click on pictures below
to read about the different
ministries _ ULCC
Urban Light Community Garden was established in 2003 as a way for community members to work together and eat together while creating beauty in our neighborhood. Located on a vacant lot on the corner of Jefferson St. and 6th St., the Community Garden provides free, fresh produce for neighborhood residents. Anyone who desires can take part in planting, weeding, watering and at last enjoying the fruits of their labors. Annual Spring planting and Fall harvesting parties are great times for neighbors to work side by side while improving our local landscape.
Each July on a Friday night, South Central comes alive with barbeque, cotton candy, sno cones, inflatable games, live music and dancing, a dunk tank, cake walks, a 3-on-3 basketball tournament and many other activities free of charge to urban Muncie residents. The Block Party originated when Urban Light first began holding church services in South Central neighborhood in March of 2006. Urban Light wanted to create a fun, laid back environment to get to know our neighbors. We know from the Bible that Jesus loves a party, and throwing a big, free one is a great way to make sure everyone knows it!
Sunday worship services are designed to be a celebration for all Gods people, reminding us that we are victorious through Jesus Christ!
We seek to incorporate diverse styles of music so that all people feel accepted and free to worship in the way God moves them.
Urban Light Community Church seeks to empower youth to be all that God designed them to be...now. We dont train youth to lead only someday; we invite them to come as they are as we teach and provide real leadership opportunities in the present. Every Sunday, kids and youth are actively involved reading scripture, leading worship and volunteering in the nursery.
Young people are a vital part of the life of the ULCC family and the key to holistically developing our urban community. Thats why Urban Light is dedicated to the long work of raising up indigenous leaders, one youth at a time, to meet the spiritual, economic, physical, and social needs that our community battles. This cannot be accomplished in a few hours one day a week. It requires many adults to be involved in informal youth ministry by being part of the lives of young people not only on Sundays at church, but throughout the week in homes and neighborhoods. Its in the day-to-day sharing life and family with our youth that relationships form and the most transformational work happens. We have found that relationship is key to being able to speak truth and address true needs while growing the unique strengths of each young person.
Theres never a dull moment in our K 5 classroom! On Sunday mornings, students survey stories from the Old and New Testaments in chronological order to become familiar with the God of the Bible. Students are often asked to apply these lessons to concrete needs or specific situations around them. Their application of lessons regarding forgiveness and generosity have extended beyond the classroom to benefit our church, community and world. God has blessed Urban Light with the opportunity to partner with a local charter school, Hoosier Academy, to provide education for urban students who are falling through the cracks in the local public school system. Urban Light Academic Coaching supplies the individualized attention and encouragement that students need to catch up and receive a worthwhile, quality education.
Formally, our middle and high-school students meet Sunday evenings at 6:30. Guys and girls usually meet separately so that issues particular to each gender can be addressed and to foster healthy friendships among same-sex peers. During this time, we seek to show our youth who God is and who they are in relation to Him while addressing the most pertinent issues in our neighborhoods. We are blessed with opportunities to ask and be asked questions about everything from violence, the rightful role of sex, and education to prayer, the family of God, and the nature of the Trinity!
On Sunday mornings, young people are involved in leading the service through music, reading of scripture, and dance. They may also volunteer to help teach younger children during the service or remain and learn from the sermon. It is a blessing to learn alongside each other as we walk through the Bible with Pastors Andrew, Toddrick and Danny and experience the insights of other guest speakers.
The Urban Light Christian Development Corporation is a separate, not-for-profit corporation that exists to faciliate holistic community development in the name of Jesus in under-resourced neighborhoods in the urban core of Muncie. The ULCDC will accomplish this vision through: enriching educational programs, economic empowerment and microenterprise, quality housting redevelopment, and community organizing and advocacy. Currently, the main areas of focus for the ULCDC are: renovating houses to provide homeownership opportunities, Moving forward in starting a "House of Hope" (a men's addiction recovery program), sponsoring the Academic Coaching Program, and partnering with In and Out Cleaning.
The Urban Light CDC Board is made up both of members of Urban Light and numerous community leaders:
Andrew Draper - Lead Pastor, CDC President
Angelia Gordon - Muncie Human Rights, CDC Secretary
Camille Bridges - Kingdom Force International Ministries, Public Educator
Jake Jones - Owner In and Out Cleaning
Joe Carpenter - Worship Pastor, CDC Treasurer
Justin Ullom - Owner Mr. Rooter Plumbing
Keith Miller - Surgeon Central Indiana Orthopedics
Lindsey Arthur - Executive Director Habitat for Humanity, CDC Vice-President
Toddrick Gordon - Pastor of Community Outreach
Stephen Mitchell - MAPA
Ty Miller - Energy Management Schneider Electric
Leitia McHugh - CDC Administrator
Urban Light Academic Coaching, in partnership with Hoosier Academies , provides a quality education to inner-city children who have fallen through the cracks in the public school system. Hoosier Academies, a free, state-funded charter school in Muncie, features a hybrid model that allows students to spend two days a week in a typical classroom setting and three days virtually with a learning coach, presumably a parent at home.
Many of the children that attend Urban Light Community Church and live in urban Muncie are not achieving in the public school sector, but unfortunately they have not had other options for education. Even with the opening of Hoosier Academies in 2008, many inner-city children were unable to take advantage without having a learning coach to assist them for the virtual portion of their education.
Urban Light Academic Coaching serves as the learning coach for any families who desire Hoosier Academies quality education for their children, but do not have the resources to provide an at-home learning coach. ULAC students attend the Hoosier Academies Muncie learning center on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Urban Lights Academic Coaching Program on Mondays and Fridays from 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. as well as Wednesdays from 8:30 - 10:30 a.m. Currently 11 students, grades K 8 are enrolled in ULAC. Parents take an active role in their childs education by volunteering each week to coach, provide food or otherwise invest in the program. Numerous community members from Urban Light, Ball State and other organizations volunteer to provide one-on-one attention for students and develop mentorship relationships that extend beyond the classroom. Students interact with mentors during the school day, at church, in the neighborhood and on special trips (ice skating, museums, etc.)
Several times a month African American professionals join the students to inspire them to reach for the stars. The K12 curriculum is also supplemented by fiction and non-fiction literature primarily by African-American authors and illustrators along with age appropriate financial and economic life lessons. Students are being taught skills to succeed in the real world. Theyre learning they can become Christian leader's!
