The third annual “Coats for the City” is scheduled for Dec. 11-13 in New York City. Coats for the City is an event hosted in partnership between the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina’s (BSC) Office of Great Commission Partnerships and the Metropolitan New York Baptist Association (MNYBA).
Coats for the City provides warm coats to people in New York and opportunities for local churches and church planters to meet local residents and share the gospel in a city where it is estimated that less than three percent of the population know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
During last year’s event, North Carolina Baptists collected and helped distribute more than 5,000 coats, Bibles and Jesus films at 14 distribution sites across all five boroughs of New York City. The goal for 2014 is to distribute 30,000 coats, hats and gloves and to give either a Bible or Jesus film in the language of the person receiving the coat.
“When you give to Coats for the City, you are partnering with churches and church plants in New York City that are making a difference in one of the world’s most influential cities,” said Chuck Register, BSC executive leader for church planting and missions partnerships. “This is a strategic opportunity for North Carolina Baptists to impact lostness in a city that desperately needs the gospel.”
N.C. Baptists can participate in Coats for the City in a number of ways, beginning by collecting coats.
Churches are asked to collect new or gently used coats, sorted into heavy-duty lawn bags for men, women and children and deliver them to a number of statewide collection centers by Oct. 31. BSC staffers will then pick up the coats and deliver them by truck to New York. N.C. Baptists are also encouraged to help distribute the coats in New York. Volunteers who want to help distribute the coats are asked to commit to: arrive in New York by the evening of Dec. 11; attend a Dec. 12 training session in New York; be prepared to pray and share the gospel with those they engage as they distribute coats Dec. 13. Housing for 40 volunteers will be available in the MNYBA office in Manhattan; other housing can be arranged as needed. Volunteers will need to pay for transportation, lodging and meals.
For more information about Coats for the City, visit ncbaptist.org/coats or contact Abby Edwards at (800) 395-5102, ext. 5536, or email at [email protected].