Members of Maple Avenue Baptist Church in Geneva are going outside the church building to serve the community.
Ricky Hall, the church’s senior pastor, said his congregation created a serve team a few years ago to assist the community with events while spreading the love of Jesus.
Here to serve
Hall said that in 2022, God put it on his heart to focus on getting people out of the church and into the community. He said Matthew 20:28 inspired him and his church to be like Jesus, who came to serve, not to be served.
“We need to figure out a way to get the Christians out of the church building,” Hall said. “We were running missions teams and doing all of that, but we didn’t have anything in our community as far as us reaching our local town.”
Types of events
Hall said between 30 and 40 church members make up the volunteer team. The team serves at various community events including Friday night football games, fall festivals and the town’s Christmas parade. They also hosted a car show in the church’s parking lot.
Sharing the gospel
Hall explained that while the team assists the community, they also share the gospel.
“It gives us an opportunity to talk to people who don’t know the Lord or people who don’t go to church anywhere,” Hall said. “It gives us the opportunity to build relationships with them.”
The team handed out about 1,000 cups with Scripture and the church’s name on them at a recent high school football game. Hall said that during the Christmas parade, the team gives out Scripture candy bags that also have church information in them.
Asking for assistance
Hall said that sometimes people come to the church to ask for the team’s assistance, but he also reaches out to community members when he knows a special event is being planned.
Typically, all 30–40 members don’t serve at once. Hall said that after asking the local elementary school principal if the school needed any help with its fall festival and carnival, he rotated smaller groups out every few hours of work.
“Our school system has really been easy to work with,” Hall said. “They always need volunteers, so it’s a win for both of us.”
Future serve teams and growth
The current serve team consists of adults. However, Hall said the church is in the process of starting serve teams with students and children.
“We’re trying to figure out how they could serve in our church or in our community for short amounts of time with their parents,” Hall said.
The ministry is still evolving, and Hall said there is a strong possibility of other churches joining his church’s serve team in the coming months.
“It’s not just about Maple Avenue (Baptist),” Hall said. “It’s about just getting Christians in the community.”
After attending the Alabama Baptist State Convention annual meeting, Hall said some pastors were curious about establishing their own serve teams at their churches. He said there’s no expense to starting a volunteer service team. The only cost for Maple Avenue’s team was the shirts the group ordered to wear while serving others.
Hall said the team members decide which events they can be of service for, and then the group meets to go over a schedule of each event they plan to assist with.
“It’s an incredible ministry, and I don’t know how many other churches are doing it,” Hall said.
The community’s response
Hall said the community has had a positive response to the serve team even though the area has never seen anything like it before. He said volunteer groups exist in Geneva but not any with a Christian foundation and purpose.
“From a Christian perspective, from a church perspective, we’re the only ones doing that and the community’s very welcoming of that,” Hall said.
There has been church growth, and many people have been saved as a result of the team’s presence in the community.
“God really just brings people to us because of our servanthood,” Hall said. “I just believe the Lord rewards that. I really do.”
Share with others: