We are not those who shrink back!

As a church we’ve been journeying through a biblical series called: “Approaching God”. We landed on Hebrews Chapter 10 the other day, and this got me really excited as one of my favourite verses is found here. Hebrews 10 verse 39. It says: “But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls”.

Where am I going with all of this?

As the lead up to the national lockdown drew nearer and nearer, Love Reaching Communities Church, like many other churches across the globe, set up a CoVid 19 relief fund. Now, we never shy away from supporting the community that God has placed us in because our mantra has always been, and will always be, to love our community in the best possible, God centric way we can.

We put the fund in motion, with steady contributions from our church community – and for that I’m so grateful. To ensure that we did things the right way, we set up a team of highly credible leaders from the business community, who love Jesus and His people too. It always amazes me how God seems to bring the right individuals to work out his purposes and plans. After bouncing some ideas around we established, what I believed to be a set of prudent administrative guidelines. If you look at the bible, it is filled with good reminders for us to be wise in how we go about administering absolutely every part of our lives.  

A couple of weeks down the line and we’ve managed to law abidingly distribute over 600 food hampers to our community – primarily to those based in Alexander and Linbro Park. We had a tight grip of our regulars and those collecting for the first time. But as the saying goes: “good news travels fast” and we suddenly found ourselves charting some unprecedented waters when close to 1000 people arrived at our doorstep.

Nothing could have prepared us for this! With much sadness and somewhat despondency in our hearts, the police had to be called in to disburse the crowd. But, from every crisis there is an opportunity, and so begun a beautiful partnership between Love Reaching Communities; Community ConneXions (the social justice arm of the church) and the South African Police Services. 

Case in point, last week, we once again had the privilege to distribute close to 250 food hampers. This time the police, security personnel, Community ConneXions and members of the church (those with permits of course) flawlessly coordinated the distribution process. 

That is why I love this verse in Hebrews so much. Because we are not a people that shrink back when things get tough, but we have absolute assurance that our faithful Father will make a way! 

I really don’t know how long this virus will be with us. And my earnest prayer, like so many others across the world, is that God will intervene on our behalf. But until such time as He does, we continue to be His hands and feet on this earth.

Being His hands and feet also means being responsible. So, through some wise counsel we've added digital food vouchers to our dispensing mix. This eases the queuing burden, particularly for the frail, and more importantly, reduces the risk for our community and our staff.

By the grace of God we will continue with our bi-weekly distribution cycle of vouchers and food hampers to the many families that God has entrusted to us. Currently, we have sufficient funds to keep this up for eight more weeks – thank you Lord – and God willing our economy would have opened up even further and government grants and food distribution will begin to function normally.

Until then, we do not shrink back and will continue to live out Matthew 25: 35. "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me..."  

A communication like this would be incomplete if I did not take the opportunity to truly thank those who have stepped up to the plate and put themselves on the front lines to meet the needs of our community and also those who have faithfully supported us financially and importantly, have been praying for this amazing team. We are so grateful to the Holy Spirit who leads, guides and causes us to find favour. 

By: Trevor Howcroft

Trevor is an Elder at Love Reaching Communities Church and spearheads Community ConneXions (CCX) - an accredited Non-Profit Organisation. For more information on CCX or the disaster relief fund, please contact Trevor on: +27 82 900 3432; email: trevor@comconx.co.za or visit the website on: www.comconx.co.za