Churches in hurricane-torn area pivot evangelism efforts to support their community
It’s not uncommon for recipients of Equipping the Local Church Grants to need to pivot during the year of implementing their evangelism initiative. For one group of churches that received a 2024 grant, this was certainly the case. Bell, Grace, and Big Sandy United Methodist Churches are part of the Leicester charge of the Blue Ridge District in Western North Carolina.
The churches planned to use their $10,000 Equipping the Local Church Grant to address the difficulties of many families in their area …
… grandparents raising grandkids, parents struggling to make ends meet, single parents who needed support, and other challenges. Their plan included beginning support groups, hosting health-related initiatives, providing mental and spiritual health resources, and becoming a place where children and their caretakers could be supported and welcomed without judgment.
In the application for their grant, Pastor Sandy Harthan Devoid, who had only been appointed to the charge in the summer of 2024, elaborated:
“We recognize what is happening in our community. There are those who are suffering in body, mind and spirit, and we look for creative ways to help. We lose the judgment that is too often associated with church people. We try to bridge the gap [through] friendship, evidence-based practices that can make a difference.”
But their plans had to pivot quickly in late September of 2024.
Pastor Sandy recalls, “Hurricane Helene interrupted our lives – and course in ministry…. On September 27, I sat in the parsonage, without electricity, and hand wrote the final details of the programs we would offer using grant funds, so we would be ready to begin these programs as planned in the fall.
“At the time, I did not know the extent of Helene’s damage…. Over the next 24 hours, I learned of the massive devastation.”
In the weeks that followed, the churches sprung into action to help the nearby communities which had been destroyed or displaced by the storm.
Drawing on connections and resources through their congregations, they soon became a hub for hot meals, food distribution, financial assistance, and social connection.
Built into the process of the Equipping the Local Church Grant cycle is a time for recipients to “check-in.” This includes a reflection on how things have needed to adjust or pivot in order to be effective and foster transformation. Clearly, for Bell, Grace, and Big Sandy United Methodist Churches, a shift was necessary, and God provided beyond what anyone could have imagined. The churches received food, supplies, donations of equipment for food preparation, and grants that have allowed them to fill gaps for displaced community members to pay for rent, heating, food, and fuel to get to work.
Months after the recovery efforts began, the needs have lessened but not disappeared.
These churches are still caring for their neighbors, in big and small ways. A food truck providing hot meals once a week still comes to their parking lot. “It is more than a way to feed each other. Neighbors gather and chat…. It is here that we find out about the lives of our neighbors and ask how we can help,” said Pastor Sandy.
For now, the churches have pivoted their approach. Some funding will be used to coordinate work teams coming to the area. The support groups they had envisioned offering to parents and grandparents have expanded to also include those experiencing grief or domestic violence, and survivors of the storm. Group sessions will be conducted by a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW). Connection to resources, food assistance, and community support remains part of their work as well.
These small churches could certainly have reported the devastating loss ushered in by Hurricane Helene and canceled their grant initiative ….
Instead they celebrated the many opportunities the Holy Spirit called them to in the wake of the storm, and they waded in, fully committed.
