Update on Guy and Jennifer Swenson’s Common Ground Ministries and Camp Outreach

This past summer Guy and Jennifer Swenson's Camp Outreach sponsored program to rehab a house in an Indianapolis neighborhood. Growing from that project has come a Sabbath morning neighborhood program. Guy posted, without much background, this update on his Facebook page:

We had 39 kids at our Sabbath time with "the neighborhood" kids. Two hours of Bible stories, cool crafts and "Moonrock" snacks. Thanks to Beth from Anna's House for her help. Add another 9 parents and adults and we had a pretty good group! We had 26 kids last time. Since our last outreach, one little girl had moved from the neighborhood - and her mom made a special trip to bring her back. Can't wait 'til next time.

Intrigued by this, I sent Guy a message asking for more background details, and he replied with this:

Hi Lenny,

I don't know what to say - it is becoming a community effort. The food pantry (The Lord's Pantry at Anna's House) and families in the community have adopted us as much as we have adopted them. Beth Balazs volunteers at the Lord's Pantry and saw on Facebook that the flu had depeleted our resources, so she came and brought her daughter. 8th graders from St. Jude's parish (Catholic) volunteered at the pantry and created three big signs in English and Spanish that advertised our kid's camp and posted them at the pantry. (You can see pics of them taken by Beth on my Facebook.)

How cool is it that what we are doing is being promoted by other denominations?

Four things that seem to be bearing fruit:

1. We started by looking for existing ministries that we could help and earned a reputation for serving with them before we proposed anything ourselves. Showing honor and respect for what others are doing was a good place for us to begin.

2. We are working in an area where we have identified real needs and taking concrete steps to meet those needs. Doing a Camp Outreach in the community really established a lot of credibility.

3. Focusing on meeting legitimate needs vs starting by preaching doctrinal distinctives is building community support. People know that we keep the Sabbath and that we went to the Feast. They also have a favorable impression of them because of the ministries we do in their community.

4. We're trying to follow the leading of God's Spirit. Following through and completing one project is opening up an opportunity to do another.

It has taken time for us to rethink what our priorities are as a congregation and learn how to really connect with a community that has needs that we can meet. We've focused on ministries that fit the gifts of people in our congregation. It is exciting to see how the community is responding to our ministries. We've chosen to leave behind the "us vs them" mentality and find ways to show honor and respect to people of different denominations. We're focusing on the common ground we share.
We're also following the Natural Church Development outline for healthy congregations. It is helping us discover different ways of relating to the community and each other that work better than what I was taught.

It feels like we are really at just the beginning. I don't know if this helps you, but we're having fun and learning a lot every time we minister with our friends in the neighborhood.

Guy

You can access the pictures Guy mentions at this link: http://annashouse.shutterfly.com/specialevents/399?eid=112

Guy’s response has convinced me to read the book Natural Church Development, which he has been touting for many years. More importantly, rather than cursing the darkness, Guy and Jennifer are lighting a candle.