A different kind of soup kitchen and a different way of going

Posted by Alan Knox on Jul 22, 2011 in blog links, love, missional, service | 4 comments

Chris at “The Amplified Life” has written another great missional (true) story in his post “Soup for the Soul: A Positive Example of a Local Church ‘Going’.”

In the post, Chris tells the story of a group of Christians who decide to start a soup kitchen to feed people from the neighborhood who are hungry and needy. It doesn’t go so well. Very few people come to the soup kitchen.

So, do these brothers and sisters give up? Nope. They decide to go to the people who are hungry and needy.

Here’s part of the story:

A little while ago a layperson from the church approached Ken and asked if they could start a weekly soup kitchen from The Hub. Ken’s response was great. He basically said, “Build a team and go for it, but you lead it.” They called the ministry Soup for the Soul. For the first few weeks they either had no one show up or only about 1 or 2 people show up to receive a meal. Then the leadership of this ministry realized something. No one is coming but there is a low income apartment complex two blocks away. What if we take the food to them?

This began a great change. For weeks now Soup for the Soul, which is completely lead by laity, went from serving 0-2 people each Wednesday evening to serving 30-40 people each Wednesday evening! They spend time with the residents. They pray with the residents. They have distributed about 10 Bibles. The residents of this apartment complex look forward to this church arriving every Wednesday. This church is loving on the people of this apartment complex.

What a great story! And, notice, this is a traditional church. It is not an organic/simple church. That makes it even better!

I love to see people moving beyond what is expected and going out to the people who need to the love of Christ!

Read the rest of Chris’ short article and notice the two positive examples he takes from this true story.