New Covenant dinner to benefit mission outreach

New Covenant Church in Lewes will host a dinner Saturday, March 11, to raise funds to benefit its mission team’s outreach to the Batey Central School in Barahona, Dominican Republic.

The menu choices are shepherd’s pie, cottage pie or vegan pie. The cost is $25 per person. Doors open at 4:30 p.m., and dinner serving starts at 5:20 p.m. Seating is limited, so early ticket purchase is recommended.

To reserve a space, call 302-644-6800 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday to Friday. Anyone unable to attend the dinner may make a contribution in any amount to support this outreach. To donate, stop by or mail a check to New Covenant Church, 3072 Savannah East Drive, Lewes, DE 19958, or go to ncpchurch.com.

In 2011, a Christian school opened in the village of Batey Central within the city of Barahona. Batey Central’s population is made up primarily of Haitian immigrants or people of Haitian descent, many of whom have no citizenship and thus are not entitled to education, medical treatment or other public services. The children attending Batey Central School do not have citizenship or any documentation that would allow them to attend government-sponsored schools.

Batey Central was blessed with rapid growth, now exceeding 200 elementary students. With this growth came a huge transportation need, and what the government would not provide, God did. The NCC mission team partnered with Ears to Hear, which was instrumental in building the school, to provide a yellow school bus.

That in itself was a major undertaking, but why send an empty school bus? The mission team embarked on a campaign to fill the bus with requested school supplies, clothing and equipment as a means to further the education of these children too often left behind.

Many area community members responded to the 2022 fill the bus campaign. The New Covenant mission team thanks everyone for the generous contributions which enabled the recent delivery of the bus loaded with school supplies to the Batey Central School in the Dominican Republic. 

The mission motto at NCC is Go! Be the Light, Send the Light. It is in keeping with the great commission of Jesus Christ, as recorded in Matthew 28:19-20, where it is written that Jesus called the disciples to do more than simply hope for the best or to send supplies. He bid them to share the good news, to communicate his gospel as they were going out in life.

In March 2023, NCC children will go to the Dominican Republic and see for themselves what God can do. This trip is a great opportunity for NCC children to cross-culturally interact with the schoolchildren and show them what it means to trust in Christ.

Again, NCC is reaching out for help to raise funds to send the children and their chaperones to Barahona. The adults will cover their own transportation costs, so funds raised will be used to defray the cost of accommodations at the school for the mission team members.

As part of efforts to assist the Batey Central School in building additional facilities, the team will be shoveling sand, mixing cement, carrying buckets, moving blocks, painting, cleaning and other tasks as needed.

Donations can also be made to go exclusively to the Batey Central School. Call 302-644-6800 for more information.