Members of a Beyond the Walls team worked on trimming shrubbery at the Post last year. Post photo by J. Reed.

By Judy Reed

Three area churches will join together to take their service beyond the walls this Sunday and reach out into the community.

Both The Springs Church, 135 N. Grant, and Solon Center Wesleyan, located at 19 Mile and Algoma, have done separate events in the past, and decided this year to join forces. Hillcrest Community, located on 18 Mile in Nelson Township, is also joining the event. Not only will all three churches do projects on the same day but they will be on the same teams.

“We just thought it would be good for the churches to do one day together—meet   others, work together and make an impact on the community,” explained Cherri’ Kerr, local missions pastor at The Springs Church.

Projects the teams plan to work on include visiting patients at Metron; roadside cleanup; city sign maintenance; planting flowers; greeting customers at the Wesco gas stations in Cedar Springs and Sand Lake; working at Alpha Family Center; visiting three Hope Network homes; building a sandbox for a family; handing out freezer pops to people; and more.

Leaders will meet at The Springs Church at 9 a.m. Sunday to get to know each other and what is expected, and then will head to Morley Park at 10:30 a.m., where all three congregations will do a short worship time together and divide up into their teams. They will then go out into the community to complete their projects, and return afterward to the park for a free lunch.

Kerr said that anyone from the community who would like to help should come to Morley Park at 10:30 a.m. and they can join a team. “Everyone is welcome,” she said. Anyone coming may want to bring lawn chairs, or a blanket, and sunscreen.

“I’m so excited we’ve been able to pull this together,” remarked Kerr. “I’m looking forward to it.”

The event will be held rain or shine. If it is dangerous—if there is severe weather—it will be canceled. In the event of rain, the lunch will be held at The Springs Church. For more info email Kerr at office@thespringschurch.info.

By Judy Reed

Post photo by J. Reed

It was a historic moment in Cedar Springs on Sunday, August 31, when at least eight different churches in the area joined together for a community worship service at Morley Park. “We weren’t Methodist, or Baptist, or Pentecostal, or Christian Reformed, or any other denomination,” explained one worshiper. “We were just Christians, worshiping as a community, and remembering what we all had in common, rather than what separates us.”

“It was awesome,” remarked Pastor Kevin Reed, of Grace Evangelical Free Church. “It was good to see so many people come together. There was a lot of energy. People were excited about worship.”

The event, called United—a community for one! was put on by the Cedar Springs Ministerial Association, with Reed as organizer. He estimated that at least 500 people attended, and maybe more. “I was extremely pleased with the turnout for our first year of doing this,” he noted.
Unseasonably cool temperatures and morning clouds may have kept some people away from the outdoor event, although the weather cleared and the sun came out when the service began. “Nobody prayed harder than I did that the weather would be good,” said Reed with a laugh. He said that next year they might use a tent.
A worship team made up of worship arts pastors and musicians from various churches led the singing. It was followed by messages from a couple of different pastors, and several pastors offered prayer for specific community needs. Churches represented included The Springs Free Methodist, Cedar Springs United Methodist, North Kent Community, Crossfire Ministries, Solon Center Wesleyan, Grace Evangelical Free, Pioneer Christian Reformed, and the Journey. Hillcrest Community joined in activities later in the afternoon.
After the worship service, there was a free picnic, games for kids, and a dunk tank where parishioners could dunk their pastor for a donation. There was more music later in the afternoon.
The offering that was taken raised over $1,000 for the En Gedi Youth Center, and the pastor dunk tank raised $130 for the Alpha Family Center.
Reed said he had nothing but positive feedback from those that attended, and some would like to see it happen more than once a year. But Reed isn’t sure whether that will be possible. “It was a lot of work,” he explained. But they would like to do it again next year, and they hope that sense of community lives on all year long.