Takin' Faith to the Streets

by MICHAEL EDGAR MYERS

Founding Artistic Director

Despite inconvenience, grumbling and occasional controversies about not “going to church” to go to church since the pandemic began, there have been side benefits of takin’ the Gospel message out of the building and into the streets.

Kingdom Impact Theater Ministries became aware of these desires through engaging with two non-church agencies in our community: The Kenneth Young Center in Schaumburg, IL, and the Interfaith Council in our home community, Elk Grove Village, IL.

With the Interfaith Council, KIT consults with churches and local agencies to outreach to people without residences, and to use social media to inform residents about live and online Services of Worship and community services (e.g., food pantries). These steps raise awareness to all unaware how churches are involved in day-to-day community life.

Since 2016 KIT Ministries has consulted with educators, students, parents and community leaders as the Faith Sector representative on the Coalition for Positive Youth Development (CPYD), an affiliate with the Kenneth Young Center.

Through CPYD, KIT ensemble members have provided information about spiritual matters at non-church community ceremonies. They are often approached with questions about faith and scriptures, or asked to pray on the spot to offer comfort and encouragement to individuals wrestling with issues such as suicide or negative self-image.

These discussions have been enlightening to KIT co-founder Vikki J. Myers. “You would not believe the number of people who came by the booth just to talk and ask for prayer because they were surprised to see ‘ministries’ at an event outside the church,” she says.

Resilience through Faith

An outgrowth of both events is the development of a new KIT Ministries educational offering, ‘Resilience through Faith,” a workshop designed to bring specific Scriptures into public discussions concerning suicide prevention, substance abuse recovery, human sexual relations, or gender identity. “Resilience through Faith” offers Scriptural foundation to five tools recommended to improve mental health.

An Evening with Kingdom Impact Theater

The Apostle Paul wrote to the congregations of churches in Ephesus and Colossae to “speak,” “teach,” “admonish” each other through “songs, hymns and spiritual songs” to show gratitude and enrich their lives.

These passages best express the purpose of “An Evening with Kingdom Impact Theater,” the online “Christian variety show,” that airs the third Thursday each month at 7:17 PM Central (USA). The program embodies our Four -E mission to Entertain, Educate, Equip and Empower viewers, who are Christ-followers, and individuals interested in learning more about Christian faith.

Each episode is thematic, anchored in a core Scripture passage that influences the selections of KIT Ministries music, characters, theater scripts, interpretative Scripture readings; plus contributions from fellow departments in Artists in Christian Testimony Intl. Interactive content includes “Voices from the Pulpit,” talk-show conversations with clergy and ministry leaders, who connect the content with current events; and “The Afterset,” a post-show Q & A between the audience and the cast.