Body of Christ Introduction

Outreaches Combine Forces in Body of Christ

"Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?" Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted." So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. – John 6:9-13 (NIV)

On April 17th, 18 people representing what had been isolated ministries for the homeless, the poor and the needy in Wake County brought their loaves and fishes to a community table. What a blessing it was to share with our brothers and sisters in Christ our passion to reach out to the “least of these” around us.

It was clear as each person explained his or her mission that God had been blessing them, grooming them for the time they could come together as one body to be vessels for miracles only God could perform.

A devotional for April 18th (My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers) focused on how we need to be ready to see God and do His will – just as Moses was ready when he first saw the burning bush.

When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!" And Moses said, "Here I am."—Exodus 3:4 (NIV)

Chambers goes on to say, “Readiness for God means that we are ready to do the tiniest little thing or the great big thing, it makes no difference. We have no choice in whatwe want to do, whatever God's program may be, we are there, ready. When any duty presents itself, we hear God's voice as Our Lord heard His Father's voice, and we are ready for it with all the alertness of our love for Him. Jesus Christ expects to do with us as His Father did with Him. He can put us where He likes, in pleasant duties or in mean duties, because the union is that of the Father and Himself. "That they may be one, evenas We are one."

On hand were representatives of:

· Helping Hands, a group that provides food, furniture and appliances to about 90 families. This group has 23 volunteers, plenty of vehicles but is in need of a warehouse, free dental care for a Hispanic population and gas cards for volunteers.

· Sacred Heart Cathedral, which provides food for the homeless at Moore Square on the third and fourth Saturdays of every month. The group also provides clothing and emergency funds and is sponsoring one homeless person. They have people knowledgeable about advocacy for the homeless, housing issues and foster care issues. They have a meeting the last Thursday of each month to discuss various issues.

· Cary Church of God, which hosts Downtown Friends and Bread of Life. They have a cooking trailer to provide food and work with two other churches to provide prayer and other services. They hope to have transitional housing for up to six people starting in June.

· Pardoned by Christ, which works with medium-security prison inmates.

· Church in the Woods, which has nine outreaches across Wake County serving about 400 homeless people. This group needs more missionaries on the streets, including people to prayer walk the darkest areas. They have a new mobile unit to bring goods and services to the homeless. People interested in working with that unit are meeting April 24th at 7:30 p.m. Contact Alice McGee at churchinthewoods@earthlink.net for more information.

· Western Wake Crisis Ministry, which provides food, emergency funding, kerosene and other goods and services to homeless in Apex, Holly Springs, Friendship and Fuquay-Varina.

· Restoring Hope, affiliated with Hope Community Church, which has about 50 volunteers providing transitional help to the homeless including temporary housing, showers, food and transportation.

· Brown Bag Ministry, which provides bag lunches to the homeless. This ministry has a continuing need for lunch meat, cheese, bread and fruit.

· Hope Chest, which provides furniture, appliances, clothing and many other things to anyone in need. This ministry has 20 volunteers but needs vehicles to pick up and deliver items.

In addition, the group learned a Holly Spring Soup Kitchen is to be opened the first Saturday of every month for migrant workers and the elderly. St. Bernadette in Fuquay-Varina has migrant dinners on Sundays after 5 p.m. A group called Brazos de Cristo (Arms of Christ) is working with Hispanic immigrants, providing translation services, furniture, clothing, food and some financial assistance.

There is a weekly food pickup from Harris Teeter in Holly Springs that provides resources for many ministries. A woman would like to offer free haircuts to the homeless for three hours each month. An area church hopes to provide free counseling services starting in September. And there are groups including the Cary YMCA and First United Methodist Church that would like to provide volunteers for various ministries.

There are also opportunities to obtain buildings for such things as warehousing, transitional housing and other services.

Participants at Monday’s meeting were so excited at the way God and the Holy Spirit were working.

“I’m just amazed to see people coming together as the bride of Christ,” said Ben Wickel, a student at N.C. State University. “When you get a united bride of Christ, you get the real Jesus.”

Ben said he would like to put together a documentary video of all the outreaches “to show people this is where the heart of the Father is.”

Jeff Duffy of the Cary Church of God shared his passion for getting more and more churches and pastors involved.

“There’s no problem with the passion,” he said. “The problem is with initiative. If we can free the resources that are locked up in those churches, we’re talking about REVIVAL.”

Alice McGee, director of Church in the Woods, said she needs to keep working on the legal roadblocks to providing transitional housing to the homeless in residential areas. She said we don’t have to wait for Raleigh’s 10-year plan to end homelessness.

“I don’t think God needs 10 years,” she said. “God needs committed hearts.”

Amy Barfield, director of Hope Chest, agreed the real answer is to continue to rely on God.

“There is nothing too big and nothing too small that he won’t provide it,” she said.