Many Ways of Serving
Lancaster Church of the Brethren (LCOB) has many avenues for reaching out and serving people outside our congregation. We all can be proud of what we have accomplished in the past. Besides working and nurturing to keep a vibrant congregation, what we do in the area of Outreach and Serving defines who we are. The Scripture commands us to help the sojourner by helping the stranger in our midst to find a home and the means to become independent and helping those who need a lift in their lives to make it a go in our society. Love your Neighbor as you love yourself (Mark 12:31) sums up the scriptures about how we should treat all the people among and around us.
Through our budget process we support the work of the denomination.
- Atlantic Northeast—Mission and Ministry
- Brethren Colleges (Elizabethtown College)
- Brethren Retirement Homes (Brethren Village)
- Camp Swatara
- On Earth Peace
- Lancaster County Council of Churches (LCCC)
Through the distributions from the earnings of the Outreach & Scholarship Fund we support the endeavors of local agencies who work to end homelessness and to give single mothers a hand to become self-sufficient.
- Bridge of Hope
- Tabor Community Services
- COBYS
Outside the budget we support two seasonal projects.
- Heifer International—coordinated by Susan Adsitt—just in the 2014 Christmas season alone there were 9 Heifers, 5 Knitter’s Baskets, 4 Water Buffalos, 3 Llamas, 2 Goats, 2 Sheep, 2 Pigs, 2 Tree Seedlings, 4 Trio of Rabbits, 1 Honeybee Colony, 4 Flocks of Chicks, 3 Ducks/Geese and a Partridge in a Pear Tree. Totaling about $9350.
- Be an Angel—spearheaded by Lois and Al Hansell—For the seventh year school supplies and school uniforms are given to the homeless children in the School District of Lancaster.
Also, outside the budget are Fund Drives. LCOB was involved in a fund drive to aide Haiti Mobile Health Clinics and last fall the contributions ended with $104, 500! The latest fund drive over the next 5 years is to collect $100,000 in support of the new Food Distribution Center for the LCCC. We are blessed that two anonymous members of our congregation have pledged $50,000 as a matching fund. Now it is our turn to support this by giving $10,000 a year for 5 years.
Other fund drives include contributions to the Linda and David Byers mission in Eleuthera, Bahamas, and the on-going EYN Disaster Fund. So far, $25,000 has been transferred to the CoB General Board EYN Disaster Fund.
All these efforts require a great deal of our financial resources. At the same time there are opportunities where we can make a difference that do not require monetary outlays.
For more than five years Rus Adsitt has been taking volunteers to New Windsor, MD, to check and repack Hygiene Kits for Church World Service or to SERRV, where we pack items from Third World Countries for shipping to the various locations in the US to sell. This LCOB service was started by David Creighton.
At the same time there is the opportunity for volunteers to help at the LCCC Fud Hub at 812 N. Queen Street in Lancaster to sort, store and repack donated food for distribution. At least four members of our congregation serve several times a week.
Also, for several years two members of OMT/H&P, (Outreach Ministry Team and Hunger & Poverty Group), volunteer once a month to distribute food to the shut-ins at Church Street Towers in Lancaster.
There are even more volunteer opportunities available.
- The Pathfinders Fellowship Group has been organizing and assembling Hygiene Kits twice as year for more than 15 years.
- Twice a year Deb Chillas and David Heck organize the Community Meals for the homeless in Lancaster at First Reformed Church UCC.
- Several members of LCOB have served in Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS).
Thank you to all who volunteer and serve in these community outreaches, with your time and/or your financial contributions. All volunteers experience that giving is more rewarding than receiving.
–Otto Schaudel for OMT and H&P