Outreach

Christ the King has an active outreach program to the Santa Barbara community and beyond. The integrating vision of our outreach and mission is Christ's ministry of reconciliation

We understand that the basic message of Jesus was the Kingdom of God . At the heart of the Kingdom of God is the experience of reconciliation with God, self and others. Faith-based reconciliation comprises eight principles or core values: pluralism, inclusion, peacemaking, social justice, forgiveness, healing, sovereignty and atonement.

First and foremost, we have sought to be imparters of the message of faith-based reconciliation in the Santa Barbara community, the Episcopal Church to the nations. The primary vehicle that we have developed for sharing this message is the Reconciliation Basic Seminar (RIBS), now carried on under the auspices of reconcilers.net. The seminar utilizes a series of presentations and small group exercises, culminating in a Service of Reconciliation, to teach the core values of faith-based reconciliation, train participants in reconciliation/peacebuilding skills and provide a climate for God's work of transformation in human hearts.

In our local community of Santa Barbara we have sought to be agents of reconciliation by sharing the gospel with newcomers and others in the form of evangelistic outreach. We have sought to be bridgebuilders by working on local initiatives of civic reconciliation with the Mayor, racial healing and Jewish/Gentile reconciliation. As part of this we have built relationships with St. Paul 's AME Church and Congregation B'nai B'rith. Our Healing Prayer Outreach Ministry seeks to bring the healing ministry of Jesus to unchurched people in our community.

In the Episcopal Church our Reconciliation Institute has sought to work cooperatively with the Bishop of Los Angeles' Hands in Healing Initiative by training a diocesan team of reconcilers, conducting reconciliation seminars in Los Angeles and Western Massachusetts, and by organizing periodic Learning Conversations to address difficult issues and areas of conflict in the church.

Since 2000 Christ the King has been involved in a work of faith-based reconciliation in Kashmir (India and Pakistan) under the auspices of the International Center For Religion and Diplomacy in Washington DC . In the eight years prior to our work in Kashmir we sent short term mission teams to Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bosnia, Israel, Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Korea.

Christ the King has established partnerships with the following agencies, movements and initiatives: Cursillo, Faith Initiative, Kairos, Life Network, Veritas Forum, City Crossroads Mission (San Francisco), International Center for Religion and Diplomacy, and Toward Jerusalem Council II.

Finally, there are Christ the King members in the mission field. Aaron & Keturah Gouldthorpe and Aileen Carroll serve in Recife, Brazil under the auspices of the Mennonite Central Committee.