‘As the body of Christ, we have unique resources and connections that we can share’

Synod of the Covenant webinar gives insight to community partnerships churches can form

by Mike Ferguson | Presbyterian News Service

Photo by Chad Kirchoff via Unsplash

LOUISVILLE — Last week, Tim Pollock, commissioned ruling elders and commissioned pastors coordinator for the Synod of the Covenant, offered a webinar full of ideas on extending ministry networks to municipal and nonprofit agencies. Watch the hour-long broadcast here.

People on the call shared innovative ideas for how their churches are partnering with schools, local government, food pantries, service organizations and other entities to better serve their communities.

Commissioned Ruling Elder Roger Sibert said Central Presbyterian Church in Massillon, Ohio, partners with the Rotary Club to help provide groceries, household items and food and gas cards to people who need them. Central also counsels and prays with people “if they like,” Sibert said.

“We have developed good relationships through the ministry,” Sibert said, including a partnership with the mayor and other city officials to open a warming or cooling station when they’re needed. “We have made a commitment to use our building in support of the community in general,” Sibert said, including a theater group that rehearses in the basement.

Judith Bender, a CRE at Vienna Presbyterian Church in Vienna, Ohio, said the church is next door to a summer concert series, which asked church members to make and sell hot dogs to music-goers and use the proceeds for mission. “We don’t make a huge amount of money, but some, and we have gotten our name out there and our witness,” Bender said. “There are opportunities out there. Part of it is being present, being known, being available, and wanting to be part of the community.”

In recent years, Vienna Home Day, an annual gathering of current and former residents, was “struggling to find a grand marshal,” Bender said.

“A guy in our church — that was his pipedream, to be grand marshal,” Bender said. The man’s daughter had a classic convertible, “and so he had the whole nine yards. I suggested him to organizers, and they said, ‘That’s a great idea.’”

“As the body of Christ, we have unique resources and connections that we can share,” said Pollock, who identified himself as the “proud owner of a pretty decent Santa Claus suit.”

“I have done Santa Claus at the library, and most people don’t know it’s me,” Pollock said. “I will walk around the elementary school as Santa Claus, and I never thought it was a thing I could do to serve the community. It was just something I had.”

“I know you all have folks in your congregations who have these unique qualities,” Pollock said. “There is a unique ministry of the people who are gathered [as the church], but each of those people might have their own ministries that they should pursue. What if the church became a hub where members could learn how to connect their own unique ministry outside the church, or adjacent to the church?”

Tim Pollock

Pollock said some communitywide events have incorporated brief worship services an hour or so before the event starts. Schools, he said, “are always looking for after-school programming.”

“If it’s after hours, it doesn’t matter if you’re a religious organization,” Pollock said. “The only difficulty is schools are not very good with last-minute stuff,” since they set their calendars months in advance.

Bender said the local chapter of the National Honor Society was “looking for places where kids could serve.”

What aging church members needed most, she said, was help setting up the Christmas tree each Advent season. “Some of the upper-level decorating was getting to be more of a challenge,” Bender told the teacher, who responded, “Our kids would love to do that.”

The next Sunday, a half-dozen or so students showed up and stayed for the entire worship service, remaining afterward to help set up the tree and decorate it. Church members provided pizza to share.

“It became an ongoing thing,” Bender said. “We are now a service area for the National Honor Society,” which provides the church with services including yardwork. “It’s been a great interchange between our older congregation and the kids,” Bender said.

One person on the call said two offenders assigned by the court to do community service “do yardwork and help out with the thrift store. They are the hardest workers we have.”

Another said his church provides respite care for parents of students with special needs.

“As pastors, our schedules can get busy,” Pollock said. “But there are interesting connections you can make” at places including service club meetings.

“As a pastor,” Pollock said, “I am a community member too.”