Services on Sunday, June 29th were held at Oak Leaf Village Apartments in North Brunswick. Carl & Shaun have delivered meals on wheels on Fridays to various residents of Oak Leaf Apartments for over 3 years now. Of all the places in North Brunswick Carl and Shaun knew that the residents of Oak Leaf were most in need. Carl, Shaun, Darin and Yvonne spent some time on Friday delivering fliers to the residents informing them of the BBQ and inviting them to step outside their doors on Sunday for some free food. They also spoke to Oak Leaf management and informed them that they would be hosting a BBQ for many of the residents who receive Meals on Wheels through the Township. Thankfully management was favorable toward the idea.
Plans were made, therefore, to put on a huge BBQ feast on the front lawn of Oak Leaf with enough food to feed the residents for 2 hours! Not having done this before it was difficult to know what to expect. Would the residents come outside and spend time with us? Would we have enough food? Would we be welcomed or shunned? Well praise be to God who opened the hearts and minds of the residents that day. Residents flocked in from everywhere! There was a continuous line for food for nearly 2 hours and people stuck around to talk.Towards the end of the two hours everyone gathered under the tents for a time of worship. Songs were sung, a prayer was made, the Lord's Supper was passed and Carl brought a message from Psalm 23 about God leading us to green pastures if we will simply follow Him. For a moment there everyone thought they were living in Bible times again! Just think, we "continued steadfastly in the apostle's doctrine and fellowship", we "broke bread", we "ate food with gladness and simplicity of heart", we prayed, we "praised God", we "had all things in common" and no one went without (see Acts 2:40-47). The only thing we did not have that day were baptisms, although our prayer now is that those we have made contact with will come on Sundays to learn about Jesus and be baptized for the remission of their sins and the gift of God's Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38).
Several residents and some members of BCC commented on the day. One lady said, "Not enough churches do this sort of thing." A member of BCC stated, "We have never been more the "church" than we were today". An involved leader even said, "That was one of the best things we've done since being here in my opinion".
Admittingly, it was a little uncomfortable for some in the beginning. The people we were interacting with were not people we typically interact with. Some members did not even know Oak Leaf Village existed let alone how in need the residents were. But still everyone followed behind and served one another. Everyone reached out to someone and befriended them. We even got numerous visitor cards filled out so that we can be in contact with the residents on a more regular basis. Everyone was invited to church and many said that we would see them the next week.
So what did we learn from this experience?
- We learned that the church can be the church anywhere.
- We learned that the church acts most like Jesus when she, by her faith in God, steps out of her comfort zone to serve the needy (Mt.25:40).
- We learned that if people won't come to "church" then the next best thing may be to bring the church to them.
It is our prayer that God will do through this event "exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us", to the praise of His Glory.
