Some years ago, Crossroads Community Christian Reformed Church in Flanders, N.J., started anew as a reborn church and was looking for unique ways to make a difference in their community.
Reilly McWilliams, Rev. Paul Ingeneri, Freedom Vera, Megan Beattie, Morgan Kovach, and Natalie Beattie use a game to learn math skills.
Since the pastor, Rev. Paul Ingeneri, has a math education background and often tutored students, he started a math class to help students prepare for SAT tests. Several students obtained scores of 790, and one got a perfect 800 on the SATs.
Now the church is reaching out to younger students, teaching multiplication skills to third and fourth graders, using computers and games.
Twelve teens and adults from the church were recruited to help with this program, and as many as thirty students from the community participated in the six-week sessions.
Twelve-week tutoring sessions in all math areas for students in elementary and high school are also offered.
Natalie Beattie, a teacher/tutor in the program, explained, “By reaching out to the community with this math program, we were able to show we care about the people around us. The students enjoyed learning their multiplication facts in fun ways, and the parents saw the church reaching out to help others. It was a very rewarding experience for all involved.”
Kellie Fields, whose son William participated, said her son was able to access the facts quickly from memory, “which helped him do better in timed tests and other math.”
Ingeneri sums up their efforts: “Our goal in whatever we do is to let folks know we care about them because of Jesus.”