Creative Ways to Help Your Neighbor

Alongside every crisis comes heroes who are dedicated to bridging the gap and meeting their neighbors needs.  Over the past few weeks, our members have been searching for creative ways to lend a helping hand to fellow church members and their individual communities.   

Here are seven easy ways to make a difference:

1.) Prepare and deliver a meal

Nothing says ‘love’ quiet like a fresh cooked meal, especially one that’s delivered straight to your doorstep.  If you have a penchant for cooking, (and even if you don’t!) now’s the time to share the love. You can make a large pot of soup or a lasagna and take it to a family in need.  You could even order food from a local restaurant and have it delivered if take-out is more your style.    

Even though we’re all keeping our distance, you can leave it on their doorstep or back porch for them to enjoy later.  

2.) Send a virtual gift card 

Who couldn’t use another pack of toilet paper?!  By sending even a $5 online gift card, this allows people to shop for their most used items.  This way, they get exactly what they need without having to make a trip to the store. 

3.) Write letters 

If you’re an avid letter writer, congrats!  Now’s your time to shine. If not, all this extra time is perfect to practice your penmanship.  Everyone loves getting handwritten letters that provide hope and encouragement. In any crisis, the postal service will be the last service to stop so you’re safe to continue sending snail mail.  If you don’t have colorful cards, you can always have your kids color folded pieces of paper for instant (not to mention free) art!

4.) Put together a basket!

This doesn’t have to be Edible Arrangements level but it can be meaningful.  If you know your neighbor likes a certain type of granola bar or hand soap, you can make a basket with all their favorite goodies.  

5.) Pick up groceries

For those neighbors who are higher risk or who can’t make it to the grocery store or pharmacy, offer to pick up essentials, prescriptions, or food and drop it back at their homes.  You can also reach out to nursing homes and volunteer to make a run for several residents or health care providers.  

6.) Remember Healthcare providers 

It’s easy to forget those on the front lines but let’s not forget that our healthcare professionals work tirelessly every day.  You can make them a meal, deliver groceries, prepare a basket full of goodies and pick-me-ups and deliver to their homes or places of work.  

7.) Involve your kids 

With many kids back at home for the remainder of the school year, now is a great time to involve them in meaningful projects.  With any of these activities, enlist your children to help cook, prepare, write, or make and deliver treats to those who need it.  

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How to Stay Connected with your Small Group During the Coronavirus

It’s hard to ‘do life’ with your small group when ‘life’ currently consists of being stuck inside your house, confined to only a handful of places and limited to your immediate family.   Times like these can make us feel disconnected or alone and small groups have never been more important. 

If you’re a small group leader, or even a weekly attendee, here are a few ways to make sure you stay plugged in with your group. 

1.) Clean up your contact lists 

If you don’t already have cell phone numbers and emails for your small group, now is the time to update your list!  While most leaders will have everyone's numbers, it can be beneficial for everyone in the group to share each other's contacts.  You can do this easily by creating a Google sheet and sharing it with each member. And while you’re at it, add a column for birthdays and special life events.  Just because we’re apart during this time doesn’t mean we can’t also celebrate birthdays or anniversaries from a safe distance.  

2.) Have virtual bible study 

No, Jesus didn’t have ‘zoom’ meetings back then but if he lived in 2020, the sermon on the mount would probably have been live streamed!  You can use any number of methods to bring your small group together to at least mirror community. It’s best to do live, real-time lessons in order to keep everyone engaged.  If your group maybe isn’t tech savvy, you can also pre-record a video to email or include in a Facebook group.  

Having a place where members can still engage is paramount during isolation so really allow conversation to flow whether on a video call or an online forum.  

3.) Check-in 

In addition to hosting a virtual bible study, checking in with your group is imperative to remind people that “Hey! We’re still here and we’re still a group!”  Calls, texts, even snail mail are great ways to bring people back when we’re all so spread out. You can check in with folks one on one or do a group call to brighten someone’s day.  You never know who’s feeling the loneliness and it’s our job as brothers and sisters in Christ to make every person feel welcome and wanted.  

4.) Plan for the future 

Nothing keeps people moving forward like talking about the future.  

While we don’t know how long social distancing will continue, we do know it will come to an end one day.  That’s why planning for future events, like a picnic or a party, sets the tone that the group will meet in person again.  By about week two most people are feeling the cabin fever so allowing them to have something to look forward to can help to keep people’s minds on the future.  

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