Sunday service took on a different meaning at Blacksburg United Methodist Church on Sept. 27. More than 170 congregants, from preschoolers to teens to college kids to adults in their 90s, came together from two church campuses to put their hands to work in 15 wide-ranging projects.
“We spent our day of worship in acts of community service,” says BUMC’s SERVE director, Dick Arnold. “It’s not a new idea, but it’s one we hope will spread. For four years, our fellow Virginia church, Cave Springs UMC, has done something similar. With the advice of their pastors Rev. Joshua King and Ann Avery and the hard work of our SERVE team, this dream became a reality. We’re excited to make this an annual tradition.”
For physical projects, volunteers painted benches for the Blacksburg preschool, cleaned the Wesley building at Virginia Tech, did maintenance on a local nature trail in collaboration with Poverty Creek Trails Coalition and winterized the BUMC community garden at the BUMC edges campus. While some teams painted a room inside the nonprofit Montgomery County Christmas Store, others stained the entry steps and ramp and cleaned the inside of the Fun 143 local tutoring center, and others worked on organizing basement space at BUMC to better accommodate local groups.
More crafty volunteers provided birthday kits to the Blacksburg Interfaith Food Pantry and the local Women’s Resource Center, 143 handmade scarves to the Christmas Store, packed 60 care bags for Montgomery County students experiencing homelessness, created meals for 110 local emergency rescue workers, made crafts and cards for senior residents at a nearby care facility, and prepared thank you gifts for 160 local public school teachers and staff. Afterward, everyone was invited to worship in the sanctuary and share a fellowship meal.
“It was a busy day full of worshipping God in community through joyful acts of service,” said Arnold.
Brad Dulaney, pastor of Blacksburg UMC, said the day was not only good for the community, but fun as well.
“I cannot express how much fun it was to serve while making new friends and deepening old connections,” he said. “We strengthened the community of our intergenerational church. Many hands and willing spirits really do make light work and a real difference in the world!”
Sarah Warburton
