Partnerships

Camp Sonshine is an award-winning, county, and state licensed Christian day camp in Maryland. They provide both summer day camp and year-round programming such as Before And After School Care, for school-aged children in Montgomery County.

We have partnered with Camp Sonshine for over 35 years to reach out to the next generation with the love of God and see our mission to make a difference a reality. Camp Sonshine makes visible our core values. This partnership is a testament to our shared mission to serve God and expand His Gospel. We are united in our aspiration to see God’s Kingdom grow and reach the heights God has envisioned for our church. This partnership brings value to the Kingdom of God and LWICC.

Common Vision and Value
We consistently hear congregation members expressing appreciation for Camp Sonshine and its impact on their families' lives. Many individuals, from board members to volunteers serving in various ministries—such as youth and worship—have joined because of Camp Sonshine. There is gratitude from church families who receive scholarships and from all congregants who utilize our discounted tuition offer for LWICC families. Families with young people who serve at the camp are also thankful for its presence. LWICC benefits from the increased community exposure that Camp Sonshine brings and the engagement with us at events like our upcoming Easter outreach and our last Christmas Village event.
 
Camp Sonshine Year-Round Program
The Year-Round program operates from September to May and includes our After-School Program, which supports local Montgomery County schools. We have learned that without follow-up after the summer program, the impact of our efforts diminishes. For over 20 years, we have conducted year-round events to nurture the seeds of the Word of God that have been planted during summer activities. All these events present opportunities for LWICC to engage with these families and integrate them into the church community.

Final Thought
Since 1989 when Camp Sonshine came into in partnership with the church, we've embraced two guiding principles that reflect our mission: a focus on Kingdom purposes. We truly appreciate our partnership with the camp to help us share the message of Jesus with the community which is our religious purpose as a church. We appreciate how different staff serve in our children and youth ministries and volunteer board positions. Our joining together for occasional lunches strengthens our relationship and partnership. We have indeed seen this a synergistic partnership.

We genuinely believe our partnership has created a brighter future for everyone in our church and community.

We have partnered with Insituto Canzion since the summer of 2023. As our vision is to impact families and the next generation in our community, we discovered that we were not impacting the families of hispanic origin in our community, and we have a growing need of musicians for our services throughout the week.

Instituto Canzion started in 1994 and has grown to have local training centers in most of the North, Central, and South American countries, Europe, and Africa, as well as an online center. Their vision and mission are complemmentary to ours, as their purpose is stated as: “Our task is to serve the kingdom of God, helping the local church in the formation of ministers who are not content with performing songs, but who seek to lead in their communities, God's project for the nations, exercising and perfecting the talents that God has entrusted to them.

• We are worshipers
• We serve the kingdom
• We are friends of the church and local pastors
• We are complement and not competition
• We are facilitators of the new voices of each generation
• We are missionaries"

The partnership with Instituto Canzion is able to provide us with a working solution to raise the next generation of worhip leaders, singers, choir members and musicians for the needs of Living Word Church. We are working together to provide the instruction at our location both in English and Spanish.  Our common vision and mission from Jesus is reach to all nations with the Good News and make disciples. In addition to having an alignment in our values, we also share a common Spirit-filled (Pentecostal) theological outlook and history.  Insituto Canzion provides a safe training ground and growing place for the next generation of musicians both from our current church members and the surrounding community. In addition to sharing the space, we are committed to building and encouraging one another, to coming together for monthly prayer and special events as well as lending musicians as needed for the needs of LWICC.

Instituto Canzion is a Spanish speaking program where students of all ages can develop musical skills by learning an instrument in-depth such as piano, singing, guitar, and drums and by developing ministry skills through leadership training for their community and local church. During the school year, Instituto Canzion offers classes at LWICC on Saturdays. Now including an English track!

Living Word has partnered with New Beginnings Community Church since the July 2012.  New Beginnings has grown to be a solid partner with a common goal of reaching the nations in and around Silver Spring, MD. NBCC has both first and second generation Koreans as well as others who have found it to be their spiritual family. It uses both Korean and English in its services. Montgomery County, MD (12,400) and Howard County, MD (9,500) are host to over 20,000 Korean population. Sixty-three percent of them are naturalized U.S. citizens, compared to 49 percent for all other foreign-born individuals. Fifty-three percent of Korean immigrants are not proficient in English, hence the need for a fellowship that would take their needs into consideration.

Our common vision and mission from Jesus is reach to all nations with the Good News and make disciples. There has been significant deepening of the partnership with NBCC over the last few years. The pastor of NBCC works as a volunteer pastor in LWICC Sunday morning services, attends our staff meetings, and leads our 3M Men’s ministry. Their congregation members attend our special events, and we organize several events together annually.

We have partnered with Monte Sinai since the spring of 2024. As our vision is to impact families and the next generation in our community, we discovered that we were not impacting the families of hispanic origin in our community.

According to recent statistics in Montgomery County, MD:

• From 1980 to 2021, the Hispanic population increased more than nine-fold, which was the fastest growth of any group in the county.
• Between 2010 and 2022, the Hispanic population increased by 46,723, growing 3.2 percentage points to 20.3%.
• In 2020, the Latino population increased by 31.4% since 2010.
• 17.4% of the overall population in Montgomery County are native Spanish speakers.

In the pre-pandemic times Living Word International Christian Church was abble to offer a regular Spanish Sunday service to fulfill that mandate and need. However, our current bandwith is not enough to reach this growing segment of population around us. The partnership with Monte Sinai is able to provide us an assurance that we are fulfilling that mandate and our strategic goal with the Spanish speaking population in the surrounding area.  

Common Vision and Value
Our common vision and mission from Jesus is reach to all nations with the Good News and make disciples. In addition to having an alignement in our values, we also share a common Spirit-filled (Pentecostal) theological outlook and history.  Monte Sinai provides a spiritual home and place for growth for the Spanish speaking population. In addition to sharing the space, we are committed to building and encouraging one another, and coming together for monthly prayer and special events (such as our bilingual New Years Eve Event).