It’s About Community

by

Special to United Methodist Insight | Aug. 6, 2024

“I have a crazy idea, really it’s horrible, so you can totally say no…but what if we hold a rummage sale to get rid of all the junk in the church basement and we donate all the money to Family Promise?”

But they didn’t say no. Which is how I ended up NOT planning and running a rummage sale at Montavilla United Methodist, during Montavilla Day.

The laity talked among themselves, and they decided who would lead, how they would run the sale, and assigned to me jobs: publicity and sandwich boards.

“Pastor Heather to oversee publicity through Montavilla Neighborhood Association and METBA.  

I'll have signs for the sandwich boards to you on Wednesday.

 We are recruiting people to help carry out items beginning at 10:45 on Sunday. If there is a mass exodus from the sanctuary, this has nothing to do with the service but everything to do with the sale.”

I had my marching orders!  I would share the flyers digitally and on paper.  I would set up and put out the sandwich boards.  I would end worship at 10:45, or I would watch everyone walk out on me!  Check. Check. Check! I accepted my assignments, then got out of the way of the laity doing it their way.

Which set me free…

  • To flit about and invite our neighbors to the next event. A Block Party Training Block Party that a non-church-going neighbor had asked me to host at the church.
  • Seth Truby and I got to talk to people about Family Promise Metro East. When our neighbors heard that all the proceeds of the sale were going to help unhoused families with children move into stable housing, they usually handed Seth or I an extra donation.
  • To answer a great question about the relationship between the Buddhist concept of the illusion of self and the Christian concept of the illusion of our separateness.
  • To smile and watch as one of our newer members invited a gay neighbor to our Queer fellowship group.

Please understand that I am not encouraging anyone to hold a church rummage sale! Church rummage sales really are a terrible idea!  They are way too much work for way too little money! 

What I'm saying is that it doesn't really matter how you show up in the community, it matters that we show up together.  Community creates success.

  • Our church community donated, showed up, and worked all day, AND they invited their friends and family to donate and volunteer.
  • It was the draw and energy of the Montavilla Day street fair that the Montavilla East Tabor Business Association (METBA) organized, and the Montavilla Neighborhood Association’s and METBA’s willingness to share our flyers, that made it a success.
  • It was the laity choosing to give all the proceeds to Family Promise instead of keeping that money for the church that impressed our non-church-going neighbors. 
  • It was the personal invitations to the next community event - the Block Party Training Block Party, that turned this one time only event into an invitation into community.

Don’t get me wrong.  As rummage sales go, this rummage sale went pretty well. We did manage to raise $1,650 for Family Promise, and we had a steady stream of customers, right till the end. 

But the driver from the thrift store who was going to pick up all the leftover stuff got in a car accident, so the thrift store backed out of taking the things.  Now we have a large pile of stuff that church members will be hauling bit by bit in their cars to thrift stores, for who knows how long!

The dollars-per-volunteer-hour is also stupidly low.  With 25 volunteers working from 10:45 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. that’s 150 volunteer hours just for the day of the sale, which means we made about $11 per volunteer hour without counting all the hours of pre- and post-sale work! Just for reference, the estimated national value of each volunteer hour is currently $33.49. (https://nlctb.org/tips/value-of-volunteer-time/)

By the numbers, church rummage sales are a dumb idea.

But ...

  • Getting to know our neighbors,
  • Showing our neighbors that we are doing something about the humanitarian crisis of houselessness in our neighborhood,
  • And inviting our neighbors to come back to church for another neighborhood-focused event,

brings quality neighborhood engagement. 

It's about community.

The Rev. Heather Riggs is senior pastor of Montavilla United Methodist Church in Montavilla, Oregon.