Faith In Action

Stories

In The News

Story

From Faith in Action to Good Samaritans

The Future Church in Richmond was able to be a Good Samaritan from day one...

“Our Faith in Action started a little early – on the very first day of our preparation, a month before Oct. 12,” explained Pastor Maurice Nicholson of the Future Church of Christ Holiness in Richmond, Virginia. “The first lesson was on the Good Samaritan, and we had the opportunity that very day to be a Good Samaritan to one who’d been abandoned.”

A young man who had been left stranded in Richmond came to church that morning. A mechanic, he was riding in an eighteen-wheeler with the driver, a Christian, and they began to talk about religion. The young man said he was studying Islam. When they stopped at a truck stop in Richmond, the young man went inside. When he came out, the truck was gone, but his clothes were lying on the ground.

“He’d been left behind by a religious man, like the injured man in the story,” Pastor Nicholson explained. “I told the church, ‘Here’s our chance to be the Good Samaritan,’ and they collected a special offering to get him back home to Oklahoma.

“I think the Lord sent him to us as an object lesson. We were able to put our feet to faith right away.”

Future Church in Richmond was one of 150 Church of Christ Holiness congregations across the nation that took part in Faith in Action on October 12, 2008. “The whole church body all over the country came together to participate,” he explained. “And we’re going to do it again early in 2009.”

For their Faith in Action day, the church distributed hundreds of flyers around the community explaining that they wanted to serve their neighbors. The flyer listed the types of projects that the church would take on. Then the phones began to ring.

Some 90 percent of the congregation, about 150 people, participated that day. Yard work, tree trimming, minor home repairs, personal care for the elderly, chauffeuring those without cars to the grocery store and pharmacy – all were done in Jesus name for their Richmond neighbors. One team also assembled and delivered food baskets to needy households. Two teams stayed behind at church, one to pray for all the workers and those receiving the help, and the other to prepare lunch for those workers. “We also invited everyone we served to come and eat with us and to stay for our celebration service – and many did,” said Pastor Nicholson.

One family had called the church asking for help in mowing their lawn, because the father was awaiting foot surgery. When the team took care of their yard and invited them to lunch at church, the family accepted.

“The man and his wife accepted the Lord that day,” Pastor Nicholson recalls. “He also asked for prayer to heal his foot. And you know what? He hasn’t had that foot surgery yet. He hasn’t needed it. Now that’s faith in action!”