If you invite them, they will come!
The London Brydges street congregation followed the call to enter into Christ’s mission on Saturday Dec. 3. A group of people got together and planned a strategy we hoped would encourage people that lived within 5 minutes of our building to come and have a meal with us. Were we hearing God`s call or were we just not thinking rationally?
Our neighbourhood is made up of a mix of approx. 60% middle class people and 40% with little to no means. We had sent out flyers five times over the last two years; our first for a strawberry social. We had 4 people come. An outdoor barbeque fun day in front of our congregation attracted about 40. This time we delivered 850 flyers to homes. We were moving out in a direction that wasn’t completely unfamiliar to us but we did not know what to expect. Our hope was to feed 250 non members and only feed ourselves with the leftovers at the end of the night. Our meal planners developed a menu of a full course roast beef dinner. No one would leave hungry.
Price: Adults $2.00, Children 14 and under $ 1.00, 5 and under free.
Even with donations of food etc. Our cost was $ 568.00. Members gave of their time (most were there from 10 AM on Sat.). At least 40 helped out throughout the day of our meal. What a feeling of sharing and love was felt as the excitement of the day built towards our 5:00 o`clock invitation time!
What did we receive from God for our efforts? The first people came at 4:40. By 5 PM we had 25 guests. They took the survey sheet and before the end of the evening 25% of the people filled them out with suggestions. We fed 72 people, and in reflection, God knew we could handle 72. Guests shared with each other and with us. Most stayed for at least 90 minutes and some for over 2 hours.
One family of meagre means, husband and wife and a teenage daughter, stayed for about 1 hour. Our members serving them were given many compliments and told how great the evening was for them. As the mother was leaving she was asked if she would like to take some extra food home and she replied, “Oh, no thank you” but exclaimed, "This was the best meal that I have ever eaten in my life!” The genuine way she said this was enough to bring tears to our eyes. Asked again if we could pack something for them, we were told no but they would be remembering this night for a long time and looked forward to more flyers.
A young, more affluent family rushed in just before 7 and sat down explaining their 3 teenage boys had been playing hockey and were very hungry. They had visited another event some months earlier and felt they could not miss this evening. The mother filled out her card answering the question regarding needs of the area. “Awareness of dealing with mental illness”, she stated, and she would like to assist with a program to help with this need. She signed her name with contact info.
Other requests included:
• games night for seniors (we already do this, so another invitation will be made),
• a youth program,
• summer vacation bible school,
• a program for the handicapped (and they would help),
• clean up day for the area (and they would help),
• an exercise program a couple of days a week either free or with a good will offering,
• are we a child friendly church?
• And finally, will we be doing more nights like this?
One set of grandparents came with a grandson of about 10 and another couple. They stayed for over 2 hours. On leaving they asked for take-out meals and then went to their car only to return in a few minutes with a sheepish grin and say that their grandson was still playing in the church with the member’s children. They almost forgot him as they and he were so well entertained that they had hardly seen him throughout the evening.
We invited people to come, God provided them. We fed those with needs: hungry, lonely, and looking for knowledge of our church. We provided literature to those that had inquiries (enduring principles and basic beliefs) and we met in community. Did it end there?
The next day we had a lady visit for our Sunday worship service. (We usually have around 50 for this service but had closer to 80 on this day.) She recently moved into the area but did not receive the flyer. She said she had been thinking of coming to our church for some time and that she knew she had to come this Sunday. Arriving just before the service started, several of our members welcomed her. After the service she stayed and shared her life story with our Pastor for about 30 minutes, then asked if she could be baptized. She is planning on starting classes in the next few weeks. While we were enjoying the extra roast beef on Sunday for lunch, another non-member in our congregation asked an elder if he could be baptized. Two separate requests for baptism within minutes; God’s Spirit in abundance! The energy of the week-end was very high.
At about this time another person walked into our church and asked if we were planning more events for people to come and eat with us. He could not come the night before but his brothers were there, and he came over to discuss our future plans. He was invited to eat with us, and to “just go get a plate.” He said no, but he would like to put his money into the pot we had there. He reached deep into his pocket for his $2.00. After our free will offering lunch we had a net profit of $4.00 for the week-end!
If we are going out in mission with no idea of the outcome does Jesus know what He will provide to us? I do not know the answer, but I can tell you that what happened on Saturday evening December 3, 2011 has us listening to Him for direction. We are now looking into filling some needs with helpers that are willing to assist us in Jesus’ Mission.
HOPE, the theme for the second week of Advent, has been well shown to us at Brydges Street Community of Christ.
Thank you God!
Paul Fitzgeorge
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