6 minute read
People over projects
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One of the reasons we love working with Gospel City is they’re intentional about focusing on the people they’re serving, not just the project.”
By Natalie Sarrett
With travel restrictions and pandemic safety measures in place all over the world, many churches have had to delay or cancel mission trips and compassion projects.
But Gospel City Church found a way to still bring hope and help to the people of Puerto Rico.
After discovering they needed a negative COVID test within 72 hours of their departure from Indiana, the men’s ministry team quickly established their own makeshift, drive-through lab. A church member with medical training volunteered to conduct the testing, and another member paid the lab fees for the whole team to ensure they could all travel safely.
Upon arrival in Puerto Rico, the team was shown to their socially distanced, dorm-style quarters and were asked to wear masks both inside and outside as they worked on construction sites, rebuilding homes decimated in Hurricane Maria and subsequent earthquakes.
Send Relief’s ministry coordinator in Puerto Rico, Itamar Elizalde, was incredibly impressed with the team’s willingness to take whatever measures necessary in order to serve.
“One of the reasons we love working with Gospel City is they’re intentional about focusing on the
people they’re serving, not just the projects,” she said. “We saw them gracefully abide by local rules and ‘become all things to all men’ in their adjustments to COVID-19 guidelines in Puerto Rico. I can’t imagine it was easy working on roofs in the hot Caribbean sun while wearing masks, but they did what they had to do in order to respect the homeowners.”
One of the women whose roof was being repaired shared that she was surprised and comforted by the fact that this group of strangers respected her enough to be consistently uncomfortable in the name of love. Similarly, the accompanying construction crew said that working with the volunteers was a joy because there was such obvious fellowship and comradery among the men that it made them look forward to doing projects with them. The local pastor partnering with Gospel City is already looking forward to planning their next trip.
“We teach our volunteers that flexibility is key and paramount to missions work,” said missions pastor Tyler Holder. “We had already prepared our team ahead of time in saying that we weren’t going to do anything to risk our relationship with the people we’re serving. We want to be good neighbors and honor the families we’ve committed to help. At the end of the day, it’s not about repairing the roof so much as it’s about caring for the people who will live under it.”
Though this was Gospel City’s third trip helping rebuild homes in Puerto Rico, it was the first trip conducted with our local partners since the pandemic. In remaining communicative and patient, volunteers were able to construct a Sunday school classroom, repair the church’s sound system and build two homes for disaster survivors who had lost everything.
“With 2020 being the year it was, it can be tempting to take a backseat in ministry and just try to get through the year unscathed,” said Holder. “But the gospel still needs to be proclaimed amid COVID-19. The beauty of being a follower of Christ is that we get to be a part of reconciling the anxieties of the world by respectfully and responsibly still helping the vulnerable people around us. There is a way to be good, safe citizens while also seeing the kingdom of God established and the Good News shared.”
As one Gospel City volunteer endorsed, “I always feel closer to God after spending a week with Send Relief!”
Learn more about Send Relief mission trips at SendRelief.org.
Thank you, church
By Mark Hallock
One of the things that pops up continually in my mind these days is the kindness, godliness and faithfulness so many Christ-followers have shown their local church over the past months. To be honest, the thought of it brings me tears of joy.
And I’m not only thinking about the faithful men and women, boys and girls in my own local church, but faithful men and women, boys and girls in local churches all over our city, nation and world.
I love the local church. I love it. I believe in it. I believe the local church is God’s primary tool to form and mature followers of Christ, empowering them to penetrate a dark world with the hope and light of the gospel. There is nothing like it this side of heaven. The local church is not a burden; it is a blessing. It is not to be beat up on, but nurtured and cared for. The local church is to be cherished and committed to, through good and bad, thick and thin. The local church is beautiful. It is truly beautiful. And God has used the local church in magnificent ways for His glory.
While this past year has shown us some of the worst that our sin-full, rigid, self-absorbed me-focused hearts can bring, we also have been witness to the God-honoring beauty that is found when the body of Christ displays Jesus-like, selfless, others-focused joy-filled love, care and patience. Jesus spoke the truth when he said in John 13:35, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” The world has seen countless examples of what true Christian discipleship looks like as this supernatural love has been put on display in a million different ways, both large and small.
Sure, the critical and cynical among us might quickly jump in and point out all the ways the Church has failed, all the ways Christians have fallen short. And they would be right. I agree with them fully. The Church is not perfect, and every Christian falls short. I know this all too well each time I look in the mirror. But this is why we as disciples of Christ rejoice in the gospel of grace. This is why we trust in our Savior, Jesus, who is not like us:
He is the perfect One. He is our salvation. He is our hope. He is our rest. He is our joy. He is our assurance. He is our Deliverer. He is our King. And He has saved an imperfect people for Himself, conforming them to His image and using them for His good purposes in the world. These are His people. This is His body. This is His Church.
Mark Hallock is Lead Pastor of The Calvary family of Churches in Englewood, Colorado.
AN ESTIMATED 75% of people in North America have no relationship with Jesus. NOW WHAT?
Get tools to train your church in evangelism at namb.net/evangelism.
volume 24 | number 3
