Redeemer at the Family Homeless Shelter in Woodlawn

Last Tuesday night we were so thankful to be able serve alongside the Kling's and Dwight for our first week of making dinner at the family homeless shelter in Woodlawn. It was a wonderful evening, and we are looking forward to continuing to serve there and really get to know the families. We just wanted to share with you some practical things we learned, as the "guinea pigs," as well as what the Lord has been doing in our hearts.

Tuesday night was awesome :) The kids are fabulous. So much fun. We found that we were so busy cooking that we didn't get to talk to the adults as much as we would have liked, so one practical tip would be to prepare the food ahead of time so you can just heat it up there. Also, we love the idea of getting to offer them a nutritious home-cooked meal, because that's not really something they get very often. So the more good 'ol comfort food the better! Steph brought brownies and ice cream sundaes and that it was SO fun and special for the kids. Be sure also to bring drinks, maybe juice or milk because I think they get a lot of crazy colored cool aid.

On to the heart stuff. It was really cool to experience such conviction after Joel's sermon on Sunday, and then be able to take little baby steps of faith into putting that into action on Tuesday. The biggest thing that hit me about Joel's sermon was when he talked about how when one person serves in extraordinary ways, we have a tendency to point to that person, label them as "extraordinary," and I know in my case, often think "wow, that's amazing that they serve like that, but I don't think I really have it in me." We write it off as personality thing. Not only do we use it as an excuse as to why we don't or "can't" serve like that, we also miss giving the glory to God. BUT when an entire community, a body of believers, begins to give their lives to serve others, people are pointed to see God as the one who transforms hearts and compels us to serve and love. And believers are encouraged to take part in what God is doing.

Our prayer is that the Lord would so transform Redeemer Community Church, and make us a people whose lives are given to loving and serving Christ, and as a inseparable part of that, to loving and serving the poor. That we would not just dabble in service projects, but really form deep relationships with the poor and let their lives become intertwined with our own. A level of involvement that is potentially messy, inconvenient, and dangerous, but that has deep roots in the gospel and in the love of Christ who gave his life, not just in his death, but in the way he shared his life on earth with sinners, prostitutes, widows, orphans, and beggars--and calls us to do the same.

In serving the people at the home on Tuesday, our hearts were to simply to begin the process of forming relationships. It was peaceful and fun. We played with awesome, beautiful, hilarious kids. Chatted with adults. Listened to stories. Knowing that the aim was to be obedient to serve and form relationships in which to love these people over time, we were really freed up from the pressure to "hit 'em with the gospel." Our hope is that we will be able to built trust over time as they see us coming back, and that the gospel would be communicated meaningfully and naturally in that context.

Talking about all of this in our community group, we discussed that since not everyone can go every Tuesday night, we could potentially drop by and bring cookies or something whenever we can on other nights. After all, they are our neighbors! Dwight just called the director of the home to check that out and she was thrilled! We are welcome any time to come by and hang out, bring dessert or not, and follow up with relationships that we're forming. She also let Dwight know that the people at the home have been raving about last Tuesday and ask about three times a day if we're coming back. There are already clear ideas emerging for how to further relationships with the people we met on Tuesday. Pray for us that we would be obedient as God calls us to continue walking in faith to serve. Above all, that we would look to Christ! We're praying for you all who are going tomorrow night, and in the next few weeks!

Love,
Elaine and Keith Davis