Yesterday I mourned over what I should have already known
about the Church in Northwest Wichita. Our missional community (a few friends
journeying together to try and live our everyday lives in the Way of Jesus)
along with neighbors and friends are starting a community garden, the first one
in northwest Wichita. It is a way to create and restore beauty in our
neighborhood and share with our community in the work and the harvest, a
demonstration of the Gospel. This is just a small project, and we realize that
we are just a small part of the Big C “Church” in our neighborhood. We could do so much more if we
partnered together.
So, in hopes of connecting and partnering with churches in
our area, our first contact was with the closest church, Covenant Presbyterian
Church, just up the road. This church was thrilled about partnering with us in
this garden project. They have a few gardeners in their congregation who will
garden with us, and when we discovered that they have a food pantry that serves
families in our area, we recognized what a great thing it would be to
contribute some of our vegetables to their food pantry for distribution to
those in need. Our garden will be open for anyone in need to take veggies from
it, but also building bridges to partner with others already feeding the hungry
seemed like a Kingdom idea!
So, with that realization, we thought offering to donate
vegetables to nearby churches’ food pantries would be a great connection point
for partnering together in Kingdom work. So yesterday morning I began to make
calls to the MANY churches within a couple of miles of our neighborhood. What I
experienced over that hour of making calls, I will never forget.
My first call was to the largest church in our neighborhood,
one that boasts, “6,000 call it their church home and have 3000+ attendance at
their weekend services.” I dialed their number and a woman answered the phone.
I said, “Hello, do you have a food pantry?” (thinking they must, but if not,
there’s no point in offering to contribute veggies to it!) The woman said, “No,
we don’t.” A little taken aback, I said, “Okay…well do you know what churches
in the area might have a food pantry?” She said, “Umm, no, I don’t…what we do
and what I can do is give you the numbers to the Red Cross and the United Way.”
A LOT taken aback, I said, “No, thank you,” and we said goodbye.
Could this be true? One of the largest, most resourced
churches in our city outsources feeding the hungry to…secular
organizations?? Not even to a
centralized city-wide food bank ministry (like the UMC has) but to the Red
Cross and The United Way?
Really??? Maybe they send money to these organizations, I don’t know. It
seems sad but likely that they’d rather do that than get their hands and
carpets dirty actually distributing the food from their glorious facility.
(Sorry for the sarcasm, but how frustrating!!) By the way, thank the Lord for
the Red Cross and the United Way!!
I continued to call more neighborhood churches asking, “Do
you have a food pantry” one after another with various but mostly troubling
responses. After pressing each of
1 – 9 trying to talk to a person, I never did speak to anyone at the dot TV
church in our neighborhood. Go figure. Here were some of the other responses I
got…
“No, we don’t. We’re a pretty small congregation” (several
said something like this)
“Well, yes, we do, but it’s very small and it’s only for our
members. We don’t have enough to spill over to others.”
“Umm, I don’t know, but there’s no one here who could talk
to you about that right now”
“Yes we do, but it’s only for one-time assistance, we’ll
only give you a couple of things, and you will need to bring your drivers
license and fill out a couple of forms first” (In a horribly condescending tone
of voice)
“No, we’re in affluent northwest Wichita. There’s no need
here.”
Maybe there’s no physical need in their congregation, but
there is definitely need in my neighborhood…right up the street. It may not be
as obvious, but I know families right on our street who are going through tough
times and food is a need at times. Our family has needed help, ourselves, from
time to time. How oblivious this church is to the needs of the people who are
not members of their congregation! I prefer ignorance, though (which can be
remedied) to knowing there is need and outsourcing it!
What are we to do? My heart is broken and saddened and
frustrated and angry that the churches in my area are so out of touch with the
people that Jesus came for: the broken, the hurting, the hungry, the sick, the
oppressed, the prisoners, the addicts, the prostitutes, ect. Very few of “these
people” (if any) I imagine are members of these congregations. And its NOT
because they don’t live in the area!!
And if these churches’ (minus Covenant Pres) focus is on the “needs” of
their members, then how can we partner with them???
