This past weekend a group of thirteen Central Wesleyan folks ranging in age from 12-73 had the opportunity to experience another culture through serving and outreach. We spent three days in Benton Harbor, MI. First we worked with a young couple to insulate their 90-year-old home so their heating bills would no longer top $600 a month. The couple intentionally relocated to this neighborhood to minister to the people there. They are using the six bedrooms as a safe haven for the homeless and for others looking to build community in the neighborhood. Other work included drywall, electrical, heating/cooling, painting, and loving this couple and the two foster children they are caring for in their home.
We also pulled out a grill in an empty lot and cooked hot dogs, seeing who God brought our way. Saturday afternoon the smell of hot dogs brought over 125 people to the neighborhood lot for hot dogs, chips, and water. What an experience it was interacting with a population of people many of our group don’t usually interact with. This is God’s world!
We were there serving the people of Overflow Church and their pastor Brian Bennett, and we had the privilege of worshiping with them on Sunday morning in their sanctuary, theatre two of the Celebration Cinema!
It was a wonderful three days of seeing God’s hand at work at in a different community. We saw our group’s gifts (drywall, heating/cooling, health inspection, loving kids) being utilized outside the four walls of our church. At one of our dinners a waitress was invited to church and one of our members prayed with a woman at the mall another night. This is God’s world!
As we huddled in groups with people from Overflow one of our group members prayed in between tears…“Thank you Lord for showing us that our mission field is just outside our door.” Thanks for praying for us while we were gone.
Thank You Lord, for using us to impact a community as well as showing us how the gifts you have given us can impact OUR community.
Chris Hofland
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment