteers. I’ve had local contractors travel with me out of state to work on the house of someone they’d never met. I encourage you all to canvas support locally as well as within the Church of God. I’m confident you will be surprised at the response and generosity people offer when YOU are serving your neighbors. I am perhaps a bit more forward than others are comfortable being when it comes to talking to strangers about my calling as Christian and my desire to help my community, but I would challenge you to try it. I was taught in action from a young age that people are much more helpful than they let on and if YOU open the door, most will walk through it with you.
There are many ways to volunteer to be a part of Within Your Gates:
Contractors – the majority of our current network are contractors. People that own trade businesses and have skilled crews available for volunteer labor. Local licensing is a very important thing towards the two coasts and licensed local contractors are a very big help in that regard.
Tradesmen – Skilled men and women who have trade-specific skill sets and connections. We understand you might not always have the time or resources to be on a project, but your experienced input can be very valuable.
Unskilled Labor Volunteers – You don’t have to have a specific set of skills to help your neighbor. Nearly ALL projects require many willing volunteers to help the skilled trades.
Benefactors – All projects inevitably require funding. All official projects will have detailed descriptions so you can see exactly what the donations are needed for. Donations of specific materials and supplies are also of great importance. If you have surplus building material or access to discounted pricing those things are sometimes more valuable to the project than money. If you are interested in donating monetarily, you can donate to CGN here. Just include a message that the donation is for the Within Your Gates Project and we will make sure 100% of your donation goes to that purpose.
Project Locators – You might be surprised to know that one of the hardest things about this project is finding projects to do. The people that are in the most need are often the ones that speak up the least. That’s why we chose the name Within Your Gates for the project. We encourage YOU to know what is going on within your gates, in your community, in places where you are. Take interest in the needs around you. Our goal is to assist you in filling those needs.
Housing / Feeding during projects – Even on local level projects there is a need for food and lodging during work parties.
Our program manager, Seth Forrestier, also has a warehouse of building materials that is available for this project. Late in 2020 he was blessed with an unbelievable opportunity to take over a large warehouse of Lowe’s Overstock building materials. He operates the warehouse as a retail store in Tyler, Texas, but all of our materials are available free of charge for any service project.
To be a part of Within Your Gates, please send an email to: WithinYourGates@churchofgodnetwork.org
Please include the information below in your email:
Name
Address
Phone
Volunteer Type
Notable connections: (access to material, discount pricing, licensing, etc.)
Are you willing to travel?
Are you able to do multi-day out of town projects? (multi-day out of town projects include compensation)
Do we have permission to contact you when your services are needed?
Note: Signing up to be a part of the project IS NOT a commitment to being on any specific project. Within Your Gates consists of normal people like you with jobs to do and mouths to feed. Signing up is merely putting your name on our list as available to contact.
Do you know of a need?
You can call, write, text, email, or send a pigeon and we will be happy to see if we can offer any assistance!