A Season of Hope
Fall fell and Advent has risen in its place pointing us in hope to Jesus. I feel a special gratitude for the season this year. We faced immense challenges this Fall and now, in Advent, the hope that held us through those challenges is being rewarded. Let me tell you a bit about the challenges and much more about how God is guiding us through them to better things!
Throughout the fall months we saw continued growth in our good neighbor ministries. On a single Friday in November we helped 117 families with clothing, just over 100 families at the pantry, and saw over 500 meals distributed to hungry people! On that same day we gave out half a dozen bikes, paid a family’s utility bill, and gave out a handful of gas cards and bus passes. On that same wild day, we pulled several different people - a desperate single mother, a young homeless family - into the sanctuary for prayer. It was a beautiful day.. and very difficult! We were overwhelmed by the number of needy folks and by the logistical challenges it threw at us!
With all this growth we struggled, sometimes, to keep things safe here. We had arguments among our neighbors break out that threatened to get violent (and on two occasions they did). We had mentally unstable people screaming at and threatening other people. (One of them shoved an older gentleman to the ground and threatened people with a knife and subsequently refused to leave the property.) We dealt with conflicts among volunteers who were already spread too thin with all this work. We had a man break out the windows of several cars on and near our property - and more such challenges!
We prayed a lot and realized that we needed to reorganize ourselves. At a series of meetings, we decided to create a new volunteer training program, new well defined and specifically assigned ‘stations’ including a grounds crew for monitoring spaces where we know trouble has brewed in the past, and to adopt a new schedule for Fridays. In the new year we will begin a new paradigm in which, every Friday, FJP will serve hot meals here and we will open EITHER the clothing closet OR the food pantry (rather than both). We pray this change will not mean much (if any) diminishment in the amount of help we ultimately give out but that it will improve the environment here by providing more oversight to the spaces we do open and making it more peaceful and less hurried in those spaces.
Some changes have already taken effect and some are yet to come. The new volunteer training has gone especially well. Our first session was attended by over 35 people (with nearly 60 now having gone through it!) Check out this photo from our first class of trained volunteers!
Spiritual Life at EDF
While we work at serving our neighbors in Jesus’ name, we continue to look for ways to grow closer to our Lord in devotion, worship, and discipleship. We concluded a series of sermons on the Holy Spirit, moved our midweek prayer time to make it easier for others to attend, and have purchased multiple cases of the forthcoming Anabaptist Community Bible to give a copy as a gift to every attender, along with a journal, so each one of us can start the new year fresh with habits of prayer and Scripture reading. We also will use the turn of the year to launch a new small group ministry for all those interested in going deeper with Jesus together.
Small group ministry here will no doubt be interesting! We were having a prayer meeting at the church about a month ago and one of our deacons, Charlotte, got a call on her phone saying her neighbor had OD’d. She and one of our friends from the sober living house across the street (Keadee) rushed over to help him. The young man, who had fallen unconscious, was given Narcan and brought back from the brink. He then took an ambulance ride to the hospital. After this harrowing experience, in which they helped to save a life, Charlotte and Keadee, returned to the prayer meeting where we all prayed for the young man and for them as they tried to process the experience! Here’s a picture from that very prayer meeting:
Our Sunday worship times have been enriched by more live music as the Sietman family, our friend James, and another friend, Anika, have all gotten involved in leading worship music. Others - like Isaac and Olu, Chi and Dami, Kay Senter, and more continue to come up front to help lead in acapella singing.
Finally, on the topic of our common spiritual life, we will be installing Dami Adeliyi as our Associate Pastor for Ministry Administration, Evangelism, and Discipleship in the new year. (What a title - right!?) We’re excited to officially set him lose on the task of seeing to the spiritual nourishment of Christ’s people here.
Looking Back
The most important stuff is not captured by numbers… but I am encouraged by these numbers from 2024!
Our 34-member church has helped distribute over 23,000 meals, 150 bicycles, more than 70 gas cards and bus passes, helped pay more than 70 bills, and seen more than 3000 families through the clothing closet as well as a similar number through the food pantry this year! We have partnered with more than two dozen other churches, agencies, and organizations to make this possible! Our building serves as a key hub for a Christian sober living ministry (Whole Truth!) and multiple Narcotics Anonymous groups. Our worship services have grown in attendance. And we are in the midst of spearheading the launch of a new neighborhood association meeting (which this neighborhood has lacked for years now).
Following a recent workday we have brought the garage pantry (basically) to full functionality! Some paint and some tweaks remain, but it is insulated, secure, has walls and a ceiling, and now has heat and A/C - praise God!
Looking Ahead
In the year ahead we look forward to expanding our community development work in cooperation with the renewed neighborhood association, getting small group ministry up and running, working to better stock our (now upgraded) pantry shelves, and invest in some needed materials for the clothing closet ministry. We are also completing some needed work on the building to finalize a formal lease agreement with Whole Truth Ministries that will provide significant support to us both!
As ever we stand in need of your prayers, your giving, and your helping hands! For volunteer opportunities please reach out or see our website. To give online, please use our giving webpage.
Thank you all so, so much for partnering with us in this Kingdom work!
Peace and hope to you all in Christ this Advent season.