Does Your Church Have a Benevolence Ministry?

[CC1]

At Christ Church we give the homeless a Christ Church Choir CD and a latte from the CC Cafe.

[seguidordejesus]

Originally Posted by CC1

At Christ Church we give the homeless a Christ Church Choir CD and a latte from the CC Cafe.

Are you serious?

[berkeley]

Originally Posted by CC1

At Christ Church we give the homeless a Christ Church Choir CD and a latte from the CC Cafe.

What are they supposed to do with the CD? Trade it for drugs?

[berkeley]

Originally Posted by KwaiQ

Yes, we offer donuts and coffee to the homeless and our people volunteer in a homeless shelter. We also go to nursing homes and sing songs, etc... with a small (5-10 min) sermonette.

Caffeine and sugar for someone who doesn't eat on a regular basis...

[seguidordejesus]

Originally Posted by Berkeley

What are they supposed to do with the CD? Trade it for drugs?

I was wondering the same thing...perhaps some other church donates a CD player

[Sam]

We go to a small church.
We do give out food but it is limited by what people bring in.
We also have limited clothes based on what people bring in.
We give bags of food to transients at 3 local motels based on their requesting them. The types of food are limited. Some rooms have a small kitchenette and others only have a microwave.
We participate in a program named Angel Food where about 60-80 dollars worth of food is available for 25 dollars (food stamps accepted) which helps folks stretch their food budget.
Each fall we give out about one thousand back packs with school supplies.

Originally Posted by CC1

At Christ Church we give the homeless a Christ Church Choir CD and a latte from the CC Cafe.

Bro... you gotta be kidding here...

[CC1]

Originally Posted by seguidordejesus

Are you serious?

LOL!!! of course I am not serious but it was funny to see everybody's reactions.

CC does a lot of stuff for the needy.

In the winter we host the homeless one night a week (other churches rotate the other nights). We offer them food, shelter, a shower, and of course Bible Study that night!

We also help donate canned goods to Second Harvest food back several times a year (thousands of pounds worth of canned goods) and last Thanksgiving we bought and packed out several huge trailer loads of Thanksgiving dinners for the needy.

We have a man who heads a ministry at our church aimed at Vietnam Vets who deals a lot with the homeless.

I know that we also help folks sometimes that are in a bind with utility payments etc but I don't know what the requirements are (like if they have to be attending our church or not).

Large churches like our (and smaller ones) are the target of a lot of con artists so I know they have to be careful and vet those they help to weed out the scam artists.

[Sherri]

Originally Posted by Kutless

This is a great time of the year to YARDSALE!!!!!!!

We have rec'd multiple donations from folks who simply do not want to re-store all the stuff that didn't sale. We will pick it up and use what we can. We have come across some things that are quite valuable to the indigent population.

I know this would not apply to every area....but we also have travel groups that collect all the hotel/motel soaps and lotions to donate. These are especially good for the homeless population.
Let's not forget how important water is now that its hot most places. During the state fair we passed out free water. Each bottle had our church label on it.

Every time we travel, we take all our own products so we can save those little ones the hotel gives you. We take them to Kenya and make baskets for the pastors' wives who cannot afford to buy soap or lotions. They love them!!!

[True Believer]

Originally Posted by Ronzo

Very VERY good point.

I do have them once in a while.