// About the fellowship
Thirty-two years, one calling.
A plain account of who we are, how we began, and how we are governed.
// History
A beginning in a church basement.
In the autumn of 1994, seven pastors met in the basement kitchen of Laurel Fork Union Church to pray over the winter ahead. The previous December had been hard: three families in their combined congregations had been without heat for portions of the month, and the benevolence offerings gathered had been inadequate to meet the need. By the end of that evening, the seven had pooled what cash they carried (one hundred and fourteen dollars, recorded in the back of Pastor Holbrook's sermon notebook), written a four-sentence charter on a sheet torn from a legal pad, and resolved that the work would be done quietly, through the local church, under the name Jehovah Jireh.
Since that evening, the fellowship has grown to forty-seven partner congregations and a volunteer roster of nearly two hundred, but its character has not changed. We remain unsalaried, unadvertised, and inclined toward the simplest path between a need and its meeting. The legal pad, brittle now, is kept in the board clerk's archive box along with the minutes of every quarterly meeting since January 1995.
// Governance
Board of elders.
The ministry is governed by a seven-member board of elders elected at the annual gathering by delegates from the partner congregations. Elders serve staggered three-year terms and may stand for one renewal. The board approves all disbursements above four hundred dollars, reviews the quarterly financial summary, and sets the program priorities for the coming season.
A board clerk, selected from among the elders, maintains the records, corresponds with partner churches, and prepares the one-page quarterly report and the annual report. A shed foreman, a winter-relief coordinator, and three chaplains serve by appointment of the board. All positions are voluntary and unpaid.
// Convictions
What we hold.
01 Through the church
Relief work is most durable when it flows through the local congregation. Pastors know their people; we follow their lead. A pastor's word is enough; no family is asked to tell its story twice.
02 Plain accounting
Every dollar received is accounted for in plain language. Our quarterly summary is one page and readable in ten minutes. The full ledger is available to any partner congregation through the board clerk.
03 Modest structure
We have resisted expansion for its own sake. A small fellowship, well-governed, serves better than a large one poorly kept. We have declined three merger inquiries since 2011 for this reason.
04 Dignity in receiving
Parcels are delivered, not announced. Names of recipients are not recorded in any document outside the pastor's own log. No photograph of a family in need has ever been published by this ministry, and none ever will be.
05 The work is local
We serve our region — the three counties around Shiloh Ridge and the Laurel Fork watershed. We do not pursue national reach, media coverage, or celebrity partnerships.
06 Scripture as anchor
Our charter is brief and rooted in Genesis 22. We revisit it at every annual gathering and have resisted every well-meaning proposal to lengthen it.
// The board, plainly listed
Seven elders, a clerk, and the foremen.
Listed by role only. Surnames are omitted by long-standing practice; the elders believe a board should be known by its work, not by its names.
// Inquiries
How we correspond.
Correspondence with the ministry is handled by the board clerk and passed through partner congregations. If you are a pastor of a church in our region and would like to explore a partnership, the introduction is best made through an existing member congregation. The clerk reads the correspondence pouch on the first and third Tuesdays of each month.
New partner congregations are seated by the board of elders at the quarterly meeting, on the recommendation of a pastor already in the fellowship. The correspondence pouch is read the first and third Tuesday of each month.