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(AP Photo/Pat Wellenbach)
What is the Church doing to answer the call that this recession has sounded? It seems to me that the recession is the perfect time for the Chruch to shine. Isn't meeting the needs, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and being an encouragment to the broken exactly what the Church is all about?
The recession has hit us all in some way or another. This week I spent about an hour with a man who has lost everything, on the verge of homelessness, when only six months ago he was financially stable and, in his mind, too far from need to worry about what 'could happen', to him. Over the last two weeks, as I've been researching a few up coming articles, I have run into several men and women that have lost their jobs- either laid off or fired. Sitting in the mall having dinner with my family, I ran into a former employer who had recently been laid off. At a dinner with neighbor friends a few nights back, one of my neighbors told me he had just been laid off. While sitting at Mead's coffee shop yesterday, I was talking to a friend who lost his job, about where he could apply when the man sitting next to us, turned around and said, "I was just there applying and was told that they need people, but don't have money to hire anyone." I understand that the recession was made worse by the way the government and the media handled it; creating such a fear that people stopped buying, which made things even worse, but looking at where we stand right now we can see that things have gotten bad, and the bottom line is:people need help. Scouring the news for encouraging stories, I found a story about a church that decided to create their own kind of stimulus package. After hearing more and more from people in his congregation, Rev. Timothy Tyler, of Shorter Community African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, in Colorado, decided to have a fund raiser to help relieve some of the pressure and encourage people at the same time. Rev. Tyler said his church wanted to take action that could be felt immediately. When he called on members of the congregation to contribute if they could, he was astounded by their response. "We passed the plate," he said, smiling widely. The original goal was to raise $20,000, but the Shorter congregation far surpassed that mark, giving almost $30,000 to help community members in need. With that sudden windfall, church leaders made a trip to the local supermarket, spent $5,000 on groceries which they divided into 50 bags worth $100 each. Then they sold the bags back to needy members of the congregation for just $10 each. The church also hired 10 barbers from the neighbourhood, paying them each $300 to give out haircuts to as many members of the community as turned up. (Source: BCNN1) How is Wichita's Christian faith community getting involved? Asbury Church 'Hands of Hope' Faith Chapel (A church with a big heart for outreach.) The Lord's Diner How can you get involved? How have you been affected by the recession? Drop me a line More information:
Reaches out to their congregation and community in several practical ways:
Emergency financial assistance through the Asbury Emergency Assistance Fund
Offering a 6 week support group with a focus on 'How to survive the economic meltdown'
One on one career development services including resume building and interview skills.
For more information- call (316) 942-1491 or visit their website
'His Food Pantry' open Mondays from 9:30am - 11:00am
Winter outreach - on nights the temperature is predicted to be under 22 degrees, church volunteers hit the street in search of homeless people, to give gifts of blankets, tube socks, and packaged food.
For more information- call (316) 685-5574 or visit their website
A faith-based ministry working with many churches and organizations, to bring dinner to the hungry. They serve an average of 400 meals a night, working with around 5,500 community volunteers. According to their 2009 spring newsletter, the Lord's Diner had served 968,396 meals! They are opened everyday from 5:30pm-7:30pm, 365 days a year (yep, that includes holidays)
For more information- call (316) 266-4966 or visit their website
Most of these churches and organizations have needs: financial, food, clothes, shoes, perishables, volunteers. You can reach these organizations and churches by phone, or look them up on the internet. I have also put a link to the Kansas Food Resource page which has a list of many more food bank and emergency help centers.
What outreaches would you like to see the Church doing?
How could non-profit organizations and ministry outreaches be more affective in reaching out to those who have suffered from the recession?
Samuel Connelly/ Wichita's Christian Faith & Culture
Sam@samthewriter.com
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