This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of East Shore Baptist Church (ESBC), located near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. As any church would for such an occasion, the elders and deacons of the church gathered to discuss what sort of celebration they should hold. The meeting took place around July of 2018, quite a while in advance in order to have sufficient time for planning purposes.
The first suggestion offered at the meeting was to hold a typical celebration service on the closest Sunday morning to the anniversary date. A churchwide luncheon would be held in the fellowship hall afterwards. However, there was a general lack of enthusiasm for this option amongst those present at the meeting. There simply seemed to be too much inward focus.
It was then that another person brought up a secondary plan: one with an outward focus. They theorized that ESBC could turn their anniversary celebration into a chance to reach out to the community, instead of inward on themselves. This lit up everyone’s excitement, and the final decision reached at the end of the meeting was to challenge the church congregation to perform, at least, fifty acts of intentional kindness over a period running January to June 2019.
The name of this program was deemed to be “The Great Commission Challenge 50,” or GCC 50. The “50” stood for both the number of years ESBC had stood strong, and also the challenge target set for the congregation. A small display was set up in the lobby of the church to promote this month-long event. The intent of the program was to urge the congregation of ESBC to venture out into their community and perform an act of intentional kindness for a FRAN (“friend, relative, acquaintance, or neighbor”) in their life.
Along with this, each church member was given a GCC 50 packet to take each Gospel encounter one step further and promote a conversation. After the act of kindness, the packet was to be presented by the church member. Each GCC 50 packet contained a Gospel of John booklet, a church magnet, and an informational flyer about ESBC. Attached to the outside of the packet was a pull-off post-it note designed for church members to fill out and return to ESBC and stick to the GCC 50 display to promote further prayer. The packets themselves, and the contents inside, were paid for by an evangelism grant provided by the BRN.
Some examples of intentional acts of kindness performed included helping out neighbors with moving, baking and delivering meals and goods, shoveling snow and other necessary yard work, and babysitting for busy parents. Several church members aided family members in need, fixed or repaired problems around the FRAN’s house, or offered prayer for those requiring a shoulder to lean on. Especially praiseworthy, some acts of kindness led to the church member being invited inside of lengthy Gospel discussions with their FRAN.
On the closest Sunday date of East Shore Baptist Church’s anniversary, there was still a celebration worship service held, and a luncheon that followed (including a display of historical documents from the past 50 years of the church). However, none of that took the focus away from God, and what he had done through the church with the GCC 50 program. ESBC exceeded the goal of 50 intentional acts of kindness and gave all the glory to God.
The hope arising from this event (and others of a similar Gospel focus) was to aid in establishing a culture of evangelism at East Shore Baptist Church. The real focus was on how the congregation could use the anniversary of the church as a way to challenge themselves to reach out to those in need and share the word of Jesus with their community.
