Search & Restore

Search & Restore
Thursday, 7pm-8:30pm
or
Friday, 10am-2pm

Search & Restore is a ministry of Immanuel that searches out the cause of people in need and seeks to establish long-term, relationships that result in development out of a position of need and into a position of self sustainability. Job 29:16 describes Job's righteous life in service to others. Job "sought out the cause of him who he did not know". At Immanuel, we share a common burden for those in need but are convinced that immediate relief and "handouts" are not what most people in our neighborhood really need. We are driven to not just continually be helping those who are in need, but to actually move those who are in need into a position of no need! This of course takes much longer, produces less "results" in a certain sense, and costs a lot more energy, emotional toil, and commitment. But what it does result in is people who have actually been helped!

There are three driving motivations behind Search & Restore. First, we want to equip our people at Immanuel to be merciful neighbors no matter where they live and in everyday life. Mercy is not a ministry that you show up to at a certain time and stop after a certain time. It is a way of life. We want to model and equip people to see the simplicity of getting into the lives of those in need and strategizing to help them. It isn't complicated and we want to see people equipped to be showing mercy in their everyday life. Second, we are outward focused rather than inward focused. We are searching out the situation of the poor. We're actively looking into their lives and learning as much as we can. Each mercy situation is complex and one off handouts to anyone who asks simply isn't helpful. We don't ask people to come to us on our turf and tell us everything; we go out to them in their own situations and needs and seek to help in whatever way we can. Lastly, we're focused on long term, relational, development. Simply put, we're committed to the long haul of getting to know the poor as our own friends and we're commited to moving them from a position of need to a position of no need. This does not mean we never do immediate relief, we just don't focus on it and we do it very rarely.

What We Do:

How You Can Help:

If you have any questions at all, feel free to email searchandrestore@ibclouisville.org