Benevolence at Faith Church

Tonight my schedule includes a Benevolence meeting. I look forward each month to meeting with these godly people. I love the way our chairperson leads us with scripture and a short time for personal sharing and then prayer. Often our meetings are interrupted for more prayer for specific requests or families that we feel burdened for. Trust me! We do pray over the decisions we make. We take seriously the responsibility entrusted to us to be good stewards of the gifts from our church family for those in need.

We are aware of about 20 families who are in financial need of some kind. Each of these families has been interviewed by someone on the committee or is accountable to someone we know for their spending choices. This is particularly true when we are helping on a regular basis. Most of the families we are helping are regular attenders here at Faith Church. Because the needs within our own church are great, I have instructed the secretaries to encourage people who don’t attend here who call to ask for financial help to contact Milford Miami Ministries first. MMM is an association of area churches which provides a food pantry and help with rent and utilities for Milford/Miami Township residents.

Many of the families that we come alongside of also use our Food Pantry to subsidize their grocery budget. There are two or three people on the committee who meet with these persons to take them to the Food Pantry to help them make their selections. Recently our chest freezer in the Food Pantry “died”. Tonight’s agenda will include a discussion of how, or if we should replace this freezer so that we can continue to accept fall donations from hunters of venison. Another use for the freezer in the past has been frozen meals donated by some of the cooks in our congregation and leftover food from congregational meals.

Did you know that over the past five months Faith Church has provided more than $11,000 of financial help to fifteen of our families who have struggled to buy food, pay rent, utilities, and medical expenses? Thank you so much for your generous gifts that minister God’s love and care to so many who are in need.

This fall Benevolence provided scholarship funds so that 4 families could take the Financial Peace University course, offered here at our church. There they are learning wise and biblical principles that we pray will impact their spending and saving decisions over years to come. Since Financial Peace University is a lifetime thing, one scholarship is good for the entire family for a lifetime. In some cases this fall, more than one member of the family is attending the class and other family members are able to watch the DVD’s at home so that whole families are being impacted by this valuable material.

With the holidays approaching, and cooler weather heading our way, we anticipate more needs. As usual, we appreciate the generous support of Faith Church people. If you ever have questions, or know of a church family that is struggling, please contact Rebecca or Pastor Dick. We will be glad to try to identify needs and help if we can.