Christ Church Bethel has a long history of community service. Our move to collective leadership has resulted in more available funds for emergency assistance to individuals in our area, financial contributions to regional charities, and direct community engagement.
In 2011 and 2012, in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene, we teamed up with businesses to distribute over $14,000 in assistance in the form of fuel grants, free products and “Irene Cards” redeemable at local businesses as a way of simultaneously helping both residents who were hard hit by the storm and local businesses that were suffering as well.
In response to Bishop Ely’s 2014 Lenten message expressing his dismay over our nation’s widening economic divide, we worked with other community members to establish a twice- yearly Free Community Meal:
- To build a community celebration of our common life;
- To build community acceptance of the responsibilities of our common life; and
- To strengthen our local food economy toward the goal of wiping out food insecurity in Bethel.
Between 2014 and the onset of the pandemic in 2020, we had twelve such celebrations, serving a total of approximately 1600 locally sourced free meals to anyone who walked through the door, regardless of economic circumstance. We raised over $18,500 in free will donations to the Bethel Food Shelf. Many people attended the Community Meal because they needed a free meal, and many attended out of a desire to support the Food Shelf. Everyone attended for the food, the music, and the opportunity to be together.
And finally, recognizing that many in our wider community have spiritual needs but are not necessarily drawn to attend church; and recognizing also that our wider community had recently been painfully impacted by the loss of many members, on the Sunday closest to All Saints Day in November of 2019, we hosted a Gathering of Remembrance in the Arnold Block in downtown Bethel and reached out personally, and through posters and the newspaper, to encourage people to attend. Our priest offered words of welcome and context; parishioners and other community members offered live music and poetry; and we provided an opportunity for anyone who so desired to offer whatever they wished to share of their grief while the rest of us offered a community of witnesses.