Giving them food and water

Cornerstone is passionate about raising money to dig fresh-water wells in Africa.

“Effective Christians have to be in the world,” says Pastor Brenda Young of Cornerstone FMC (Akron, OH). “We concentrate on the church as a body. We receive empowerment here in our building. … Then we go out.”

For Cornerstone, “going out” involves a variety of ministries that offer a hand-up to the poor and downtrodden at home and abroad. The church’s compassion ministries are lay-led and reach thousands. Literally.

March 2007’s H.A.N.D dinner. (Roll cursor over the photo to see more!)

The church regularly feeds 300 people — with food and the gospel message. (Partnering with other local churches has given them new life as well.) Cornerstone’s H.A.N.D. (Helping Anyone in Need or Distress) ministry targets seniors and poor families, providing a meal at the end of each month and sending them home with “leftovers.” Also, strategically planned give-aways during the month feed hundreds (1,000 last year alone). The church also serves as a regional headquarters for Angel Food Ministries (www.angelfoodministries.com).

“We have a heart to catch people where they are and take them to where God wants them to be,” says Young. With that in mind, the church hosts a variety of support groups — for singles, divorcees and people struggling with addictions. “We reach out to the broken,” she says.

Pastor Young marrying the Paul and Sarah Longfellow.

They also reach out through weddings. Young marries some 35 couples a year — free of charge but with four premarital appointments required. “Many of these couples come back and get saved when they face a crisis in their marriage,” says Young. The church also throws a quarterly married-life dinner — a lot of fun with some intense counseling slipped in.

A newer focus, but no less passionate, is Cornerstone’s ongoing effort to raise money for fresh-water wells on FM sites in Africa. Thousands of dollars are being raised as people catch the vision. Six wells have been dug so far. A team is heading to Ghana and Malawi to create a DVD about the wells so that other FM churches can become aware and get involved. (To get a copy for your church, contact: (330) 644-3937.)