I am very blessed to belong to a congregation that has been involved in community outreach for decades. When my children were young and living at home, we would spend a few Saturday mornings a year going to the church to join a group in our highway clean up project. We would break into groups of 3 or so, and pick up all kinds of interesting “stuff” along the road to keep the road in front of our church clean.
Besides the fellowship and sense of service, this allowed our small church to be visible to our neighbors as a helping community. We often had cars drive by and honk at us stooped over in our bright orange vests – an appreciation for what we were doing. A large blue sign at the start of this road announces our efforts to keep this community clean. The effort was minimal, but the representation and visibility was huge. It is also an activity that young and old alike can be involved in. Over dirty diapers and beer bottles, we were serving God in Gatchelville.
The most powerful outreach ministry I’ve been involved in at Gatchelville has been our annual Bible School. It began on a HUGE leap of faith. I was pastor at the time, and was attending some kind of leadership retreat at Deer Park with Cindy Abbott. The presenter was motivating all of us to find a way to match the unique talents of our congregations with a need in the community. Cindy and I talked for a bit, and started to get excited about the possibility of running a Bible School in the summer. Many in our congregation were teachers or had summers off, and we worked well with kids. We left truly excited, and I announced from the pulpit the next week that we were going to start a Bible School in our church. (After I did it – I realized that I didn’t ask, didn’t have a committee sit and determine if it was a good idea, or set out a time line plan.) I mention this, because I am not a top-down leader, I strongly believe in involving those around me in decisions and plans. But this time was different. I felt very strongly the call to get going and do this thing, and that God was a big part of the plan. The congregation accepted the challenge, and we were off!
We had not budgeted any special money, we had not recruited the staff, we had not canvassed the neighborhood. We had stepped forth in faith and the group was excited. After choosing materials from the Christian Book Store, and lining up volunteers, we created the artwork and started passing out fliers in the neighborhood, and to those dining at our Church suppers. The night before it started, we had only 4 children registered. How embarrassing! What would the community members helping us out think? Well, we ended up with 13 walk-ons, including a family who had already attended a Bible School in the neighborhood. One family walked their four children over a mile in order to attend all week. At the end of the week, several said this was the best Bible School they had ever attended! Our sign out front announcing the Bible School again let our neighbors know that we are here to teach and be Christ-like. We are planning for our 8th Bible School this summer. We have grown to have about 30 children and just as many staff and volunteers. It is one of the highlights of our year, and now includes neighbors helping us in all phases of the project. God is good!
Read moreAt our congregation in Gatchelville, we have six public turkey suppers each year that are crucial to our budget – we make a considerable profit for our small congregation. There is much preparation and work that goes into the suppers; however, we look forward to each one and they have become so much more than fund raisers. We have been able to reach out to our community and they have reached back to us; it has been a rich blessing both ways. By word of mouth, our numbers continue to increase – we are often told that we have the best food and the best service of all church suppers! (That could be heard as a challenge?!) Our customers really enjoy gathering at our church visiting with us, meeting new people, spending time with friends, and eating good food! We are simply privileged to be the place in which that gathering occurs.
I have been deeply touched by the relationships formed during our suppers; I know that others at Gatchelville have similar testimonies. I often marvel at how I am greeted each time with so many welcoming hugs and huge smiles from people that I only know from the suppers. They often ask that I sit down with them as they eat their meals so that they can share their lives with me and vice versa. One story that stands out vividly in my memory is of a family – a mom and dad, their adult daughter and her husband – who frequently attended our suppers. They were so much fun to serve and I looked forward to seeing them each time. One supper just the parents showed up and when I asked about their daughter, I was stunned to hear that she and their son-in-law had been killed in a recent accident. The parents eagerly waited for our next supper because they especially wanted to come eat with us, knowing how much being at our suppers meant to their daughter. We saved a special seat at the table just for her, made a plate full of her favorite food, and shared fun memories of past suppers. We laughed and we cried together as we grieved the loss of their loved ones. That is what these suppers have become for me – a wonderful time to share God’s love and caring with our neighbors and in doing so, we just happen to receive that love and caring back a hundredfold!
Another ministry we are involved in takes a lot less commitment and work on our behalf and, yet, its impact is huge. A local Nazarene church in our rural community began a ministry program that is a part of the larger Nazarene Compassionate Ministries, Inc. They have a huge warehouse near Gatchelville where they collect, organize, and ship thousands of boxes of clothing, personal care items, crisis-care kits, etc. to many countries around the world where there is great need and in times of crisis. The success of this program relies on volunteers and donations which they receive from groups and churches across the country. Volunteers are needed to pack, label, and tape the boxes to get them ready to be shipped. Sandy Johnson asked that our congregation become a drop off center for clothing so that our members could become involved in this ministry. We also advertised it at our turkey suppers, giving our friends an easy way to donate clothing for this cause when they come to eat. One of our Sunday School rooms serves as our collection center to store the clothing which we then deliver to the warehouse. Also, several of our members have volunteered their time at the warehouse. We are currently working on ensuring that someone from our congregation is volunteering at least twice a month.
How awesome it is that we, Gatchelville Community of Christ, can support our brothers and sisters in the Fawn Grove Church of the Nazarene in their wonderful ministry.
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