Two Stories

I haven't had a chance to blog much over the past few days. I've been crazy busy. There has been some great stuff going on and God is teaching me through it. Here's what I am learning:

Ministry is all about faith. I have known this for a LONG time (and have told many people this fact) but seemed to have let this one slip my mind lately. When we were first starting the church, everything was about faith: people attending, volunteers, money, set-up, supplies --- we were dependent on the Lord for ALL of it because we had none of it.

Now that we are almost six-years-old and have people, volunteers, supplies, teams, etc., it's easy to forget the faith component of ministry. Our finances have been down the last few months and we've had some unexpected expenses. We are not in financial danger at all but we've got less in the bank than we've had in a while. In my "managing" of the situation, I expressed my concern to our leadership team and they reminded me that ministry is all about faith. God will take care of us. I know this as well as anyone. I just seemed to have forgotten. Thanks, Lord, for the reminder.

(And then on Sunday, in His amazing ways, we had the highest offering of the year. Praise God!)

The church needs to be truly helping people in real need. Our church is filled with servants. We have people who LOVE to get their hands dirty serving and actually serve people --- not just give money towards a cause. We regularly have groups feeding the homeless, helping people repair homes, stocking the shelves at the Soup Kitchen, taking coats and clothes to people in need, listening, giving, sharing. God has created a culture of service in our church and I LOVE being a part of that.

But two things happened this weekend that really challenged me to question how we (the church) can truly help people in real need.

Saturday morning we had a crew serving at Anderson Interfaith Ministries. Capstone sponsored a truck of food that we were giving away to anyone in need. The truck came from a food bank. On it was grapefruit, apples, onions, cereal, oatmeal --- all kinds of stuff. We were there to unload, pack and give out the food.

Hundreds of people lined up to get the free food. In the crowd was a woman who is a regular part of our church. I see her each week. I talk with her. But I've never known that she had this kind of need in her life. When I saw her, my first thought was "I had no idea." The second was, "What can we do for her?"

The second thing happened on Monday. I was at the Soup Kitchen handing out tea to those who came in for lunch. In through the door came a woman who had been in our church for a year or so and whose mother is a regular part of the church. This woman has been away for six or eight months and her mother had told me that she was back out using drugs and living a destructive lifestyle.

When this woman saw me, she fell into my arms like a child would her father. She began to tell me that she had thought about me and the church just the night before because she knew she should be in church but her sin was keeping her away even though she knows this is the time to go because she needs it the most!

I asked her where she was living and she said that she and her boyfriend had just been evicted. I did not know what to do! We talked some more and I just hugged her and reassured her. I encouraged her to go home to her family who loves her and to come back to church. I gave her my cell number and told her that I would help her in anyway I can if she'll call me. I haven't heard from her.

After they ate their lunch and they left, my heart broke because I realized that I did not know what to do to help her. Like all of us, her choices are her own and she knows that. But I wished I had something I could give her or somewhere I could give her to stay or someone who was trained to help her and her boyfriend get their lives back on track.

I know there are agencies out there who do this work. But I keep thinking, "it's the church, it's the church!"

God has used both of these events to stir in me a desire to figure out how we as the church can truly be helping people in need. I don't know what the answer is. I'm not sure I even understand my own questions. But I know God has to have a solution.

There's more I could write but I'll stop there. Let's just say that God has been speaking and teaching the last few days and weeks. I have SO MUCH to learn. Once again, He is teaching me that the church is SO MUCH MORE THAN A GATHERING on Sunday morning. I hope we'll be faithful to be the church He has called us to be.