My church held a $1 car wash yesterday at a local gas station. There's a recession going on and things are tough. So why not offer to wash cars for the folks in our community?
As we finished each car, the driver had a $5 or $10.00 bill - or more - ready to hand to us. Which we refused. Instead, we gave the driver a dollar and a book mark with a short message about Jesus.
It took some convincing before our customers grasped the idea that that we were giving them a dollar for the privilege of washing their car. Doing practical things for our neighbors. Many argued for a while about who was to pay whom the money. One guy understood - he got another car and came back through again. We got to wash 2 for the price of one.
One fellow said "I can't accept this, I'm Jewish.
Chad replied, " Jesus was Jewish."
The fellow said "And a darn good one, too!" and accepted the $.
We washed a total of 63 cars, got wet, dirty and sweaty, and enjoyed every minute of it.
This project, and many others that we are working on are enlightening. We are beginning to get a better sense of "what can we do, as a community church, for others in our community" rather than "it's all about the Sunday service", and "what's in it for me?"
Cool.
BTW - If you haven't noticed, Kalianne of Bygone Beauty is back on line, having had electricity and internet connected in her new home in the wilderness of Australia! We are in for some exciting pictures and stories - stop by and say Good Day with your best Aussie accent.
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31 comments:
Yesterday, I was trimming shrubbery away from the side of one of the rentals. It was hard and sweaty work. Intent on what I was doing, I nearly jumped out of my skin when the pastor stopped by from the local Free Methodist Church in town to give me a package of homemade cookies. He was not looking for new members, or anything. He just was filled with the love of God and wanted to share it with everyone he encountered. He and his little girl then walked on.
This sounds such great fun!
I hope all your satisfied customer appreciated it!
Debby! How nice is that - unexpected cookies for now particular reason excep neighborly love.
Thay may have enjoyed it as much as we did, Elizabeth.
They.
Well, for heaven's sake, if that isn't the nicest idea I've heard of in a long time. I recently read somewhere about a lady who purchased around 50 $1.00 umbrellas and kept them in her car to hand out to people who were caught in the rain.
What a cool idea. It's not all wet and nor sponging off others! [lol] I'm going to suggest this to our church. Have a happy Sunday. ♥ ∞
Hey, I've tagged you for a meme! Pop over to the birdbath to see what it's about...
Darn good Jew? How about the BEST Jew that ever walked the earth? There were plenty of other great Jews too, like Noah, Moses, David, etc etc....
You know Moosey I am getting a *tad* suspicious about Debby....she's mentioning alot of housework lately and seems to be going out of her way to emphasize how busy she is. Do you think its all a giant ruse to throw us off what she's *really* up to? I'm going to have to check out if there have been any heists, capers, or jewel thefts in her neck of the woods lately. I know an alibi when I see one, for goodness sakes, having used a few thousand in my time!!! LOL!!!!
Ya know, Livvy - I'm thinking the same thing about Debby. Either that or she's trying to drop a guilt trip on us because we're painting our toes and eating bon bons on the Riviera.
What an interesting way to walk the talk. Kudos to you.
Darling, you mean *having* our toes painted. Horrors--we wouldn't actually do this beauty treatment by ourselves!
You paint your toes? How odd. Most people just stick to painting their nails.
Seriously, I'm so amazed and wonderfied at how much energy I have! I just am tearing through this house in a grateful cleaning frenzy. When I was at church today, people came up to me to tell me that my 'sparkle' was back!
I feel so good that I'm not even worried about what both you and Lavinia are trying to pull behind my back!
No no no! Certainly not doing! Robert (pronounced Row-berrrrr) Will be back later to do the top coat. He had to dash off to the kitchen and speak with Henri about the melange' of fruit to be served with the crepe's for our afternoon tea.
No wonder I keep getting distracted when you pop in, Debby. You know how I am with shiny sparkly stuff. And you do sparkle - almost as much as my toe NAILS.
Deb - pull behind your back?? I was just trying to figure this out - so I'll just ask you. I'm ordering severl pairs of shoes and I need that little 3 digit security code from your credit card.
No prob, Muse...Eleventy-seventeen.
You're welcome.
Debby, I'll give you a return ticket to Toronto if you wanna come up here and tear through my house! It could use a cleaning and since you have energy to spare....
My church does "servant evangelism," too -- showing God's love in practical ways. I like the bonus of giving the recipient a dollar!
A couple of years ago an inner city church that was closing its doors due to lack of attendance gave their building to my church. We opened a food pantry there and started having services again. A couple of weeks ago the minister told us that the arrest rate in the neighborhood dropped 43% from January 2008 to January 2009 and violent crimes by about the same amount.
Muse, your church is doing the modern equivalent of biblical foot washing. Way cool.
Awesome! Gives me chills! I think more churches and communities are "serving" more. It is exciting!
What an interesting concept! How generous and giving!! I hope it was a success! :)
Stevie - that's what I heard someone saying about it the other day - but I wasnb't sure what they meant. Now I know!
Jeanne - What a wonderful thing that was!
Imerie - Yes, it is very exciting and such a change for how it used to be.
Alvn - it was a success for all concerned
Lav - I think Debby would prefer to go south. Wadda think Deb - are you free on Thursdays?
What an awesome idea! And a great way to spend your day. ;0)
very cool.
That is so wonderful, talk about paying it forward.
i wish we could all dedicate one day a week, or even one day a month to give back to the community...maybe the world wouldn't be in such a mess. oooh i've got a good idea, tomorrow i will pay every single one of you a dollar each for coming along to clean up my house, mow the lawn, take out the rubbish, polish the windows, scrub the floors, vacuum the carpets, clean the oven.....
No, Soulbrush. We would all come to your house, clean, and then pay you a dollar when we are done for the privilege of serving you. If I were you, I'd see if I could get a few thousand people involved...
:^D
What a terrific idea!
What a FANTASTIC thing you all did, and how creative. I LOVE this...
Oh I love that idea! We're in the middle of a capital campaign and it gets in the way of what we're all about sometimes. :)
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