A welcoming place

Tonight our Fellowship Hall was alive with the sound of music. The dancers from Luis Pabon's Style Extraordinaire held a Spaghetti Supper Fund Raiser. They raised close to $800 and gave their guests a good dinner and some first class entertainment.

Over the years we have hosted many different groups in our Fellowship Hall. Earlier in the week I had a woman stop by who told me she used to come here for Boy Scout events when she was a girl. We have always been very community minded. Our church has been like a community center on the West Side. From DAR dinners, to Rotary Club meetings, to Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops, to AA groups and Parents Groups, we have opened our doors to meet the needs of those outside the church.

Why do we do this? Because it is part of our mission. We are to be a place of hope and inspiration for the community. Our welcome says we care about the neighborhood and the people who live in our city. That's why we hosted the Americares Mobile Clinic for three years in the 90's. This clinic offered free healthcare to the working poor. That's why we opened our doors to the Hispanic and Korean Congregations. We saw God moving and bringing people together and we were right in the middle of God's path.

A church is more than a building. It is a community of people who believe that God is alive and working in the world. It is a community of people who step up and make sure that God's will is done in their neighborhood. That us and I saw it again tonight even though only a few of us who gather on Sunday mornings were actually present.

Cal