Community Mennonite Fellowship Meeting site @ Sterling YWCA 412 First Avenue (corner of E 5th St & N 1st Ave) Sterling, IL 61081 Pastor(s): Dan Rusmisel
56 visitors since 2/4/2010
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Living in faith
Caring Place Clothing Shopis central to the gathering of believers at Community Mennonite Fellowship 209-213 West 2nd Street, Rock Falls One of the ministries established for the people of this community by a gathering of believers from 12 congregations including Community Mennonite Fellowship is the Caring Place Clothing Shop just a block and a half West of US 40 on 2nd Street in downtown Rock Falls. This ministry provides donated clothing and household items to area families at no charge. Since moving to Rock Falls on November 2007 the shop has come to serve 8,264 people in 3,262 families distributing 229,664 items by the end of 2009. This ministry is based on Jesus' teachings that call believers to offer clothing to those in such need. See Matthew 25:31-46 NIV "...I needed clothes and you clothed me..." From its beginning in 1999, the Caring Place has been a receiving and distribution site for persons and businesses to contribute new and clean lightly used clothing for redistribution to the people of the Sterling/Rock Falls area at no cost. Surpluses have also been shipped to other communities; distributed to nursing centers, provided to Self Help and their homes for disabled adults, sent to the the St. Louis Dream Center street ministry, and Christian Aid Ministries of Kalona, Iowa. The Caring Place Clothing Shop provides this weekly service to the community from its ministry site in Rock Falls. The Caring Place is open Tuesday 10-4 and Thursday 10-4 each week except on holidays. Individuals and families may come to the shop and self select items from the shelves and clothing racks to meet their needs 2 times monthly. All items are free of charge and offered to those in need where household finances have been limited or restricted by such issues as loss of employment, low wages, or disibility. Donations of new or clean and lightly used items can be made during the Tuesday and Thursday shop hours at the 213 West 2nd Street address. Volunteers to help with sorting donated items and restocking the racks and shelves are welcomed. You may call ahead to organize your assistance or come to the counter at the 209 West 2nd Street and volunteer. Questions about addressing a need, volunteering, donating, or other inquiries may be directed to Carolyn LeFevre at 815-441-2256. What is your ministry as a follower of Jesus? What is Christ preparing you to do in God's name? Each believer as a follower of Jesus by definition has a calling. Just as in the human body; there are no spectators in the body of Christ. Every person has a role to perform, a task to complete, a responsibility to carry, a talent to share, a calling to live. If you see a need or have a concern that God is nudging you to address, come live that faith and purpose what God is waking in you with us. We are called as a gathering of believers to encourage each other in Christ's callings. John Henry Newman names this responsibility, or better said, privilege in "God is so practical…” "God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission .... Therefore I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away or merely consumed in futility. If I am sick, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my response to that perplexity will result in glory of Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may even serve Him. My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow may be the necessary components of some great end, which is now quite beyond us. He is a practical God and permits nothing to be spent in vain.” -John Henry Newman’s "Prayers, Verses and Devotions If you are seeking to live the life of faith Jesus taught and examplified, and so claim the coming of the kingdom of heaven, gather with us in this worship, study, and service so responding to Christ's invitation to new life. -Dan Rusmisel (815-238-3421) |
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