This past weekend we had our leadership retreat and Rally Day. Thanks to everyone who made both a great success! It’s amazing to see what we can do when we work together. Thanks to the ladies for making delicious salads and to the guys for their grilling skills!
At the leadership retreat we talked about some of our passions. That is, we asked what some of the things were that get our stomachs in knots when we think of them? Hunger? Abuse? Economic injustices? Then, we talked about ways to address them. Some ideas were providing space for youth mentoring, running a soup kitchen, and having a community garden. These are just a few of the ideas and they all came from the leadership team. They just go to show what we can come up with when we put our heads together.
If we look around us, we can see great needs. We can also see what God is already doing to fulfill them. For all of the passions presented, there was already a non-profit addressing them. See!? We don’t have to reinvent the wheel. We can just plug in to things that are already being done. Just like Jesus feeding the 5000 with what was in the pockets of those present, we find that we already have the resources that we need to do great things.
Let’s look at a hypothetical example of this. There is hunger in West Rogers Park. There are children going to bed hungry right outside our doors. So, what if we start serving meals a couple times a week? What if we start a community garden on our own property or partner up with someone nearby who has more land to produce the food for these meals? We have some skilled gardeners in our midst such as Sue, Hiro, and Jim among others. Then, what if we take it a step further and reach out to local horticulture groups such as at local colleges or clubs and work with them to maximize our harvest? Ok, we’re on a roll so let’s keep going. We have a lot of great cooks among us, so what if we reach out to culinary schools and groups to work with us to prepare meals? We could also work with schools to teach cooking skills to those we are feeding and they can end up becoming volunteers alongside us. This is just one line of ideas based on one need. How many more can we address in a similar way?
NO WAY! You say. We don’t have enough people to do all of these projects. Really? What if the people that we are partnering with start to take heart because a church is actually being the church and they decide to join Tri-C? I promise that you will be amazed by how many will. Then, before we know it, we have plenty of people to do the work that needs to be done. We always have to remember, if we give a need up to God, God will bless it and then give it back to us to do the work – then amazing things will happen.
Just a thought . . .
Peace,
Brandyn
Christ Church of Chicago 