Working on our serve

Last Friday night we had a great night of seeing how our new church can serve in our community. We met at ExplorationWorks and came up with all sorts of ways we can meet needs in Helena. People had ideas for helping a variety of organizations that serve people with all kinds of needs. We explored serving individuals in practical ways, serving with other organizations, working indoors, and working outdoors (in the spring!). Even the kids came up with great ideas.

Making the dreams real
It's one thing to see the needs around us; it's another to do something about them. And we don't want to be just about a lot of talk. So we took the big list we came up with and determined what kind of things we can actually take on in the near term. At the top of the list were partnering with Helena Food Share and taking on some practical projects (like painting and laying carpet) at the Care House (a crisis-stabilization facility). Our plans are to take on one of these projects in February and another in March.

All of this has been part of our dream from the very beginning. It is so striking that when we look at what Jesus actually did on earth, he spent so much time out among the people, teaching in the open air, healing people in the square, visiting the sick in their homes. We want to be a church that doesn’t just meet for worship and Bible studies and prayer; we want to put our faith in action in practical ways right where we live.

Worship services and serving monthly
So far we’ve put a lot of effort into getting worship services going. Now we’re ready to put that effort into getting our service to the community going. We’ve come up with lots of ideas about how best to serve people in Helena, we’ve brainstormed, and we’ve dreamed. It's time to put things into action.

Since November we’ve been meeting monthly as a way to get things rolling and we have another service coming up on February 8. But in March things will change: we’ll begin meeting for worship services on the first three weeks of the month. But on the fourth Sunday we’ll gather together to serve in the community. This way we'll keep serving the community in the forefront of what we're about.

Let us love not in words or tongue but with actions and in truth. (1 John 3:18)