Encompass Partnerships

We are a partnership community that leverages our cowork space and resources to collaborate with and build the capacity of those inspired to reach the most marginalized communities in Calgary. People who are marginalized from society experience multiple barriers to a fulfilling life for a myriad of reasons, including homelessness, poverty, modern day slavery (yes, it’s in our city), immigration, o

r identifying with a minority subculture. However, it’s not that they are simply out of reach; truth is, we often keep them out of reach. Why is it so necessary to reach out to the marginalized? It matters for their dignity and psychosocial health. It matters for our society's resiliency and socioeconomic health. It matters to the Creator who made them and wants no one to be left out of experiencing His all-encompassing love, heart for justice, and promise to restore this world. Reaching out and caring for the marginalized helps our society to flourish. How does Encompass Partnerships address this issue? Encompass Partnerships helps restore dignity and an abundant life to people pushed to the margins of society by bringing together a community of individuals, missions and social service agencies, and churches who share a similar mission to reach the marginalized. Our cowork office and programming space naturally encourages collaboration to leverage each other’s skills and experience to enhance ideas, multiply impact, and share common costs. Our staff have years of experience in church leadership, mentorship, and the non-profit sector that can all be leveraged by our partners. It is designed to be better. Earth was made by its Creator to be a place of abundance, of joy and peace within the human community and of free-flowing relationship between the Creator and the created. We all know things should be better. That 'sense' is wired into us. The universal human longings for justice, beauty, peace and meaningful relationships are an echo of God's original intentions for the world. He's left signs of Himself in our deepest longings. How do we get back to what God intended? What will it take to get to a place where there is not only hope, but a pathway for a better world? God has created the way to reconcile all things - people and creation - back to the way He designed it. That 'way' is through Jesus Christ who is the bridge between us and God. By following Christ's way not only is our thinking and behaviour transformed but we then can become transforming agents in this world. However true relational, physical and spiritual abundance is often very difficult for those at the margins of the worlds' societies. Society in general, and unfortunately often us also as a Christian community, have frequently ignored the needs of the 'others' who are not like us. Encompass Partnerships' reason for existence is to collaborate with individuals, agencies and churches who have a commitment to go to the edge of society where the transforming presence, power and abundance through Jesus Christ isn’t yet clearly evident. We have a profound belief that no-one is ever to be left out of experiencing the love of God through Jesus. Though we possess physical space, fundamentally we are an idea, a movement and a partnering network with one thing in common –our unflinching belief that the Good News of Jesus Christ can and does transform individuals, families, communities and cities. Jesus has a message of hope and freedom that not only brings anyone into a right relationship with our Creator God, but into a right relationship with our world. Jesus isn’t just inside your head & soul. He shows up in your hands. Therefore entering into and living out His truth touches all aspects of life: equity & justice, social structures, culture celebration and reform, economics, personal and corporate behaviour etc. He transforms individuals and societies from the inside-out.