Community Corner

Church Members Use Sunday to Serve

On Sunday, about 250 members of Community Christian Church in Montgomery headed out into the community to perform service projects. Church leaders hope to make this an annual tradition.

If you ask Carter Moss, he’ll say church is not a place you go. It’s an identity you bring with you out into the world.

Moss is the pastor of ’s Montgomery campus, and on Sunday, he and his congregation set out to put that philosophy into action. For one week, the 12 Community Christian campuses canceled all church services, and sent their flock out into their respective towns, to serve any way they could.

In Montgomery, about 250 people spread out over five locations, helping the community in various ways. Some stayed at their home base, working on a community garden and assembling a greenhouse at the church on Montgomery Road.

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But some headed down to the Fox River, to clean up litter and debris. They trawled the banks of the river, with trash bags and metal pokers, picking up garbage wherever they could find it.

Among those were Jason and Julie Williams, and their three-year-old daughter Payton. Helping the community is important, Jason and Julie said, and they gave up their Sunday morning partially to teach their daughter that service is “a normal part of life.”

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Some church members headed up to Aurora, where a group of them volunteered for Motorcycle Sunday, the annual bike rally in Phillips Park. Another group ventured to Hesed House, the city’s homeless shelter on River Street, and organized a barbecue, complete with hot dogs and hamburgers, a volleyball net and an inflatable bounce house.

A sudden downpour around 11:15 a.m. forced the event inside, but volunteers still cooked and served food for everyone at Hesed House. Deb Kolzow was one of those volunteers, helping with the grill, wiping down tables and doing anything else asked of her. But when asked why she gave up her Sunday morning to help out, she responded without missing a beat.

“I’m not giving up my day at all,” she said. “I’m Jesus’ hands and feet, and I’m coming out to do what the Lord leads me to do.”

The rain also cut short a project at in Boulder Hill, where church members were sprucing up the bushes and shrubs outside. But rain couldn’t derail the main reason volunteers were there: to assemble gifts for every teacher, administrator and employee of Long Beach.

The presents were packaged in two-liter soda bottles, and included gift certificates to local businesses like Famous Dave’s, the Comedy Shrine and Spirit, Body and Soul Massages, along with candles, lotions, candies and highlighters, all of which were donated. According to Angela Malloy, who helped organize the project, volunteers assembled and personalized a gift for all 66 employees of the school.

“If you’re going to be the church, that doesn’t mean sitting in a building listening to hymns, it means being out the community participating,” Malloy said. “It’s a lot of work, but it’s the most rewarding work.”

Long Beach Principal Kevin Lipke said the teachers and staffers at his school had no idea gifts were in store for them when they arrived Monday morning. The gifts coincide with Teacher Appreciation Week, which runs through Friday.

Community Christian’s Montgomery campus is celebrating its 10th year, and Moss said the church is seeking new ways to become part of the community. In late March, they partnered with the village to put on an Easter egg hunt in Montgomery park, and Moss said he’s hoping both that event and the day of service will become annual traditions.

“You can donate to the community, and that’s awesome, but we want to take this whole other step and give up our time,” he said. “That’s important to us.”


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