WESTSIDE FAMILY CHURCH • JUNE-JULY 2026
LIBERATING OUR CHILDREN TO FLOURISH
🗓️ A 4-WEEK TEACHING SERIES
1 IN 7
children in the U.S. live in poverty
80%
of low-income 4th graders never reach reading proficiency
40%
of 4th graders read below basic level
130 Million
U.S. adults struggle to read basic sentences
WHY THIS MATTERS
Injustice becomes generational—without intervention.
The pain, lack of opportunity, and limitations of poverty are passed from parents to children. But so can hope. Set Free is a four-week journey through Scripture that invites our whole church to see, feel, and respond to the literacy crisis in our own backyard.
"Children who read become adults who read. It really is that simple—and that powerful."
Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.
— Isaiah 1:17
WATCH FIRST
Meet Fugi and Adrian
Before anything else, watch this seven-minute film. It will change how you see the children in our city.
Weekend Messages
Four Sunday messages drawn from the book READ: How God's People Can Bring Justice Through Literacy by Tony Kriz. Each week explores a theme from Scripture and invites the church toward action.
THE SERIES
Three Ways to Explore God's Heart for This
Set Free meets you where you are—Sunday mornings with the whole church, mid-week in a small group, and daily around your family table.
Small Group Guide
The READ · RISE · RESTORE small group curriculum pairs with each sermon. Includes four video stories from the Sentenced film and guided discussion in both long-form and short-form versions.
Family Devotional
Devotional for the whole family—younger kids, teens, and adults. Available free through the YouVersion Bible App or as part of the full READ book. Takes just 15–25 minutes at the table.
Become a Reading Mentor
Volunteer one hour a week in a local school through your Area Community. A mother's reading skill is the single greatest predictor of her children's future academic success. Be that difference for a child in our city.
Find Your Area Community→
GET INVOLVED
Three Ways to Be Part of the Response
Don't just watch—act. Here are three concrete ways WFC is mobilizing to change the literacy story in our city.
School Prayer Challenge
Download the School Prayer Challenge App and pray specifically for the students, teachers, and families in a school near you. Prayer moves things. Let's start there.
Get the App→
Supply Drive
Give a fully stocked backpack to a child who needs one this fall. Donate online or bring supplies to WFC during the series. Every backpack is a declaration that a child's story is not finished.
Donate Now→
SUPPLY DRIVE
Share a book.
Change a story.
A classroom stocked with books tells a child: You matter. Your education matters. We see you. Our goal is 5000 books delivered to children in under-resourced schools across the Kansas City area this fall.
Goal: 5000 Books
0000 of 5000 donated · Help us reach the goal
READ: How God's People Can Bring Justice Through Literacy
by Tony Kriz & Jeff Martin. The foundation behind the entire series.