What Can You Do With $200?

For the past couple of years we have been running an experiment with our community groups with the goal of equipping them to be missional.  We want our c-groups to grow both down and out, meaning that we hope there will bbe a depth of relationships and faith, but also that they will resist the temptation to turn inward and insular.  We want them to be challenged to creatively experiment making present the Kingdom of God in their neighborhoods and cities.

The Good Neighbor Fund was born out of this conviction and its focus is simple: give each group $200 and ask them to use it to be good neighbors to their fellow Seattleites.  What sounds easy often turns out to be harder than expected simply because it takes effort to be creative, to align different peoples visions, and to listen for how the Spirit might be prompting the group.  Nonetheless, the groups this year came up with all manner of ideas.  From creating care packages and collecting blankets for the local homeless, to hosting fundraising dinners and BBQs for local families in need, to making breakfast/snack packs for a local urban school district, the list goes on.  One group decided to take a line out of Jesus' command to put on meals for people on the margins (Luke 14:12-14) and make and share a big breakfast with the people at Nicklesville, a local "tent city" where a number of people without homes live.

Rather than describe it, check out this video one of their members put together of the meal: