by the
Rev. Millard Knowles
At the time I came to Community the church
said it wanted
to
get involved in outreach ministries. We have ventured into
programs like a clothing room, a food pantry, summer fun programs
for children. Community Vacation Bible schools, and the
Dayton
Urban Ministries Food Co-op. We are a distribution center for
the latter, and "church" happens at Community on Thursday mornings
as representatives from ten sites come to share in fellowship, and
pick up their food. Community continues to struggle with the
distribution of these responsibilities within the congregation.
We do process meetings occasionally.
We talk about the reasons
we are at Community. When we list the things we feel good
about,
we list such activities as our helping hands group. This task
force provides transportation, or helps families in times of
crises with food or support. Caring is something we list,
too,
and it happens in so many ways..adopting someone who is without
family, praying folks through a crises, just being there for one
another, accepting an unwed mother or a recovering alcoholic, or
forgiving one who has embarrassed themselves publicly in one way
or another. And we try to do it from a biblical and
theological
base.
We have broadened the Bible
Study that was going on when I
came, and are now doing a good mix of exegisis with it. It
is
very participatory. The group spends a little over an hour
on
study and then spends 15 to 20 minutes on lifting up prayer
needs. (There is also a prayer chain of over 30 people in the
congregation which lifts up all sorts of folks in prayer
In 1984, as one of our outreach programs, we
started serving the
sacrament on a weekly basis early Wednesday mornings. The
attendance for this ranges from six to twenty persons.