We believe in doing missions both locally and globally.
As a church the desire of our heart is to get the message of the gospel to those who don’t know Christ. We participate in missions financially by giving 10% of all of our money to mission causes throughout our community, our state, and the world. And we also participate in missions by praying and going.
Local Mission Focus
We have regularly done a number of different service and missions projects in our community.
For example, we have served at and financially supported:
…the Fresno County Juvenile Detention Facility (aka Juvenile Hall) every December, hosting a Christmas party for one of the pods of youth. We play games, sing Christmas carols, share the Christmas story, eat with them, and more.
…with FIRM (Fresno Interdenominational Refugee Ministry) in ministering and serving Syrian refugees in our Valley.
…at the Fresno Rescue Mission and The Poverello House, both of which minister to the marginalized, homeless, and poor here in the greater Fresno/Clovis area.
…at a local Golden Living elderly care facility where we led a worship service on the first Sunday afternoon of every month.
…in the past we served at a live-in rehabilitation facility for women called Fresno First: Hacienda.
…and, on top of those things, we strongly encourage individuals within the church to be “on mission” in their own way… outside of what we plan and do as a whole church! For example, we have a family involved in the Fresno Rescue Mission, ladies who have been involved with the Pregnancy Care Center, one man who served as a Clovis Police Chaplain, one family that started their own non-profit ministry of a Christian Sober Living home, one family that opens their home and their hearts by housing teens for the local hockey club, two families that have mentored Syrian Refugees, and more. Even our pastor is involved in local missions outside of the church, as has served on the Board of Directors of a local non-profit adoption agency.
…and, finally, as a church we believe there is a great need in our community to be involved in ministry to a group of people that the Bible would call “orphans.” For that reason we promote, encourage, and support our families that get involved in foster care and adoption. In our short history we have had 6 families that are currently or in the process of becoming what Fresno County now calls Resource Families.
International Missions
Global missions is a high priority for us at Soma. We recognize that most of the people in the world that do not know the goodness and grace of Christ are living outside of the United States. With that in mind, we want to be a church that loves and reaches the nations as best as we can. We directly support several missionary works.
We also join with other Southern Baptist churches to support over 4,000 missionaries around the world through giving to the International Mission Board. For more info you can check out their website at imb.org.
Along with prayer and financial support we lead trips periodically to help serve others with the love of Jesus. In the short history of Soma Christian Church we have sent two mission teams to Belize, two teams to Armenia, a team to Utah (yes, we realize this isn’t international), a team to Haiti, four teams to Japan, and one team to Israel.
On top of that, we strongly encourage people within the congregation to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit to serve internationally or domestically their own or as a team outside of Soma. As such, we have had individuals and families serve with Amore Ministries in Mexico, with Joni & Friends in Romania, with missionaries in Indonesia, and more.
If you are interested in Soma missions, please call the office 559.292.6595 or email us at info@somachristian.com
