By Bobbi-Sue Menard

HOW can Christians in the Okanagan Valley find a practical, directed place to show the love of Christ?  

God can present needs in the church pew, and you can bring by a meal, offer some transportation, help find a solution. But what can one do about the endless litany on the daily news, reflecting the need and heartbreak out in the community?  

Church Serve was created to meet the needs of people in the community who would not otherwise receive help.

The ministry began as a collaborative effort between Evangel Church and the Interior Health Authority (IHA) in 2002.

At that time, Cherie Kelly was a community health nurse with IHA. Decreased IHA budgets and increasing demand in various areas meant direct cuts of community based services to hundreds of people. Kelly saw the results first-hand.

“There was nothing to replace those services, absolutely nothing,” she says. “People needed something to fill that gap.” Kelly was in a unique situation with IHA, having worked as a chaplain nurse.  She felt God was laying the need upon her heart to find a way to provide services to people who were now desperately in need.  

“I happened to be positioned to do this,” says Kelly.

Thus, Church Serve was started. Today, it is a thriving ministry, with more than 200 volunteers working directly with clients.  Kelly, now executive director of Church Serve, believes she has seen the hand of God working every step of the way.

After undergoing an orientation, volunteers are prayerfully matched by volunteer coordinators with clients in the community.

Volunteers are often literal hands and feet for clients, folding laundry, doing dishes and performing tasks which would otherwise be beyond the client’s ability, including food preparation. Clients who receive one-on-one attention are chronically ill, or have other ongoing health concerns.

In January 2006, Church Serve joined with NeighbourLink – and now delivers food hampers for the Kelowna Community Food Bank, to people with limited mobility and access to transportation.  

For many clients, hopelessness is an overwhelming feature of their lives; it has permeated their living situation, creating an overwhelming, physical mess which is emotionally debilitating to live in.  

Church Serve has developed a ‘blitz’ program, where teams of four to six volunteers go to someone’s home and help the client clean and organize their living space in a two hour session.  

Continue article >>

“In any situation, things can get out of hand,” explains Kelly. “With the lack of hope, people don’t know where to start. It is a nice way to meet clients’ needs.”

Pam Watland is a volunteer coordinator with Church Serve.  She started as a volunteer in the office, and has seen her commitment to the clients and volunteers she works with grow significantly.

“It is more than cleaning toilets. Many of the clients have lots of burdens.”

Watland knows that Church Serve is often the first time a client has experienced a sustained relationship with someone acting from love.

“A lot of times, the relationship grows deeper, more personal.  We respect other religious beliefs – and don’t assume why a client came to us for help.”

As coordinator, Watland also works on the intake of new clients. Often clients are referred to Church Serve through IHA.  Church Serve will then contact the individual and see if they can help; there is an application and assessment process to ensure the safety of both the client and the volunteers.  

In order to be effective, Church Serve has had to limit its service to the chronically ill and disabled, and does not have the resources to work with seniors.  

There are hundreds of stories of relationships flourishing in ways which were unforeseen by either the volunteers or the clients. Many volunteers who began in 2002 are still working with the first people they ever served, and the relationship has developed into a deep and sustained bond.

Church Serve works with churches throughout the Okanagan, led by faith in God and funded by donations.  

Church Serve workers would be happy to see their model be adopted elsewhere; the organization is able and willing to help volunteers across Canada replicate and build Church Serve in other communities.

Watland knows there will always be a need for Church Serve in the Okanagan.

“Humans gravitate to human involvement,” she says. “God has given us significant resilience, but there comes a time where you are at the end of your rope – whether that is because of poverty or ill health.  I have seen lives just flourish, I can’t say how lives have been touched. We show the reflection of God in people’s lives, and it is so gratifying.”

Church Serve currently has volunteers from 25 churches throughout the Okanagan, who contributed 3,000 volunteer hours in 2007.

To volunteer or donate, call 250-861-LINK (5465).

April 2008