Missions at The Sanctuary Fellowship
Consist of living as catalyst of God-honoring change in all areas of lifeOur Local Outreach
Attack Poverty- Friends of North Richmond
1000 Hills
TSF serves monthly at the 1000 Hills church in the park! Our Life Groups come together to meet the physical needs of the homeless (prepare a meal, personal hygiene supplies and fellowship). But more importantly we gather to meet the spiritual needs of the men and women who attend. TSF serves this community by praying, leading worship and preaching the Goodnews of the gospel! Jesus loves us wants a relationship with us.
The Hiding Place
The Hiding Place is a sanctuary for women confronting various crises such as addiction, incarceration, and prostitution. Our dedication involves guiding their journey to recovery by providing safe housing and an environment conducive to healing from past traumas. We offer tools for holistic living and foster their growth in their relationships with Jesus and with others.
Our Regional Outreach
Big Heart Orphanage
Big Heart Orphanage is located in Reynosa, Mexico. It started 24 years ago and is overseen by Micah & Jenny Carter, who are the directors with Opalo Juarez. Micah’s parents Gator & Deanna Carter founders of Big Heart Reynosa, moved to the Mountains orphanage in Fall of 2018.
The Sanctuary Fellowship has had regular trips to Reynosa since 2018 and plans on continuing a strong partnership with Big Heart by sending different teams annually.
Our Global Outreach
Uganda
The Sanctuary Fellowship has had a connection to Uganda since our church’s inception. We raised money to meet the needs of the Ugandan people, including sending bicycles for pastors to visit their congregations, Bibles for those that didn’t have one, and support for churches that were seeking to bring light and life to the Ugandan people. In 2011, TSF took our first team to Uganda, where we did evangelism in the villages and worked with the leaders in a local church. There were 13 people that went on that first trip, and since then, we have taken a team every year. We have had the privilege to serve alongside Pastor James Luwaga and Jubilee Fellowship to begin intentionally discipling young Ugandans who are trying to make a difference in their country. In 2012, we conducted our first Ugandan Bible Camp where we utilized chronological Bible storying to help God’s Word come alive for the young people. Each year, we have had around 25 Ugandan students who attend the camp, many of whom are unchurched and participants with false religions and even witchcraft. Through our Bible camps, we have seen many young people come to know Christ, being rescued from Islam, ancestral worship and animism, and witchcraft. We have also seen young Christians matured into passionate followers of Christ who are leading others into a full and abundant life in Christ. In 2015, we launched a child sponsorship program that empowered 65 Ugandan children to begin going to school. These children, without sponsorship, would have no other option but to begin working to support themselves or become street children who live a life of crime. Since we launched in September of 2015, 596 children have been sponsored, and it has been incredible to see these children “come alive” and see that they truly have a future to look forward to! This year as of January 31, 2022 we will have 84 children to sponsor.
Addison & Abigail Zody
Japan
Hello, we are Addison and Abigail Zody! We are serving as Short-term Coordinators in Japan. Our role is to host and connect teams and individuals from the US to missionaries and local churches in Japan. This involves everything from the scheduling and preparing of short-term workers to arrive on the field, to their debriefing and departure back home. Alongside this role, we are serving with the church planting efforts of our team in our area, building relationships in our community and sharing the Good News of Jesus to help build up the Church in Japan.
In this support role, our goal is to listen to the needs of local churches and plug in short-term workers that can fill those needs. We have a passion to help serve Japanese pastors and our fellow missionaries to better reach the unreached of Japan. We also have a passion to serve the American church by discipling short-termers to have a global mindset in their service and prayer, no matter where God has them. Japan is a country of high resistance and little fruit when it comes to the Gospel. In light of this, we want to bring renewed hope to the workers of Japan. In order to see this vision come to fruition, we pray that God would use our influence as Short-term Coordinators to stir the hearts of those coming to serve temporarily, for the Japanese and the rest of the world.
Our goals:
-To share the hope and love of Jesus Christ to the unreached people of Japan.
-To equip and enable more workers to enter the harvest field, in the areas of both long and short-term service.
-To support and encourage both Japanese believers and our fellow missionaries serving in Japan.
James & Brittany Riggins
Philippines
The gospel was designed to triumph, restore, and permeate throughout the world.
In 2009, Jesus Messiah triumphed over my suicidal disposition, restored my livelihood, and charged me to go and spread his gospel to the places where the dry bones are. Therefore, during my high school and college years, I decided to live a joyfully obedient lifestyle to his call to proclaim his salvation to the lost.
I have been appointed to serve as WorldVenture’s short-term coordinator and theological trainer for the Visaya region of The Philippines. In the Visaya’s, our strategy is to form committed local and global church partnerships with Filipino communities. From these relationships, we pray for the transformation of local communities, which will lead to the sending out of Filipino missionaries.
If you’re interested in me coming and visiting you or your home congregation, please feel free to contact home below or email him at j.riggins@worldventure.net.
Pastor James Luwaga
Uganda
James was born on October 23, 1969. He grew up poor in a polygamous family of 25 children, his father being from the Muslim background. At the age of 8 James was moved to St. Moses Children’s Care Center as a vulnerable child where he attained education up to high school and later joined Youth With A Mission graduating with an Associates Degree in Christian Ministries (majoring in Biblical studies and leadership/management). He has also attained a variety of Social, HIV/AIDS and financial management trainings with Infectious Disease Institute, Center for Disease Control and Makerere University. James doubles as an experienced social worker and organizational manager and is currently the founding Pastor of Jubilee Fellowship – a growing church in Bukaya a fairly new semi urban settlement area in Njeru Town Council. He also oversees the Kiryowa and Bulyankuyege Fellowships – church plants of Jubilee Fellowship and is the founder and Board member of Supportive Initiative for Development – a social development agency that runs Destineville Nursery School (currently with 35 children, 15 needy orphans), Walper Destineville Community School (currently with 250 children, 85 needy orphans), and a socioeconomic empowerment community program that supports needy vulnerable children and their caring households. James is also the coordinator of the “Njeru leaders conversation” a new initiative to support leadership development and peer counseling for Christian leaders. James has worked as an associate pastor of Life Giving Stream Tabernacle (Nile Evangel Church) for 7 years before taking on the role of pastor at Jubilee Fellowship. During the same period as associate pastor he worked as the Country Director for AIDS Orphans Education Trust (AOET – Uganda) where he was responsible for strategic and business planning, development of policies and procedures; and Human resources management. James has also worked as a program coordinator, ministry leader and base manager for Youth with A Mission Uganda. He has a wide experience and exposure having trained and experienced leadership and management in Uganda, South Africa, Europe and New Zealand. James also worked on several Youth with A Mission projects in Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, and South Sudan between 1998 and 2002.
For an Update on Pastor James please see the Uganda Update button above.