A Day in the Park

By Stefanie Cassetto

It was the second weekend of November last year, and the city of Manchester, New Hampshire, was getting a taste of what a local church in action looks and feels like. Manchester Christian Church was stretching its serving muscles in a new and big way, and an ordinary weekend was turning into something extraordinary.

A teaching series on Sunday mornings and in our small groups had been taking a close look at the purpose of the community of believers. We were being challenged to look beyond ourselves and consider what it means to authentically live out that purpose in our world. The studies inspired us to grow, prompted us to reach out, and taught us to serve.

The number of small groups meeting during this time increased from 40 to more than 100. We started to wear yellow (and I mean school-bus yellow) T-shirts on Sundays promoting the series. We used the catch phrase “we”re better together” way too often and loved it. And we got this crazy idea to host an event for our community to give away as much stuff as we could to the under-resourced in Manchester.

A Dream Gains Momentum

Lisa Mazur, our outreach team leader, was the dreamer, visionary, and driving force behind what quickly became known as “A Day in the Park.” She and her team created this event to provide an opportunity for Manchester Christian Church people to give, serve, and show love to the needy in our city.

The event gained momentum quickly. Before we knew it we had two 40-foot long truck trailers sitting in front of our building for people to fill with household items and clothing.

It always surprises me how people rise to the occasion when it comes to tall orders. And A Day in the Park felt like a tall order. There were truck drivers to be found, furniture to be picked up, and bags of clothing to be sorted. But it became clear in the weeks leading up to the event that people were primed and ready to give their best.

Two trailers turned to four as cars and pickups lined our parking lot to drop off everything from couches and refrigerators to coats and baby clothes. When volunteers loaded and closed the fourth and final trailer, not one more piece of furniture would fit. They laughed and said the last couch slipped in like a puzzle piece. And the church was filled too””with excitement and joy for what God had already done, and with anticipation for A Day in the Park.

A Local Church in Action

From the moment I walked onto the downtown baseball field on the day of the big event, something inside me knew this would be special. The sky was bright and blue and the weather was unseasonably warm. Central Little League Field was a hum of activity. Already hundreds of people were lined up outside the fence waiting to come in.

I looked around and saw people of all colors and languages. The cultural diversity reminded me that I live in a city with thousands of refugees, where 60 different languages are spoken at the local high school.

The crowd today turned out to see if what they had heard about a church giving things away for free was true.

I saw happy people and broken people. I saw some faces filled with determination and others filled with desperation. And as they opened the field and the people flooded in, everywhere I looked I saw those school-bus-yellow T-shirts on the backs of volunteers ready to serve. What we once joked about as being a tired fashion trend on Sunday mornings now looked like a beautiful expression of love.

Volunteers walked across the field alongside African refugees and single moms, arms loaded down with garbage bags full of clothing, ready to check out the furniture. And each time I saw one of those yellow shirts something inside me welled up. I knew we were sharing a life-changing experience. I knew that person was on my team.

That person whose face I had seen behind the children”s ministry check-in was now making conversation with a complete stranger while helping her find the right shoe size. That person who drives our parking shuttle every Sunday was being the hands and feet of God to people in need.

I was inspired because right before my eyes I saw the local church in action. And it wasn”t just any local church. It was a church in New England, where it has been said the church is dead. It was my church.

An Extraordinary Weekend

By the end of the weekend 1,500 people had visited A Day in the Park. The trailers were emptied of 1,000 bags (nearly 15,000 pieces) of clothing, 778 blankets, 19 dining tables, 81 dining chairs, and 28 couches, plus a handful of washers, driers, stoves, and refrigerators. Six hundred Manchester Christian Church volunteers experienced the joy of reaching out and serving, and 84 small groups now know firsthand that life is truly “better together.”

It was an ordinary weekend turned extraordinary. I believe A Day in the Park transformed our small groups and our church forever.

Now, more than ever, people are looking to the needs of others. Small groups are assisting local refugees. Small groups are getting involved with prison ministry. More and more, they are searching for ways to help bring God”s love to our community.

Instead of waiting for the community to come through our doors, we are going to them. We got a taste of what it”s like to step outside the safe walls of our building and we”re not going back.

 

 

Stefanie Cassetto is director of programming at Manchester (New Hampshire) Christian Church.