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Restoring Our Credibility in Our Community
As we strive to emulate Christ in His service to humanity, we show the world that Christ is alive today and active in His people.
by Phil Gale

This year Emmanuel Baptist Church in Victoria, British Columbia once again opened its doors every Tuesday evening to the students of the University of Victoria. Volunteers prepare and serve food for more than 400 young men and women, and follow the meal with social chatter. Not a Bible in sight, not a mention of the Gospel. But each week, appreciative people express their gratitude to a group of Christians who are providing a service to the community.

When this service first started a few years ago, the pastors of EBC never imagined that they would be feeding more than 400 mouths each and every week. Nothing more than a handful turned up for the first meal, but in time, the snowball effect has resulted in a highly popular evening, which takes place in the gym at the church.

Comments from students include:
“The food here is really good.”
“I like the fact that no one is pushing religion down our throats – only food.”
“I’m amazed at how many people come here on a Tuesday evening.”
“I told all my friends about this dinner, and most of them come here now for a great meal once a week.”

Do you like “religion being pushed down your throat?” If you’re hungry, wouldn’t you settle for a good, wholesome meal without the feeling that someone is trying to deceive you or “rake you in?” The city of Victoria provides many opportunities for hungry folk to have a meal, without an ulterior motive from the provider. The Mustard Seed Street Church does the same thing, without preaching or trying to convert. The objective is to feed people who don’t have any money or food of their own.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Christ’s words were, “for I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you clothed me; I was in prison and you came to me…. Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:35-40, NKJ).

Christ’s words illustrate the point that when we show love toward others, we are also giving it to God. 1 John 4:20-21 says, “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.”

How do we demonstrate our love toward God? By loving the people with whom we share this earth! And how do we restore credibility in a world that has been soured with doctrines that focus on “you should do this, and you should do that; you can’t do this, and you can’t do that”? By giving to the people in our community! That is what the Gospel is all about. “Pure and undefiled religion (worship) before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world” (James 1:27).

Christ came with healing hands, hands that provided food, and even wine (see John 2). He showed love wherever He went, and never once pulled rank that He was “the Christ, Son of the living God.” He brought “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, “against such, there is not law” (Galatians 5:22-23). He did it in an attitude of deep humility and service to the very human beings He has created.

When religious groups and sects hide themselves away to “worship” God without reaching out to the community, are they just serving themselves? And on the other end of the scale, when we see religious extremists who murder and maim in the name of their god, are they not just satisfying their own desires and thoughts? Where is the God of love in this?

Even in our churches today, we see people with weaknesses in egos, pride, vanity, resentment; and the list goes on. We know we’re not perfect and never will be in this age. But striving to emulate Christ in His service to humanity shows the world that Christ is indeed alive today, and active in His people.

If your church can’t serve huge meals once a week, God isn’t counting. Just serving one meal to someone who needs it, and allow Christ to be seen through you. One little phone call to a lonely person; one small note to a sick person; one tiny coin in the cap of a disabled individual spreads the love of Christ in our community. As Christians, we are called to give – not get! Christ has promised to supply us with all our needs (see Matthew 6:33), so we needn’t worry about ourselves. Our work is to become involved with God’s work and to follow in the footsteps of Christ.

And who can say that the sooner we do this, the sooner Christ will return to restore all thing? Isn’t that what we really want? Let’s hope and pray so.

Phil Gale is a writer based in Victoria, British Columbia.

Originally published in Northern Light Magazine July/August/September 2007.

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