Coping with Hard Times: Local churches offer sustenance, ‘relational support’

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Richard Sitler

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May 25, 2009

Anonymous The Herald Bulletin Mon May 25, 2009, 01:53 AM EDT

By Ally Long

For The Herald Bulletin

ANDERSON — Scattering throughout the neighborhood surrounding East Side Church of God, a group of teenagers set out on a mission one summer evening in 2008.

They targeted a few neighbors stuck at home around dinnertime, and their mission succeeded. The teens found 15 of the church’s neighbors that night to join them for their end-of-the-summer banquet celebration.

The dinner was the culmination of a summer-long ministry called “Church on the Street Nights.” Each Thursday night, the students of East Side tried to do something good for the community — such as cleaning up a park or purchasing groceries for needy families.

According to Brandon Mott, director of outreach for student ministries at East Side, the families that the students helped were “pretty blown away.”

That program is just one of the ways that the church community in Anderson is trying to respond to human needs. Yet churches are feeling the effects of the slumping economy. Some are being forced to cut back in many areas, including outreach.

“Giving has slowed, even in the mission department, but the demand has certainly increased,” said Keith Stork, pastor of outreach and missions at Madison Park Church of God. “We are definitely getting more calls.”

Ron Cole, minister of outreach at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, also reports seeing more financial stress in the parish.

When the church started serving free meals 13 years ago, it could do so with seven cooks. Today, it takes more than 60 cooks to meet the demand for meals.

“But the generosity has continued,” Cole said. “Even though our people are hurting, they still find ways to give to others.”

Donna Goings, senior associate pastor at First United Methodist, relates that its members have their own approach to addressing hardship, especially because of the church’s location.

“Being right downtown, we look at people who are hungry, dealing with financial crisis and homeless all the time,” said Goings. “It’s obvious that we need to reach out.”

As a result, the church has served more than 25,000 meals and met other needs. It also offers “relational support.”

Food and resources are crucial, Goings explained, but “the best way to break the poverty cycle is to mentor and form close relationships with people.”

One way the church tries to help people break the cycle is by offering instruction in managing money. It also provides a classroom for one of its members who teaches General Education Diploma, or GED, classes.

“It’s an up-and-down process,” Goings said, noting that change is especially hard for individuals who are a product of generational poverty. “It’s a lifestyle, and we all learn our culture as we grow up.”

Many churches also support other organizations such as Christian Center Rescue Ministries.

“Without the church, we wouldn’t survive,” said Jon Nelson, men’s program assistant at the Main Street ministry.

Nelson credits local churches for providing money, bus passes, meals, facilities for a Super Bowl party, chapel services, Christmas presents and more.

Stork says that Operation Love, which feeds hundreds of people each week, receives similar support from at least 30 area churches.

He said that an organization like Operation Love is, in fact, “the church reaching out.”

Habitat for Humanity and Second Harvest Food Bank are among the other Madison County not-for-profits that area churches support and that local parishioners serve.

“There’s a Scripture that says, ‘The poor will always be among you,’” said Ron Cole of St. Mary’s. “It’s our responsibility to serve those poor.”

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