Around 25% of the children attending come from low-income communities, so they provide breakfast not only to the kids but also for their families before the Bible lesson and activities start.
The church has helped firefighters provide free smoke detectors to the community, built ramps to make buildings more accessible, provided meals to seniors, and spent “Serve Sundays” picking up trash around town.
“We want them to come here to rest for a bit before they have to start making decisions that will impact their lives,” says Slade, who hopes that other area churches will follow suit.
Coblentz named the church’s new effort the Bread Breakers Ministry. Volunteers started out making around 50 sandwiches a week, but they quickly broke their own record.
Because the church is big on families, many events are geared toward kids, including bull riding for teens; Little Wranglers, an event that lets kids ride a horse, milk a pretend cow, “brand” goats with flour and a mop, and barrel race with stick horses; and a special needs kids rodeo.
We’re trying to think outside the walls. How can we engage missionally? How can we bring church to where people are, and not be thinking constantly about how we’re going to get them here?
