Becoming Missional is in the Bag for Zion Lutheran Church
By Pastor Lorna Paulus

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Zion Lutheran Church in Phillipsburg, Kansas, embarked on the PMC Journey with Church Innovations in the fall of 2007. By the spring of 2008, we were beginning to understand that ministry is about reaching out beyond ourselves to be involved in the larger community. One of our steering team members, who has the spiritual gift of coming up with great ideas, began to wonder about the families whose children are eligible for free lunches at school during the school year. She works in the banking industry and is well aware of how many families in our community struggle to make ends meet. She wondered how these families would bear the additional financial burden of feeding their children additional meals during the summer. She contacted a friend who works at the county health department whom she felt might share her concern and between the two of them the Sack Lunch Program was born.

At the end of the school year, the schools allowed them to send a flyer announcing the program with the kid’s final report card. They arranged to use the kitchen at the United Methodist Church because of its central location. They decided that the meals would be prepared so that they could be picked up and taken home to be eaten. In the beginning, all the lunches were made by the two ladies who started the program and a few friends. As word about the program spread, other groups began to call and offer help.

Over the next two years various groups such as the County Health Department, the Rehabilitation Department from the hospital, the United Methodist Church, the Assembly of God Church, a group of elementary school teachers and other individuals in addition to a group from Zion Lutheran have signed on to take one day a week or two days a month or whatever would work for them. Each group donates most of the food they serve but there are also funds available to help. Several of the groups have moved beyond sandwiches to serving hot meals in “to-go” containers.

Funding has been sought from a number of local sources. The Zion Lutheran Trust Fund, which is focused on mission, gives a generous donation each year. A local charitable foundation has given a generous grant and individuals in the community contribute as well.

The first summer of the program an average of 50 lunches were served each day. The second summer averaged about 70 per day. So far in 2010, we are serving in the upper 60s each day. In a community of about 2,300 people, those numbers are significant.

This summer, due to scheduling conflicts at the Methodist church, the program has moved to Zion Lutheran. It is exciting to have community members become comfortable using our facility, whether they are the lunch servers or the recipients. It is great to be able to show hospitality in this way.

Our challenge is to use this program to form relationships with people in our community which will extend beyond this lunch program. If we can form a bridge community with the recipients and a strong ministry partnership with our fellow servers, this project will move us along in our ongoing efforts to become a more missional congregation.