Our Mission

It is our desire to enlarge the Kingdom of Jesus Christ by providing children of the world a safe and fun environment where they can come to have Eternal Life by coming to Know God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ whom He had sent. (John 17:3)

AWANA

We fully support the mission of AWANA to see the boys and girls of the world come to KNOW, LOVE, and SERVE our Lord Jesus Christ. As you view our site, you will notice a very strong AWANA influence. Please note that we are not a part of AWANA even though we support their efforts.

What is a HardCourt

The court itself is a 50’x50’ MULTIPURPOSE concrete slab which is built via an effort by a Short Term Mission team and a local church team. These multi-purpose courts have been used and are being used for volley-ball, basketball, soccer, town hall meetings, weddings, revival meetings and other church/community related activities.

Construction of play areas and training of adult leaders is vital to working with children and youth.

Full Narrative on what we do and how we do it. 

Unless otherwise stipulated, the term “local church(s)” will refer to the receiving church.

Unless otherwise stipulated, the term “sending church” will refer to the Short Term Mission (STM) church.  

HardCourt Ministries is a non-denominational, non-profit religious organization that reaches out to boys and girls around the globe. Our authority, assurance and marching orders are taken from Matthew 28 where Jesus Christ said: All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.  

When evangelical missionaries started teaching throughout the world, they concentrated on starting churches designed to minister mainly to adults. As cultures, societies and technology have changed; the teaching of children has taken on a much greater needed role. Our focus is to train adult leaders how to minister to the youth of today in a safe, fun and Christ centered environment. Not only will we provide training for the adult leaders, we will construct, via the sending teams, play grounds, multi-functional game courts, and other areas and activities that will draw children and youth to the church where they can be ministered to.

It is our desire to be engaged with local, community minded churches who wish to see their community impacted by the Good News of Jesus. We will work across denominational lines to accomplish this goal.  Since there are many evangelistic denominations, we focus only on telling children and adults about Jesus – what He did and accomplished for us while here on Earth. Our message is simple and can be found in: 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

In order to accomplish our goal, we will form and utilize Short Term Mission (STM) teams from churches across the United States. These teams will help provide the necessary financial and physical resources to accomplish the effort at hand. In addition to providing the resources, it is the hoped that the STM team members will experience the presence of God as He works in and through the team. NOTE: HardCourt Ministries acts only as an agent of the STM. It is important to us that cross cultural relationships be formed between the churches involved. We do not see ourselves as the primary focus of that relationship.

Especially with youth, when they are taken out of their comfort zone, their eyes become opened to spiritual, cultural and economic disparities. It is our hope that the youth of the US, will become mission minded as they experience this “culture shock”. It is also hoped that they will come to understand just how blessed they are and give God thanks for that.

It is required that each local church be partnered with a sending church from the USA. This is accomplished by HardCourt Ministries by visiting both the local church and the sending church. During these visits we determine the local church’s need and the sending church’s resources – financial and physical.

Game Area Construction

Since 2006, we have participated in the construction of multifunctional concrete courts that are used by local churches to attract children and youth to the church grounds where they can be reached with the Good News of Jesus Christ. In addition, the courts can and have been used for special church meetings, gatherings and as a community meeting forum.

The first step in this process is to assess a local church. Once the local church assessment is completed, we evaluate a sending church that has expressed interest in serving in the particular area. Since we are a non-denominational organization, we want to insure that doctrinal differences do not prohibit the forming of cross-cultural and Cross-cultural relationships. Furthermore, we evaluate sending team members in regards to physical and spiritual maturity as well as evaluating the teams’ financial ability to partner with the local church. This step requires meetings by HardCourt staff with the sending church leaders.

Once we have matched the churches, we coordinate activities to ensure that all goes smoothly. These activities include but are not restricted to, physical and spiritual training, fund raising, and other necessary actions to ensure the desired outcome.                                                

The standard court itself is a 50’x50’ concrete slab which is built via an effort by the sending team and the local team. These multi-purpose courts have been used and are being used for volley-ball, basketball, soccer, town hall meetings, weddings, revival meetings and other church/community related activities.

Construction of play areas and training of adult leaders is vital to working with children and youth.

Vacation Bible School (VBS)

Starting in 2012, we began introducing a VBS option to the local churches. All of the applicable assessments and trainings stated in the previous section apply here as well.

On many occasions, game area construction, Children’s Ministry Training, and VBS activities have taken place at the same time.

Children’s Ministry Training

 In addition to construction and VBS activities, we perform Children’s Ministry Training. For this we must evaluate the local churches needs and ability to perform Christ centered ministry and discipleship. While most local churches hold weekly Sunday school for children, few engage fully in children’s discipleship. Our goal is to provide the local church with teaching techniques that appeal to the children of this generation. This has and will cause us to provide equipment to the local church. Such equipment may include but not be restricted to computers, projectors, sound equipment and other audio visual aids.  

Furthermore, we will guide the local church to materials that are appropriate for their children. We may guide them toward Child Evangelism Fellowship, Awana, Gospel Project and other Christ centered materials. In the future we hope to develop our own materials.  

Preaching the Good News

From time to time we have been called upon to preach at local churches and sending churches. We respond to all invites for such calls. While our focus is primarily on children, we cannot and do not forget the importance that the role of adults (specifically parents) plays in spiritual development.

Relief Efforts

While not a primary focus, we have been engaged in relief efforts assisting those in need following disasters beyond their control. Such disasters have included hurricane relief (Ike) and Kansas and Missouri tornados.

Areas of Service

Areas that we have worked in and continue to work in include: USA, Jamaica, Antigua, Barbuda, Barbados, Grenada, and Mozambique in Africa.

Future Efforts

 It is our intention in going forward; to engage in activities similar to ones we have done in the past and to partner with organizations of like passion. Other areas of interest include other Caribbean Islands, India and South America. We currently have connections in those areas.

PERSONAL MISSIONARY

We wish to be your personal missionary to whatever part of the world God has laid upon your heart.