Feeding the hungry through collaborative ministry By Bonnie Shaw, News Writer “Where do you go if you can’t go to the church? That’s where people go when they are in need. It’s mission and ministry in hand, so when we’re serving people and being on mission, we are also making disciples,” Linda Stevens, cochair of the Bethlehem Baptist Church Food Pantry in Mansfield, said. Stevens’ passion for combining missions and ministry is what compelled her to restart the church’s food pantry a few years ago. She and two or three other volunteers met every Wednesday morning to pass out food to families in need in front of the church. This food pantry became a pivotal resource for the church’s community with the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic.
AUGUST 2020 / TEX AS BAPTISTS LIFE
One of Stevens’ favorite parts of the food pantry is building meaningful relationships with the families, as they saw them weekly. As Stevens and the other volunteers become more acquainted with the families, they were able to give customized groceries to them, such as diapers for families with infants.
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Marilyn Harris, ministry leader at the food pantry, shared a story about a young woman who used to come to the food pantry monthly. One day, she came and asked for prayer, because her family was selling their house and moving to Alabama, where the cost of living was lower. They prayed, and the house sold within a month. The woman came back to the food pantry to pray with them again before she moved, and she also presented them with a check. “She said, ‘you have fed my family for so long, and I want to give something back,’” Harris remembered.
Bethlehem Baptist Church loves stories like this young woman’s, who came seeking physical help and found spiritual help along the way. Helping people until they can help themselves is another common theme at the food pantry, and it is one that has particularly evident with the onset of the pandemic, where more people than ever have found themselves in need of temporary assistance. As unemployment is on the rise, the church is working to feed as many people as possible until they can return to their jobs. The food pantry has seen a huge increase in the number of families coming to receive groceries. They have gone from serving an average of 30 families to assisting 150 families weekly.
Each car has a family of four to six people in it. In order to keep up with demand, Bethlehem Baptist volunteers pack a surplus of groceries based on the last week’s attendance. Harris explained that if they served 150 families one week, they prepare 175 grocery bags the next week. Their goal is to never turn anyone in need away.
Cooperative ministry To meet the rising needs, now 25 volunteers come to pass out food each Wednesday. The food pantry is receiving donations from a variety of sources in order to keep up with this growing need in their community. Church members and local stores have provided donations weekly, and the church also gets food
