WITH CHRIST AT THE CENTER
FEBRUARY 2023
CONNECTIONS OUR STUDENT MINISTRY ENJOYED A WEEKEND AWAY AT WINTERPLACE, WV ON JANUARY 20-22 FOR THEIR WINTER SKI RETREAT!
From the Senior Pastor This month we are, for the second February in a row, being intentional about Blessing Charlotte. It’s one of our Providence Will priorities as a church. In this edition of Connections, you’ll find a menu of service, prayer, and generosity projects that are happening this month. I am confident that everyone at Providence who wants to bless Charlotte in Jesus’ name this month can find a way to plug in and do so. With this Providence priority of blessing Charlotte in mind, I want to share with you some encouraging news about how our Child Development Center (CDC) is planning to increase its ability to serve young families in our city. Just about any parent you ask can tell you how hard it has become, in the aftermath of the pandemic, to find high-quality, full-day childcare. This is a ministry that our five-star program has offered for years—and we’re getting ready to offer more of it in order to help meet this need in our community.
Beginning in August, our CDC will begin expanding its full-day ministry during the week to children and their families. As our full-day ministry grows, our partial-day ministry will gradually decrease. While our CDC won’t be enrolling new children in our partial-day ministry (unless space is available and it meets a family’s short-term needs), all of the children currently with us in that capacity will be able to remain with us in that capacity until they move on to kindergarten. Eventually, our CDC will be fully committed to full-day ministry. At the same time, Providence will be entering into a partnership this summer with Tot Time, a partialday preschool currently located at another church in south Charlotte. Tot Time will rent space on the bottom floor of Randolph Hall and provide care for roughly 90 children from 9:15 a.m. to 1 p.m. each weekday.
What I appreciate about this arrangement is that it will allow us to expand our CDC’s ability to bless Charlotte while, at the same time, furthering another one of our Providence Will priorities of engaging our Cotswold neighborhood by continuing to make partial-day childcare available on our campus. Win-win relationships like this are rare, and so I’m especially grateful for Ursula Taylor and Adam Lawlor for their creative leadership in helping us take this significant step forward. Let us continue to bless Charlotte together—definitely this month, but also throughout the year—in the name of Jesus. May the peace of Christ be with you! May the peace of Christ be with you!