Plain City, Ohio, Church Cooperates With Others
Posted by Terry White on August 31, 2009
Church-planter Shawn Kaeser got some nice press in Madison County, Ohio, for a cooperative program among churches of the community. Here is an excerpt–to read the entire article click here.
“Over the last 2,000 years in western history, we really think of church as a building,” said Shawn Kaeser, Darby Grace Brethren Church pastor. “The Bible says a church is the people. We want to take time out of the normal routine and serve our fellow man. We want to break those stereotypes. The church is not a building downtown; it’s a group of people that serves.”
Participants will gather at 9 a.m. on Sept. 6 in Pastime Park. A brief time of worship, prayer and encouragement is planned. At 9:30 a.m. the group will spread throughout the community for a variety of service projects.
Projects include neighborhood carnivals, improvement projects at Monroe Elementary and Pastime Park, visiting nursing homes and cleaning up around the village.
“We handed the project decisions over to our small groups,” Keene said. “We asked them to plan something your group could engage its members in; if there are children, plan a child-friendly project, for example. There’s a lot of diversity.”
Participants will gather at 12:30 p.m. to share a meal and stories of their morning with approximately 600 other people.
Keene said the United Methodist Church event was “a catalyst” for the larger community event. Although there was some hesitation, he said there was “unanimous enthusiasm for the concept.”
“Even those churches that aren’t canceling worship are helping. Next year, we hope more people jump on board,” Keene said.
Darby Grace Brethren is a new church in the area, according to Kaeser. The church doesn’t have a building and Kaeser is hopeful the “BE the Church” Sunday will broaden minds.
“From the perspective of a new church, one of the things we battle against is the church is a building. We don’t need a building,” he said. “We can serve alongside our fellow man and love people in the name of Jesus. It’s a great commercial for what the church is supposed to be. It will be a powerful moment when we have everyone that would normally sit in a church on Sunday working in the community.”
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