December 3, 2006

The Church Next Door One Year Later

On November 16, 2005, Trinity UMC took the bold step to redefine itself. On November
21, 2005, we opened the church basement to neighborhood children for a meal and a Sunday school class. We were expecting 10-15 kids. We had 55 kids plus 2 s. Three days later we served Thanksgiving Dinner to about 125 neighbors and we were able to recruit 70 volunteers. Because the Salvation Army had used all of their funds for Hurricane Relief, they were not providing Thanksgiving Food Baskets in 2005. We picked up the slack and provided 50 families with food. In the first week of the new plan we served 325 people, involving 100 volunteers from 7 churches and donations from 3 businesses.

We continued week after week serving meals to children and teaching them about Jesus. There was some concern due to the fact that the refrigerator went out in the church and there was no money to purchase a new one. We were fortunate to have an unheated stairwell off the kitchen leading to the outside that served as our cooler. When spring neared God provided not one but two refrigerators! The church has become the home base for Kokomo Urban Outreach; much of what we do comes in one door of the church building and out the other.

We now have two neighborhood families attending church each Sunday. One recently experienced the saving power of Christ in her life; the other just became a member. Attendance has doubled, giving is up, we have never missed the opportunity to give our tithe, and there is new hope in the church. One of the most exciting things for me is that the church members have surrendered everything (action point 3). Classrooms that have not been used in years have been transformed into a children’s area, a clothing giveaway room, food pantry, offices, and storage areas for various ministries. Rooms have been used for guitar lessons, art classes, dance lessons, Spanish-speaking Bible studies, and Bible studies. There has been Kool-aid spilled on the carpet in the fellowship hall (even red), restrooms are well used (extra supplies have been needed), and of course the added utilities. We do have volunteers that clean up after each event. No one in the church has registered a complaint to me. There are no signs posted in our church with a list of rules of things that can or can’t happen. The building is being used not only to transform individual lives but also to transform a community. By the way, many neighbors call us “The Church Next Door”.