In our Be God’s Helper program at Covenant Mennonite Fellowship, each family receives a quarterly Journal / Guide. Each week has a page on which we write down how we have been God’s helper that week and how we have been helped by others. Family’s do this together and there are special activities for children to participate in. Then on Sunday we have a special time during which anyone can share what helping actions they have done or received this week. It’s a wonderfully simple community building activity and we’re getting better at it as we practice. The term “helping” works well, in my opinion, as a way to encourage sharing of sublimely simple “picking up toys” to “clearing debris after the hurricane in Arcadia.” We have a large basket in front of the church where we put food and at other times socks, soap, and items for the homeless. The kids love bringing up boxes of Mac & Cheese, and they do so within the context of “Be God’s Helper” which the whole church family is participating in. In the fall, we made up school kits for Iraqi children, again, under the banner (we have 2 helper banners) of Be God’s Helper. We’ve had guest speakers who participate in the Helper agenda, speakers who are involved in the protest at the School of the Americas, and speakers from Ethiopia.
As a Peace Church, we’ve had over half our people show up for marches protesting the war in Iraq. This past weekend, we participated in the planning and funding of World Peace Day where we had Rep. Dennis Kucinich speaking to us via telephone about the need for a Department of Peace. Also, each week we talk about God’s Helpers from the past, Randy had all the kids sitting around him up front and told them in very simple language how Rosa Parks was God’s Helper. It was a profound theological moment for all of us.
I’m saying all of this because I don’t think it’s been said on this forum and also to point out that the home church for Be God’s Helper is no shrinking violet, nor is the Helper term languishing in boring, domestic tranquility. We take it very seriously, maybe we could even use the term Radical Helping for some of our activities. We’re one of the few churches in our area who have had entire Sunday services led by Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Orthodox speakers. I think our children and teens and college students are the real beneficiaries of our radical approach to Helping.
Eugene, what you and your church are doing is wonderful, truly. ANd you see these activities are enriching the way you hear the word,"helper". For me, the word still reminds me of that SHAKE and BAKE commercial of long ago, when the little girl proudly announced, "And I he'ped!" So cute, but quite vapid.
Maybe, with time , as we continue sharing on the forum, that word won't be colored so much that way for me. Thank you for sharing what your church is doing.
Re: Re: Be God's Helper, what it means at our church
But what could be more theologically significant or practically desired than for a little girl to say, "I helped." After all, we all need to "shake" and "bake".
