It was amazing. From the moment I stepped through the sanctuary doors, I could sense that something new was going on. I mean, honestly, people at my church usually like going to church, but this Sunday the energy was elevated, and the spirit was electric.
This was Faith In Action Sunday, a day we had been building up to for months.
Organized and mobilized
A special task force had put together a list of projects, different ways our church family could serve people in our community. Each project was assigned a leader, who recruited volunteers, organized arrangements, communicated details, and cast vision.
On Sunday, October 17, 2010, more than 450 members of the Living Springs family met at the church building at our usual time. But instead of our usual service, we were deployed into service. After a brief time of praise, prayer, and instruction, the project teams left the building and got to work.
- One team brought boxes of baked goods to the Fire Departments and Police Departments in our town and expressed appreciation for everything they do.
- Several teams spent the morning picking up litter in parks and forest preserves.
- A team of families stayed at the church building to assemble care packages for the staff and teachers of Hickory Bend School. In addition to snacks and gifts, they spent time writing cards of encouragement and thanks.
- Another team stayed at the church building to write letters to men and women serving our country overseas.
- 12 other teams raked leaves, washed cars, planted trees, visited rehab patients, listened to seniors, and performed random acts of kindness throughout town.
Delighted and excited
Want to hear how excited we were? Here’s a short video of what people had to say as they returned from a morning of putting their faith in action:
For those of you who attend a church, can you see your congregation doing something like this? Why or why not?
For those of you who are not church members, would something like this change your opinion of the story the church has to share? In what way?
It’s always a beautiful thing when the followers of Christ “reach out” to those in their communities; but it’s even more beautiful when every individual does it day-in and day-out in their own personal lives. Many have been won to Christ through “friendship evangelism” or what I call “service evangelism.” It really is MORE blessed to give than to receive!!!!!
Hi Jean, thanks for stopping by! (Thanks too for the email you sent, which I’ll reply to later!) I think you’re right about each of us reaching out individually, and what a wonderful world that would be. But I saw a few distinct advantages to doing this as a church:
(1) it gave some people a little bit of a comfort zone; that is, they might not have dared talk to a stranger about church, but being with a group gave them courage;
(2) Related to that, there was so much enthusiasm about what we were doing, that people who might have been unsure about it to begin with were soon swept up in the fun; and when people have fun doing something, they’re more likely to want to do it again!
(3) It reminded us that THIS is what church is supposed to be about—not sermon style, or PowerPoint slides, or how good the choir sounds, but DOING and SERVING and GIVING; and
(4) It gave people outside the church a fresh opinion about church; that is, I think we had a deeper impact as representatives of Living Springs than we would have had on our own. A lot of people said things like, “Oh, you guys are from a church? Hmm, maybe I’ll check it out!”
So I’m not disagreeing with you. I just think we need both. Christianity is best lived out in community, and our individual lives have to match up with what we say we believe in church! I’m hoping that Faith In Action will become a way of life for us—individually and as a church family!