Being the Church

Yesterday, was a glorious day here at MHBC. Six teams gave presentations concerning ministries they implemented through a five week movement of service called Operation:Neighbor. The six groups were assigned the task of implementing a short term ministry initiative that would meet the needs of individuals whose needs are not being met in our community. Each team was given $400 to use toward the completion of their project, and told they had 5 weeks to complete the endeavor.
These groups, involving over 100 of our church folks, did the following short-term ministry projects:
*a fair for foster children and their families
*collected shoes for those without shoes and cleaned the yards of foreclosed homes to help beautify the neighborhood
*a car clinic to teach ladies in the area how to care for their automobiles
*an AARP driving school to help senior adults save on auto insurance and replenishing the church's food pantry
* a party for the parents that bring children to our child care center, a major painting job of the rooms that the child care center uses, and early morning coffee and pastries for the parents on their way to work
*a baby shower for five pregnant teens from a local high school

As I sat and listened to the reports through tears in my eyes, it hit me- this is what being a missional church is all about. Teams of people working together to meet specific needs in our context. I also realized that several significant things had been accomplished:
1. The love of Christ has been shared with those who are typically overlooked.
2. More people were involved in front-line ministry in these five weeks than in any other time of the year. Many of the usual workers participated, but so many more who are not involved became part of a team.
3. There was an amazing sense of unity behind the desire to please God by meeting the needs of others.
4. No paid Christians (staff people) were allowed to participate on the teams and it became obvious that God can use anybody, not just those who are paid professionals.

The common thing that we heard over and over from people went something like this: "I can't believe that a church is actually doing something to help the community."
Two conclusions: First, we know that we are making significant progress in connecting to our community. Second, it is a shame that a church is getting noticed for what should be normal activity amongst the body of Christ.

Thank you, Lord, for allowing me to experience Operation:Neighbor.

Taking Things for Granted

It is true for me, that I don't realize how good I have it until something is taken away. We are in the process of having new A/C units installed in the church building, so we are spending a few days without A/C. It just so happens that we are having near record high tempatures for the month of October, which means the building is HOT! I chickened out and went to a different part of the building to work, but I have been reminded how I take things like air conditioners for granted. This has caused me to stop, reflect, and be thankful for things that I commonly overlook as expected parts of my day: a car that runs, a seemingly endless water supply, a grocery store continually supplied with food, etc. So, today, it is the little things, that quickly become big things when lost, for which I am grateful. What is on your list?