Do you like to cook? Do you love Jesus? Why not help your Parish evangelize by cooking a meal or two at one of our upcoming series, where we fill empty tummies and allow Jesus to fill souls.
As a staff member at Holy Family, it may sound “easy for me to say” when I talk about the responsibility that every Christian has to evangelize. Yes, I’m paid to be here and tell you that, and also to do it. It can seem daunting, and there are plenty of reasons for it to seem quite futile, especially when our friends and family members seem so far from the Church and often, so hostile.
Thankfully, our Parish is working hard at evangelization in many ways, and it is possible for everyone to get involved in this great work. In the past 12 months, a shift happened in our programming. We decided that we would start feeding people before our events.
Alpha has been running annually for about 5 years, and Alpha has a meal “built in” to each evening. Alpha is intended to foster communication and fellowship; one of the best ways to do that is to eat food together, usually before we start. The results are amazing: it goes from being an information session to a conversation. The group changes from a “class” to a “community.” People change from strangers to friends.
As we prepared to show “The Chosen” season one last fall, we decided to offer a meal at the beginning. We scrounged up enough cooks, and servers, and cleaners, we booked the school gym and we made it happen. I believe the meal had the desired effect. It meant that people could come straight from work. It meant that families could bring children of all ages (making childcare necessary as well.) It gave us a Wednesday night momentum that lasted right up to the end of our programming year at the end of June.
What makes this possible is parishioners willing to simply cook for us. Since all of us eat daily, cooks shouldn’t be hard to find. If you, or someone you know would like to cook for one of our events, we make it easy for you! Here is how it works:
- Generous church members sign up for the date(s) of their choosing. (Choosing 2 really helps us!)
- Pick up a 20L roaster oven at the Church in advance of your chosen date(s). You can also use your own cookware if you want.
- Fill the roaster oven with something cooked, or plug it in and cook it. Examples include soup, stew, casserole, chili, etc.
- Bring the food to the Church sometime in the afternoon and plug it in on “warm.”
- We handle the serving and cleanup!*
Please consider joining our efforts and helping us evangelize our community! Sign up for a spot using this Google doc:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KAFneOgShAaOnFknCfQ5PDjDgOLF7FeFkR7waCX-sh8/edit?usp=sharing
