By Joyce Long
This story began in San Diego, November 2006, when Mount Pleasant Christian Church”s (Greenwood, Indiana) staff leaders attended a national outreach conference. There they realized our congregation needed to begin reaching out to AIDS patients. The idea incubated until February when planning began for a post-Easter sermon series.
Then the pastors and directors borrowed the interactive Imagine concept from Eastview Christian Church, Normal, Illinois, which had used this same theme during Christmas. Mount Pleasant adapted it to Matthew 25:34-45, focusing each week”s message on six parts: Imagine a world where no one is . . . hungry, a stranger, naked, sick, a prisoner, and lost.
Promoting and Praying
We previewed the sermon series in March. Business-card-sized magnets were handed out featuring the series title, a picture of a homeless man, and key verse, Matthew 25:40: “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”
We developed a prayer journal for each week of the series featuring some of our ministry partners, including an inner-city community center (hungry), global missions with orphanages along with local adoption and foster parenting services (a stranger), our own In His Name clothing ministry (naked), Fellowship of Associates of Medical Evangelism””FAME (sick), and the persecuted church around the world (a prisoner).
Missions pastor Alan Baumlein says the first thought was to build a local and global component into each week. As the planning evolved, everyone agreed that would be too much information and too wide a focus.
Giving And Worshiping
On Easter weekend, green bags with food lists were handed out. Our congregation, and even some Easter visitors, came back the following weekend, the first in the sermon series, with 13 tons of food for the inner-city community center. That translated into 1,700 individual bags, each one averaging 15 pounds. At the close of the message, everyone filed to the front carrying their bags and then stopping to pray and take Communion.
These offerings filled two semitrucks and restocked the center with four months” worth of food. More importantly, children participating in the center”s activities during the summer could be fed.
During the second weekend of the series, the focus shifted to international orphans and local adoption/foster agencies whose informational booths were set up in the main lobby. As a result, more than 100 orphans were sponsored.
At the end of the service, ushers handed out yellow trash bags for the clothing drive our In His Name clothing ministry would conduct the following weekend. The result, for the third part of our series, was more than 800 trash bags filled with clothing. Volunteers were recruited to sort through the bags, some of which would go to Mexico for our all-church mission trip in July.
The fourth part of the series, also the most interactive, featured ministering to the sick through FAME. One of our associate ministers, Seth Bryant, spoke of having compassion on the sick, using Luke 5:17-26 as the primary text. Banners about AIDS statistics were scattered throughout our building to emphasize the growing need.
“The Bible is full of communities of faith ministering to the oppressed. Rereading the Bible through this lens offers a compelling challenge to American Christians today. We have so much, and it requires so little,” Bryant said.
After having abbreviated praise and worship along with a brief informal message, the congregation filed to the fellowship hall where families filled AIDS caregiver kits destined for three hospitals in Zimbabwe. Each kit contained Band-Aids, antibacterial and antifungal ointments, toothpaste and toothbrush, a clean washcloth, ibuprofen, body wash/shampoo, spiral notebook, and pen. Families also wrote notes of encouragement to the caregivers and prayed for those everywhere who are affected by AIDS.
FAME Director of Development Shane Whybrew said, “For us the exciting part of this project, even though we work with AIDS/HIV, was to do something different and practical, giving hands and feet to our ministry. Mount Pleasant provided such energy and effort in carrying out Christ”s wishes.”
The fifth weekend featured information about the persecuted church worldwide with a message based on Esther, an interview with a converted Muslim from Iran, and separate prayers for each continent. The sixth weekend”s message focused on Matthew 25:31-34. A celebration video (http://www.mount.org/page.aspx?id=241536) captured poignant moments from the entire Imagine series.
Giving and Receiving
This story”s impact? Actually it”s the same as the gospel story””lives changed when the church became Christ for people. The food and clothing drives, funds sent to orphans, homes opened to foster children, and medical kits improved the lives of both those who received and those who gave. Regular attendees decided to join the church. Individuals were convicted of how little they do to help those less fortunate. All ages contributed when cardboard banks were handed out. Complacency dissolved.
Student minister Chris Hornbrook says the Imagine series was “bigger than an idea. It gave our people something to put their hands and feet to. Our hope is that this series will be a spark that will ignite a movement of our living out the gospel, rather than simply hearing and speaking it.”
Throughout the six weeks of Imagine, senior pastor Chris Philbeck asked, “Can a single church in central Indiana change the world?” Each weekend our congregation answered “yes” with their actions.
The story continues, as God moves in and through his people, the body of Christ. Just imagine a world where no one is hungry, a stranger, naked, sick, a prisoner, or lost.
Joyce Long is a member of Mount Pleasant Christian Church, Greenwood, Indiana.
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