New Florida congregation discovers the benefits of “getting down and dirty” on behalf of their community.

May 2007

By Jenni Keast Outreach, Inc.

Want to see your community come to Christ? Invest in their lives by putting in a little "sweat equity." Grace Community, a Florida start-up church of more than 100, has done just that, and now they’re experiencing unexpected growth — with a renewed vision to practice a "pure and undefiled religion." Grace Community and other churches across the nation are experiencing this transformation with the help of the new Faith in Action campaign, a dynamic four-week experience that equips churches to impact their communities in new ways. Faith in Action is a partnership between World Vision, Zondervan, and Outreach, Inc., that is designed to change the world and your congregation.

On Super Bowl Sunday, Grace Community was bowling over the local elementary school and the rest of the community with simple acts of kindness. By getting "down and dirty" — spreading mulch over the school grounds, painting picnic tables at a home for foster kids, assembling AIDS Caregiver Kits and cleaning up yards for seniors — Grace Community sent a clear message that God's Word is much more than a metaphor for sowing, reaping and tilling the hard ground of life. Instead, God’s Word comes alive in a community when Christ's followers make His love tangible with rakes, hoes, shovels, and plenty of sweat.

"We spread mulch. God spreads joy," one Grace Community member reported.

Finding Hope in the Midst of Chaos

Janet, a single, middle-aged woman with a disability, couldn't have been more grateful to see the kingdom principal "love gets dirty" applied. Until Janet became disabled, she had served people all her life — but had never been served herself. On Grace Community's "Outreach Sunday," Janet said she found hope even in the midst of the overgrown weeds, strewn-about papers and general chaos in her home that comes about when you simply can’t move around. She basked in the reality that there were people who cared.

Not surprisingly, when Grace Community was first selected to be a Faith in Action test church, the reaction of the leadership was: "Great, this fits in with our vision of what a church should be. But how are we going to pay for it?"

Like other churches doing Faith in Action, Grace Community soon learned there’s "provision in the vision." In Grace Community's case, that provision came mostly through the gift of one individual. Miraculously, two days before Make a Difference Day they received a financial gift from a person who lived several hundred miles away — and didn't attend Grace Community.

"The Faith in Action campaign is aptly named because it takes faith that God will provide both the funds and projects to act!" Pastor Jeff Olsen said. "And for us, well, we were literally living out Ephesians 2:10: 'For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them' .... Through it all we saw that it really was God's project — all we had to do was respond."

Focusing the Vision

Today, Grace Community's "Make a Difference Day" is morphing into "Make a Difference Week," "Make a Difference Month," and ultimately — Pastor Olsen hopes — making a difference for the rest of the life of the church. As a result of the congregation coming together to show practical acts of compassion, seven new families have joined.

"For us, Faith in Action was not a one-time thing," Olsen said. "What this campaign really did for our church was give us focus for our existing vision: 'Building a better community by God's grace.' And for our members it was a real inspiration for them to think about how they could continue a life of faith in action — how they should not wait for the church to arrange these types of projects, but like Jesus, go out in their community to ‘seek and save the lost.'"

The Faith in Action experience begins with three weeks of church-wide preparation and study focusing on biblical compassion, service, and Christ’s heart for those in need. In the fourth week, on "Faith in Action Sunday," services are cancelled in order to do service, as members of the congregation leave the building to apply what they’ve learned.

Re-Focusing the Vision

Learn More

>> Visit www.PutYourFaithinAction.org for more information or to order a leader's kit ... or call 800-991-6011.

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