by John Biddulph at Flickr.com –
This past Sunday we completed our second “We are the Sermon” ministry. The idea was not original to us, and certainly not complicated. The aim of the ministry was to reach out to our community with acts of service and love. A secondary aim is developing deeper friendships and relationships with one another as we work together. We did two of these days this year.
The Schedule:
Normal morning Bible classes and worship.
2:00 – Afternoon worship with a condensed sermon.
2:45 – Organize and assemble into work teams
3:00 – 5:30 work on the projects
5:30 – Eat a fellowship meal together
The Type of Projects
We made it our aim to have projects available for all types of people. We tried to plan both inside and outside projects. Here is a list of what we did this year. Not all of these stayed completely with our intention of reaching out to the community, but most do.
- Cleared and cleaned two forsaken cemeteries.
- Mowed community members yards and trimmed shrubs.
- Washed the siding of a home.
- Mowed and trimmed the local women’s shelter.
- Prepared snack baggies of appreciation for workers at the nursing homes and hospital.
- Had a group prepare the fellowship meal.
- Had a prayer group.
- El Salvador mission team packed.
- Cleaned storage areas of the church building.
- Did maintenance on the church playground and grounds.
- Collected and hauled off trees from storm damage in yards.
- Prepared snack bags for those going to El Salvador.
The Challenges
This ministry involves several challenges that you must combat if you are going to conduct this at your local congregation.
- Finding a variety of projects to do can be challenging.
- Finding enough work for a large group (in our case around 100 people).
- You need to assign project coordinators. We had a deacon who helped me lead this ministry. He and 3 other men helped serve as coordinators for the outside projects. They would assess the needs before Sunday and provide the needed tools and leadership to get the jobs done. We recruited ladies to purchase the food items and organize the meal and gift baggies before Sunday.
- Keeping the focus on community members and not church members is also a challenge. We did not focus as much on community outreach on the second event because of some pressing church needs. Some of our members had needs because of a recent storm and the El Salvador group needed to prepare to leave. We felt this was the best way to use the time and labor.
Your church may want to consider this ministry. It is really just an old-fashioned work day with a community focus and a fellowship meal. We hope to improve and grow our ministry. We may do it more often and may not include a meal sometimes.
What ideas or thoughts could you share?
