ReTHINKing Church

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'” Matthew 25:34-36 (NIV)

Our economy has been a bit shaky over the past several months and it affects all of us to some degree. Many of us concern ourselves over how the economy may affect us directly, i.e., being laid off, companies or people not needing our services. Yet, God calls the church to be a verb and not a noun, especially in these times. What if we answered that call to be a church of action? What if we were more than a building that houses people for a weekly holy huddle? What if we did church in our community throughout six days of the week and then on Sundays, we celebrated with God what the church did in the previous days? What if…?

One opportunity to answer the “what-if question” for FUMC to be a verb, a word of action, is through financially assisting indigent people in time of need. During these down times of our economy, we receive an increase in viable requests for assistance in the community. Two local entities, the Whitesboro Ministerial Alliance (WMA) and Your Neighbors’ House (YNH) try to assist people in need. The Ministerial Alliance provides minimal assistance to people with gasoline vouchers, prescriptions, food vouchers, and occasional one night stays at Victorian Inn. However, the rules of the ministerial alliance are very stringent due to the availability of funds and ensuring that people do not abuse the system. Furthermore, Your Neighbor’s House assists with food needs on a once per month basis. As a church, we contribute $100 per month to Your Neighbors House. Both the WMA and YNH do a wonderful job with their limited resources and parameters of assistance.

These organizations’ subsistence helps many people, but is insufficient in some cases. Persons become unemployed through layoffs or medical difficulties and need help with rent or utility bills. Since the WMA and YNH does all they can do, we believe FUMC is called to go the extra mile and further assist those in need.

Janice McKee is assisting Finance and our church office with guidelines to provide additional assistance through our designated “Benevolence Fund.” In the next several weeks, details will be published, but the next Communion Rail Second Mile Offering (Sunday, April 5th) will go towards the designated “Benevolence Fund” to begin to assist qualified, indigent people of Whitesboro.

Bottom line, our reaching out to the community needs is what Jesus calls us to do in the scripture text above. The bottom line will allow us to be accused and convicted of being benevolent. Our mission outreach in our own back yard is one way we transform the word church from a noun to a verb – reTHINKing church!