Lakewood Church Network – Lakewood Faith Coalition – Lakewood City Connector

What is a “City Connector”? A City Connector builds relational bridges among vital community leaders in a defined geographic area in order to develop, support or sustain breakthrough service projects. These relational bridges are designed to link the faith community to government, business, school, nonprofit and neighborhoods to develop collaborative partnerships aimed at serving the greater good in the city.

Philosophy

Faith Networks: The key to developing these partnerships are various faith communities working together. The positive impact of a faith community (church) is increased when they unite their leadership, values, desire for service and membership with other faith communities for the purpose of doing good. The aim of Lakewood Connects is to meet, connect to, link together and support faith communities in Lakewood so that together they form a resource for volunteer service and positive impact in the city.

Networks of Networks: When faith communities are linked together then that network can connect to leaders in government, school, neighborhood, business and nonprofits to serve the city together. This merging of service resources creates exponential positive impact.

History

Background to City Connecting:  Lakewood Connects represents two church networks; The Lakewood Church Network and the Lakewood Faith Coalition.

Lakewood Church Network (LCN) – The LCN was formed in 2005 and currently 30 churches are involved meeting regularly for prayer, vision synergy and service collaboration. The LCN has partnered with government, schools, neighborhood and nonprofits to develop breakthrough projects including elementary school facility restoration, afterschool tutoring programs, a severe weather shelter network for the homeless and a collaborative health project serving underserved neighborhoods in the city.

The Lakewood Faith Coalition (LFC) – In 2014 Lakewood Mayor and Reg Cox formed the Faith Coalition. The LFC connects all faith groups in the city (approx.70) merging the Evangelical/Protestant Christian community with the Catholic, LDS, Mind and Science, Muslim and Buddhist faith traditions.

The LFC is led by a steering group of leaders from several different faith communities who formalized a mission and policy in order to develop and manage collaborative service projects in the city. The LFC is focused on serving Title 1 Elementary schools in Lakewood (8 schools) by building, supporting and maintaining Support Teams for each school.  These teams are comprised of local community and faith leaders who will develop relationships, explore needs and build service projects for each school.

Reg Cox – City Connector

City Connection – Reg and Lakewood Connects function as a connector between needs in the city and organizations and individuals who have available resources of time, energy and money. Lakewood Connects bridges the divide separating groups, needs and resources and helps guide committed groups to service success.

1. Lakewood Church Network – Each week Reg meets with pastors and nonprofit leaders from Lakewood, Colorado. The purpose of these meetings is to: mentor, consult, support and guide these churches and nonprofits to collaborate, partner, sustain outward community service vision and maintain a positive collegial relationship with city and county government, local businesses and one another. In addition to these individual meetings Reg plans and communicates a prayer event monthly (second Tuesday) and a three times a year lunch meeting that features pertinent information and networking opportunities for these church and nonprofit leaders. Reg also maintains the church network communication for events, needs and service opportunities.
2. Lakewood Faith Coalition – Reg leads the faith coalition steering committee meetings which meets six times a year. The faith coalition steering committee is focused on growing, supporting and sustaining Support Teams for each Title 1 elementary school in Lakewood. To support this effort Reg works with the City Manager and Mayor offices, school district leadership and other leaders from the community to develop and support success in faith coalition projects. Reg also leads faith coalition communication and vision processes that will aim the growth of the coalition in the future.
3. City Connector Activities – As a “connector” Reg links various nonprofits, community leaders and citizens together to support existing or future projects for good in the city. In order to facilitate this “connecting” Lakewood Connects is a member of various chamber of commerce groups, school district and city committees and attend meetings and events sponsored by various groups in the larger Lakewood, Colorado community. Reg meets regularly with the city Mayor and leaders in the City Manager’s office.