Birmingham church grows closer with food drive project

We are better together,” Pastor Calvin Kelly and his staff repeatedly told members of Valleydale Baptist Church, Birmingham, in Birmingham Baptist Association, while studying Rick Warren’s 40 Days of Community.
   
Recently the congregation worked together and delivered more than 2,000 bags of food to Oak Mountain Mission Ministries to help needy Shelby County residents, hurricane evacuees and people in the Black Belt.
   
“We wanted the church to be the church and realize that we don‘t exist for ourselves,” Kelly said. “We exist for the world, and the best way to deepen love for each other is to do something for the cause of Christ with each other.”
   
Members donated food and collected food from their neighbors. “This did two things: it allowed us to collect more food but also gives credibility to the church in the eyes of unbelievers,” Kelly noted.
   
During the study, members learned the importance of loving God’s family and the value of reaching out, fellowshiping, growing, serving and worshiping together. Some small groups also participated in their own missions and ministry projects.
   
Kelly said church small groups increased by 68 percent, and about half of them plan to continue meeting. He added that 150 adults who had not been actively involved in the church’s ministries deepened their connection to the church through Sunday morning or weekday groups.
   
“That’s 150 new people who only basically attended worship services who are now growing to conform to the image of Jesus, deepening relationship in community and giving and receiving needed support,” Kelly said.
   
He emphasized that knowing without doing is only half the gospel. “God wants us to apply what we learn, and the only way you apply it is by getting your hands dirty and serving others in the power of Christ. Through this, I think Valleydale has experienced true revival.”