It’s a cold December morning and people are lined up waiting to enter the fellowship hall. Reneé Jelsma and her team of volunteers offer hot coffee, baked goods, and a warm welcome to the guests who have come for the mobile food pantry. Shortly after, they get busy distributing. By the end of the morning, over 200 households will have walked through the doors and will have received not only food but also warm blankets and gift bags filled with extra soup and hot chocolate for the winter.
This scene is rather new in the life of American Reformed Church in DeMotte, IN. A few years ago members were largely unaware of social needs in their little town, or that food insecurity was a real issue in their county. And few were directly involved in some type of “missional living.” Just three years ago, the mobile food pantry would not have existed as a regular ministry. Two years ago, there would not have been a program—in partnership with local non-profit Food Finders—at a school to provide backpacks of food for under-resourced children; nor would the church have taken on a student mentoring program. And the church certainly would not have been viewed as a missional leader in their community.
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