For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. -Eph. 2:10
Traveling to Columbus Ohio, ten RezWest members are currently working to be a blessing to the members of the Church for All People, a Methodist mainstay ministry in the Columbus inner-city. The RezWest Columbus Serve Trip group participated in Sunday services, helped serve meals and sorted clothing in the church’s very active Free Store on Sunday.
Church for All People is a fascinating United Methodist ministry serving some emerging communities in Columbus’ southside. It rehabs houses, opening doors for low-income families to get their own homes. The ministry has gotten houses into the hands of more than 200 people, and rental grant units into the hands of more than 200 more. In the process they have completely changed the face of a once blighted neighborhood near the city center. An area that once was dotted with vacant houses, and boarded up windows, now includes colorful lived-in homes, gardens and greenspaces.
The Church operates a Fresh Store, providing healthy produce and other foodstuffs hard to find in its part of the city. In addition, it opens its doors on weekends, providing meals to the community. It also makes clothing and household items available in its Free Store right on the Church grounds. It blesses more than 350 families a day, five days a week.
But, blessings go both ways. The staff of Church for All People, including Margaret, Katelin, Deseriee, and Pastor John reached out to both their community and the serve trip visitors on Sunday. The Pastor led his congregation and the RezWest group through Ephesians 2, explaining the way good works emerge naturally from a life changed by Grace. And, lives transformed by Grace were on display everywhere one looked.