The veteran noticed the scripture verse attached to his food hamper and felt a sense of solace. It was Psalm 91 – a verse about protection. “You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday,” the verse said. It was very fitting during the pandemic.
When the veteran (who prefers to remain nameless) first completed his application for a food hamper, the CSC staff member recognized his name as someone who accessed the food bank a few times through the depot at the West Campus. When the staff member phoned him, the veteran shared his story about how he had suffered a head injury in combat and was barely able to make ends meet on the meager pension he receives. “If I need to buy a pair of socks, I won’t be able to eat,” the veteran shared. He also shared how he was inspired by the scripture verse that came with the hamper and wanted to know how he could get connected with Centre Street Church. The staff member directed him to the online services listed on the card and also gave him the phone number for the Pastor of the Day. The staff member prayed for him before ending the conversation.
“This is just one example of how God is moving through us as a church, even during this time of social distancing,” says Steve Griffin, Pastor of Compassionate Ministry (soon to be called Centre for the City). “Although COVID has brought barriers to our usual hands-on programs, we are still finding opportunities to be missional as a church, even through something as simple as a scripture or a note of encouragement.”
Pastor Steve is calling on the Centre Street Church congregation to write notes of encouragement to people so we can include them with the hot meals which is being launched on July 22. “Our heart is to do more than feed people. We want to demonstrate the love of Jesus,” says Pastor Steve.
To learn more about how you can touch a life through a simple note, visit: www. www.cschurch.ca/notes/
Social distance has not prevented our church from being on mission to impact our community for Christ. Throughout COVID-19, we have been able to increase the amount of food distributed to people in need. In fact, since March we have distributed over1289 hampers and 95.5K pounds of food! Plus, thanks to emergency food security grants, we have been able to launch additional food distribution programs such as our lunchbox program, launched at the end of May. Since then we have distributed over 3288 lunches. On July 22 we will launch our hot meals program so we can help even more people in need!
And all of this is happening while we BUILD more room for God. Construction at our Central Campus has begun. To learn more about how we are making room to serve more Calgarians going through hardship, visit www.buildmoreroom.ca/why-build/campaign/central-campus/compassionate-ministry.
To learn how you can help by submitting a note of encouragement, visit: www.cschurch.ca/notes/