A Summer Update - Part 2
A couple of months ago, Pastor Zach wrote our first Newsletter explaining the birthing of the East Dayton Fellowship and highlighting some of our summer ministries. If you did not receive that newsletter, click on the archives at the bottom of this newsletter. This second edition is written by our Associate Pastor, Susan Liller and highlights additional ministries that took place this summer.
Youth Ministry
Being located in the inner-city of Dayton, it's no surprise that our youth are made up of inner-city kids. The core of our youth ministry for the past two years include three kids who have been homeless much of that time. When it comes to these three kids, I ask myself, “How can I show these kids a different way of life?” And the answer that comes to me is by showing them love, introducing them to new things in life, showing them other ways of living, hoping they'll strive for something better in their lives.
We have other kids join us at various times. One family with two kids had been a part of the early days of the Shepherd's Table church plant. This family has since moved to another state. This summer we learned of a Congolese family with five children living near us. By putting notes in their door with a picture of our church building, we invited them to several of your Sunday afternoon yard events for food, a short lesson, and games. They have since moved from the neighborhood. A boy from Trotwood attended one of our events when his mother saw it advertised on our Facebook page.
In addition to our church yard events, our activities have included swimming in a lake, swimming in a pool, fishing, and cooking over a fire. In addition, we took a 24-hour tent-camping trip - two mothers, six kids, one Associate Pastor. All of these activities were a first for many of these kids, ranging from 5th to 9th grade.
These outings provide an outlet for the kids to get out of their living environment and an opportunity to talk about life. The following are some of the kids' comments that give me hope that they are growing from these experiences.
“Mom, when we get a house, can we get one with a fire pit so we can make camp pies?” This teenager girl is now an expert camp pie maker! Later, this girl volunteered to teach others in the neighborhood how to make camp pies. When asked, she replied, “I think I can take the leader role in that.” This is a girl who would not even talk in our Sunday morning “kids’ church” times when I started working with them in 2018. Her self-confidence has grown so much along with her smiling face and personality!
“Susan, can I start the camp fire? Will you show me how to do it?" The teenage boy who asked to do this had never started a fire. He has anger issues, but in this setting, he was all about learning and he carefully nurtured the fire so we could make our camp pies.
Clothing Ministry
Prior to COVID, we occasionally received donated bags of clothes and we put them on a table. If we heard people say they needed clothes we would let them go through the bags. This usually happened during our weekly community meals. After COVID began, the meal stopped and the clothes just sat there.
During COVID, the non-profit organization, Food for the Journey Project, began using our parking lot to distribute free hot lunches on Fridays. With all the people coming to our parking lot, we began to set up tables of free clothing. Soon we began to run low on clothes.
The same week I mentioned to Pastor Zach that we were getting low on clothes, someone from my home church called asking if I wanted a thrift store’s entire inventory as they changed over from Fall clothing to Summer clothing. I said yes! I had no idea how I was going to get the clothing to our church or what to do with it once we received it, but I knew we needed clothing for our neighborhood.
After making phone calls, we ended up with a group of people from East Dayton Fellowship and our sister church Fairview Brethren in Christ to get the clothing from the thrift store to our church basement.
But how do we get the clothes out of the bags and into a useable state? Shortly after this, the head of the Food for the Journey Project asked us if we wanted help from some Chaminade Julienne High School students, two hours a day for a week. These were kids attending a summer service camp and looking for a service project. I said yes! That same week I received a call asking if I wanted six commercial-grade clothes racks. I said yes! These connections helped in starting our clothing closet.
We did not set out to create a “clothing closet.” It just evolved. We roll out the racks on Fridays and bring down people we know in need of clothes. In addition, we take some of these clothes and put them on our outdoor give- away tables each Friday.
One Friday afternoon a Congolese mother and children went downstairs and were able to get bags full of clothing for the family. Another time a woman said her neighbor was about to have a baby but had no baby clothes. She was able to come away with bags full of baby clothes. A family which had recently become homeless and were living out of tents and vehicles were able to get pillows, sheets, blankets, and comforters.
This clothing ministry exists because of the connections and relationships God has provided. It continues because of the generous donations we receive from people as they become the hands and feet of Jesus helping those in our neighborhood. Each Friday we now ask for volunteers to help us sort these generous donations. If you would like to volunteer some time to hep sort clothing in our basement, please contact us. The sorting takes place every Friday 11am - 2pm. You can stay for any part or all of this time.
Wrapping Up
I close in the same way we closed our last newsletter by asking you to consider helping us embody the love of Jesus for those we serve in our beleaguered but beautiful neighborhood. We continue to need three things:
1) Prayer - Would you pray for us to find faithful ways of serving and loving others in the name of Jesus? Would you pray for the following two needs to be met?
2) People - The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. We need people to join us in this wonderful work. We need those who can come as occasional volunteers to help us with various tasks. We also need people who are willing to join our congregation as members committed to helping us more fully embody Christ in this place. Would you consider joining us here in either of those ways? If you're feeling even a faint tug in our direction, we'd love to talk to you!
3) Provision - Our little church serves a poor neighborhood and we are stretching ourselves in faith to do all that God is calling us to do. We do not want to pull back but to push ahead with ministry, but the only way we can do that over the long haul is if others will partner with us financially. Would you consider giving to the work we're doing? Instructions on how to do so, including a link to an online giving page, are below. We'd be happy to share detailed financial information with you about our situation and needs. So if you have any questions, please let us know.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. We'll be in touch again soon. God bless you!
Susan Liller
Associate Pastor of the East Dayton Fellowship