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Story | Community of Hope Church of the Nazarene

Doors Closed All Around Us – But We Still Served!

Because we were not fundraising but giving everything away - they didnt know what to do with us!...

Duane Boady, pastor at Community of Hope Church of the Nazarene in Corydon, IN, began talking to his congregation about Faith in Action a full six months before their community service day.

“I began in April by announcing from the pulpit, ‘Six months from now we’re going to leave the building on a Sunday morning and do something special,’” he explained. “And I repeated it fairly often.” So by the time Faith in Action day rolled around in late October, 85% of Community of Hope members and attendees turned out to serve their community.

“I should’ve started working in the community that early,” recalls Pastor Duane, “because it was hard to get people to let us do projects.” They’d planned to hand out free hotdogs at the Corydon Halloween Parade the day before, but were turned down. They asked for approval to hand out hotdogs, chips and sodas outside Wal-Mart on that Sunday, and were also turned down. A local grocery store also turned them down. “Because we weren’t fund-raising, but giving everything away – they didn’t know what to do with us! They told us we could sell them – but they couldn’t be free,” he said.

So they approached Tractor Supply and got approval. They also ran an ad in the local paper, saying “Come to Tractor Supply and get a free hotdog!” and purchased a thousand hotdogs and other supplies – but were only able to give away about 80. “Even individual people were skeptical – no one’s used to truly getting something free – no strings attached!”

Another team washed cars for free – 25 cars in two hours, on a cold day averaging mid-30-degree weather. Recipients were also incredulous, exclaiming, “This is FREE?” “Don’t you want a donation?” “Do you expect me to come to your church?”

A third team raked leaves on the town square. “This was a project I’d approached the city about nearly three months ahead of time. We volunteered to paint, do landscaping – all kinds of projects. Five days before the event, they came back and said ‘No, just rake leaves, and you have to do it this certain way.’ I actually ended up with more volunteers than we had work for!” Pastor Duane remembers.

So they went to Plan B, adding more projects: One group decorated Salvation Army offices for Christmas. A group of seniors went to a nearby nursing home, held a Sunday worship service and visited afterwards with residents. Another group of seniors wrote out invitations to community members, inviting them to the church’s free Thanksgiving dinner. Still another group compiled 32 crisis care kits full of hygiene items that were sent to disaster relief areas.

With all the closed doors, is Community Hope going to try Faith in Action again?

“Absolutely yes!” Pastor Duane said. “Faith in Action brought our church together while helping us to see the needs in our area. It helped us to think outside the church – outside the box. That’s what hooked me on this program: Anybody can use it.”