New Around the Mission
Kindness Events Ease Everyday Hassles for Church Neighbors
July 13, 2011
The subject line of the Rev. Kirk Wulff’s e-mail read, “The best use of $404.25 EVER.” Below was an avid description of that weekend’s Kindness Event to his fellow staffers at Christ Church Anglican in Overland Park, Kansas. Eighteen Christ Church volunteers had spent Saturday morning at a local gas station pumping gas, cleaning windshields and offering customers a $0.25 rebate on every gallon pumped. The church footed the bill for more than 100 customers and was delighted by the results. 
“Everyone is sensitive to the high price of gasoline,” says Kirk, Pastor of Outreach and the Arts. “It was an enormous hit. And the amazing thing was that with almost everyone, it led to great conversations.”
The May 14 event kicked off a whole year of monthly Kindness Events, no-strings-attached ways to share God’s love and show the neighborhoods around Christ Church what being Anglican really means. As a team of leaders met in January to flesh out Christ Church’s 20/20 Vision, a plan for where they want their parish to be in 2020, they asked the question, How can we be present in a very simple, practical way in helping our neighbors with the hassles of life?
“When Jesus used the term, ‘Love thy neighbor as thyself,’ I don’t believe he was speaking metaphorically,” Kirk says. “So we thought of practical ways to bless our neighbors.”
The church sent a mailer to 1,600 homes in surrounding neighborhoods, inviting them to participate in free events like self-defense training, family portraits in the church’s garden, Christmas gift-wrapping and much more. On June 18, the church gave away free bottles of cold water at a local farmer’s market. On July 9, they held a Family Fun and Green Day to help neighbors with the hassle of recycling paint, shredding bulk quantities of sensitive documents and getting rid of old computers. Kids participated in fun activities and educational events about reducing waste and reusing products. Moreover, the Green Day event tag-teamed with Christ Church’s Go Big VBS, a decentralized model meeting in neighborhoods, urban centers and a local orphanage. The dozen sites have drawn more than 550 children, and all attendees got an invitation to the Green Day.
As word spreads, more and more people flock to Kindness Events to see Christ’s love in action.
“When people get there, they see it’s for real, and they start texting and calling their friends,” Kirk says. “People are just blown away by the kindness and generosity.”
Learn more about Christ Church Anglican.
Posted By: Cynthia P. Brust
Categories: Faith in Action
