Hundreds of U.S. Alliance churches have been serving as the hands and feet of Jesus during the COVID-19 crisis. Stories will continue to be added in the days ahead, so be sure to check back here frequently for inspiration and encouragement about how God is at work through our Alliance churches! Here are a few examples:
- City Alliance Church in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, worked with other churches in the city to provide breakfasts and lunches to school kids.
- An Eastern Pennsylvania District church gave away 50 percent of its income within two months to help people in the church and community.
- The younger people at Gaithersburg (Maryland) Chinese Alliance Church went grocery shopping and provided care boxes for the elderly.
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A Central Pacific District church purchased 250 bags of groceries to give to people in need.
- Eagle Church near Indianapolis (Indiana) had people drop off scarce items at the church to provide for those in need.
- Bloomingdale (Illinois) Alliance Church helped distribute school lunches.
- Sandusky (Ohio) Life Church provided meals to the community and school children.
- A Spanish Central District church in Donna, Texas, provided a drive-in food pantry for those who needed help.
- Some Korean District churches conducted prayer meetings in the church parking lot.
- One church in the North Central District and another in the Rocky Mountain District used FM broadcasting equipment to broadcast their services to their congregation and community through drive-in church.
- Another church in the North Central District developed 50 online villages designed to meet needs by sharing resources. This church of 1,000 is now reaching 2,500 people through these groups.
- Students at Christ Community Church in Ft. Myers (Florida) recorded a “Devo a Day” with ideas from Pastor Ken Castor and posted it on social media.
- Hope Alliance Nazareth (Pennsylvania) hosted dinner and bingo on ZOOM. They bought 15 gift cards from local businesses as prizes to show church support for local businesses and had an opportunity to pray with one business owner.
- North-Mar Church in Warren (Ohio) deployed their people to serve alongside local nonprofits for food distribution and senior care. They also partnered with an independent church to give gift cards to those who had lost their jobs, had cut back work hours, or were struggling.
- A toddler teacher at Chambersburg (Pennsylvania) Alliance Church used Facetime to read her students a Bible storybook.
- Christ-Centered Community Church of the C&MA in Ridgefield, New Jersey, offered services to the elderly in their town, such as buying groceries, picking up medications from the pharmacy, etc.
- New Hope Community Church of North Port (Florida) followed all mandated precautions in organizing a drive-through food and bread pantry. More than 1,300 households were served, and people never even had to get out of their cars.
- To show their support for health care workers, Reidsville (North Carolina) Alliance Church joined with other local churches to pray for workers gathered in the parking lot outside the emergency room at Cone Health Annie Penn Hospital.
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Envision Atlanta has stayed in touch with the refugees they serve via texts and phone calls. If they needed to visit people, they asked to meet outside. To satisfy the needs of kids who texted staff saying they had nothing left to eat at home, Envision Atlanta started distributing lunches, feeding roughly 120 kids every day through donations from partner organizations like Toccoa Falls (Georgia) College.
- Since face masks are so hard to find, Casa de Dios in Roseville, California, made 300 face masks for their congregation.
- The Central Pacific District purchased essential goods, like rice, beans, sugar, soap, and water, for the Alliance church network in Cuba.
- Mountain View Alliance Church in Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania, gave out goodie bags of tootsie rolls, breakfast rolls, and toilet paper in their community.
- Holliday Alliance Church in Middlebury Center, Pennsylvania, usually averages 60 people during their Easter Sunday services. This year, their online service reached over 2500 people.
- At the online Easter service for Daybreak Church in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, a dozen people gave their lives to Christ.
These reports are adapted from district newsletters and represent Alliance churches’ responses to the COVID-19 crisis. We praise God and celebrate how He is at work through all our Alliance churches, multiplying His Kingdom in unforeseen and miraculous ways.