Food bags
Food parcels line the pews at the United Methodist Church of St. Paul & St. Andrew in New York. The West Side Campaign Against Hunger — a supermarket-style food pantry program founded and actively supported by St. Paul & St. Andrew — has moved its operations there from the basement’s fellowship hall. Starting the week of April 6, the ministry will begin bagging food for Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan. (Photo by the Rev. K Karpen.)
Every Pastor and their congregations who wish to have a significant ministry in this time of crisis might consider taking the following actions.
1. Endorse and familiarize all members with the hygiene, masks, and distancing practices that have now proven to be effective in combatting the spread.
2. Endorse stay-at-home and make all services online – recover the early church's understanding of congregating in our homes.
3. Call and/or text prayers and messages of concern and empathy to those who have been affected.
4. Engage the building contractors in their congregation to retrofit their facility to serve as a hospital.
5. Engage the restaurant owners and "good cooks" in their congregation to prepare and deliver food to those unable to prepare for themselves.
6. Engage the good seamstresses to make masks and gowns for hospital workers and individuals who must go to essential workplaces.
7. Engage the retired – teachers in tutoring children online, medical workers in volunteering, accountants, bookkeepers, and lawyers in assisting small businesses and individuals in securing the aid that is now being made available to them.
8. Set up a phone bank to contact daily all their members who are at high risk to check on their health since many may wait until it is too late to ask for help.
9. Gather other ideas from their members and recognize their efforts in daily messages to all members.
10. Engage the tech savvy in assisting anyone who may need help with online communications for any and all of the above.
M. George Walters heads Resurgence Publishing Corporation in Lutz, Florida.