Saddleback Hands Out 10,000 Grocery Bags
- Posted by: Todd
- Posted on: Mon, February 23, 2009
- Viewed 267
- (20) comments so far
Sounds like a great idea. 10,000 grocery bags filled and given to those in need. But I was a little taken back when the article said that most of the parishioners said they’d rather bring the bags back to the church rather than give the bag away themselves. Seems like this would have been for one of two reasons, both could be telling:
1. They don’t know anyone that could use a bag of free groceries. That seems kinda weird today, with so many people hurting. I know a good number of people in my own area/church that have lost their jobs in the past month. I’m sure most of them would be grateful.
2. It’s easier to fill a bag and bring it to the church. But that kinda takes a big part of this project off the table. A family will get much more satisfaction out of delivering the bag themselves than bringing the bag back to the church for it to be distributed to someone they don’t know.
But, overall… great idea.
What do you think?
Todd
According to The Christian Post, Saddleback Church recently distributed more than 10,000 empty shopping bags at the end of the services and challenged its congregants to overcome their economic fear with faith and take care of their neighbors’ need.
Pastor Rick Warren said, "The number one way that God tests your faith? Money... God wants to know: Are you going to worry, or are you going to trust me? … When I meet others' needs, God takes care of mine."
Saddleback encouraged participants to give the bag filled with nonperishable food to friends and family in need, but most of the parishioners said they'd rather bring the bags back to the church for it to distribute, according to The Orange County Register.
The southern California megachurch is expected to in turn donate the bags to local food banks that are desperately in need of supply.
Comments
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Grady Bauer on Wed, February 25, 2009
Interesting article and more interesting comments. I have two thoughts on what I’ve read.
First…not knowing non-Christians. Part of this is often a result of the church. We build campuses and then fill them up with activites all throughout the week…either on campus or in the homes. This leaves little time to actually build relationships with the non-believers around us. Maybe Saddleback needs to look at what they can cancel during the week and how to enable and equip their people to spend time with those they interact with outside of the church. Just a thought…
Second….I work among Muslims…where sharing the Gospel is done in small steps and often without alot of “preaching”. I do not think that handing out groceries can be classified as evangelism…but it can be classified as laying the foundation for evangelism or even pre-discipleship. We often do acts of kindness in various ways to help undo people’s preconceptions about Christians. If they have negative ideas of who we are they are much less likely to listen to our Gospel. Thats why ideas like the 10000 bags is good…it helps to undo peoples views of who we (often) are and this can open up the doors for future sharing. Simply “being” isn’t evangelism…anymore than being “healthy” makes sick people well.
Dave Z on Wed, February 25, 2009
Good points Grady. We must base our lives on loving God and loving others, and that’s waht you’re describing. Some would say that truly loving others is to tell them they’re going to hell without Jesus, but I have a hard time limiting love to that concept. I think when we act towards others with love, we are laying the groundwork for true evengelism, in small steps. Watering where others may eventually reap.
I’ve heard that it takes anywhere from 20 to 60 positive interactions with believers for someone to become a Christian. I can’t document those figures, but I do feel that my kindness to an individual may be interaction #1 or #19. The bag of groceries is in there somewhere too.
Stretch Mark Mama on Mon, March 02, 2009
Oooh! I like it. I’ve already got my gears spinning for a way to make it work alongside a project I’m already doing.
And as a side note, these comments cracked me up. In a sad, snarky way.
Steve Jensen on Tue, March 03, 2009
Sounds like we’re kinda on the same page with this idea. Last year our church started something called the “March of Plenty”, over the month of March. We went out and bought “Home Depot” buckets and distributed them. We asked our congregation to tak extra buckets and challenge their neighbors to get involved too! That night with our youth we went door to door in the community sharing what we were doing, and asked if it was something they would be interested in participating in. The response we got from people was overwhelming. They were so excited to hear that the “church” was doing something like this. Obviously there were people who were skeptical and said no, but the large majority hopped on board. In the community we handed out a DVD, bucket, and a sheet with drop off information and everything they needed to know. The drop off is during a sunday morning and we’re hoping people will come out and stick around for the service. We do a collection sunday where the food gets brought in and piled in the front of the church. It’s extremely exciting to see the response of people, and very humbling when you see people who can’t afford it bringing in as many buckets as people who can easily afford it.
This is the second year we’ve done this, but the first time we’ve involved the community and are truly hoping God opens up doors for us to minister to them, and that maybe we’ve sparked some curiosity.
As our lead pastor likes to say “it’s time the church stopped underwhelming people and started overwhelming them.”
Stretch Mark Mama on Tue, April 07, 2009
Wanted to follow up to let you know that I DID end up using this idea… for our community egg hunt we’re collecting canned goods for the food bank. People from the neighborhood are being asked to bring 3 cans per family to the event.
I asked the people of our church to go “above and beyond” by filling a BAG of groceries to donate to the food bank. Our local Trader Joes was more than willing to donate empty bags for the cause.
Just wanted to let you know someone actually reads these posts and does something besides “discussing” them! (*wink*)
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