One Story of Church-State Partnership:
For eight years the Church Ambassador Network has been building relationships between governing authorities and pastors of churches to build into each other as people, fellow shepherds of our state, and partners in meeting community needs.
In 2017, two children in Iowa’s foster-care system died from neglect. This brought the Iowa foster-care system into greater focus across the state, including Iowa churches.It also opened the door for the state government to consider help from outside organizations. Days after the two children’s deaths in the foster care system, Iowa pastors met with Gov. Kim Reynolds, who shared a burden for Iowa’s foster-care system. After this meeting the Church Ambassador Network began to move beyond prayer and seek ways to assist the state of Iowa.
In December 2017 the Church Ambassador Network connected with local leaders, who brought the need to launch a preventive foster-care ministry in central Iowa, establishing our first church-and-state partnership.