Love Week- A Ripple of Hope

Have you ever heard the adage that 20% of the people in a church (or sometimes a business or other organization) seem to do 80% of the work? That apparently was not our church last week.

Approximately 220 people (just under half the congregation, last I checked) contributed a combined 2,245 hours of volunteer service, distributed at least 400 church invitation cards and had over 120 conversations about the Lord with people in the community during Love Week, a coordinated volunteerism and service campaign at Freedom Christian last week.

Outreach activities ranged from a spa day for senior ladies at the Windemere Park Senior Community, to a first responders and city employees breakfast for Sterling Heights, or painting and landscaping the Abigayle Ministries building, and even random acts of kindness like giving out quarters at the Laundromat and delivering an unfathomable 1,920 cookies (160 dozen) for the cholesterol-needy in homes and businesses.

Way to go, brothers and sisters!

Now, none of this is to say anything of the 31 Freedom peeps who donated an additional 205 combined service hours earlier this summer to MCREST, the Macomb County Rotating Emergency Shelter Team program for the homeless, PLUS a 3-day garage sale fundraiser and planning meetings. As team leader I’d been wondering earlier this year if we should time our MCREST week this year to coincide more with Love Week. But I see now that would have been overload, considering how busy you all were already. My only point in mentioning MCREST is to note that several of our volunteers couldn’t play much of a role in Love Week, and vice versa -- so taking them together, the overall church engagement rate in the community is even higher. That’s awesome, but Love Week was never about us, as Pastor Aaron noted in Sunday’s message. It was about the people we could serve, and offering a glimpse of the Kingdom of Heaven with tangible evidence of the Love we ourselves scarcely grasp.

But don’t let me get away with sounding too spiritual. If you’re like me, hearing the deeds of others instills in you a sense of admiration tinged with guilt. Paula and I played only nominal roles at one block party and the city employee breakfast, but we wish we could have done more if schedules permitted. That’s OK, I have to tell myself. As Jesus tells John and the apostles, “Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward.” (Mark 9:41 NIV). You know what I like best about that verse?  Doing the Lord a favor is easy. I can do easy. Who in the developed world can’t access a cup of water most of the time?  You don’t need an advanced degree, you don’t need the purest motives, and you certainly don’t need exceptional leadership skills. You need only the resources at hand.

One of the reasons I feel called to the homeless ministry is a conviction that one of the greatest dignities you can give to people with nothing is just noticing them. But my other motivation is that one of my abundant resources is insomnia, and this is an overnight ministry. I have spent the wee hours on everything from watching possum forage in the nature preserve (which I recommend to others) to climbing into a darkened city viaduct (which I do not). So why not make 4 a.m. count for eternity? We shall not all sleep, brethren, but we can still all be changed.

I can’t promise you that you’ll ever feel like you’ve nailed the service part of being a Christian. As Pastor noted, new challenges come along as quickly as you tackle the old ones, and some people have never known how much they accomplished as pastors until they left the role. But let me give you all a big hand for the beauty of your actions: proclaiming peace, bringing good tidings, declaring salvation, and proclaiming God’s greatness.

Written by: Chad Halcom

Edited by: De Ann Sturdivant