On Tuesday afternoon, I found myself in the church's sanctuary staring out at children scattered evenly throughout our worship space.
I called out to them, "What's it been like to return to school this week?"
"It's weird," several remarked.
"We don't change classes."
"Teachers come to us."
"We cannot run in PE."
"You have to stand on stickers in the hallway."
"There are not many kids in my class."
"That does sound weird," I acknowledged. Waiting a beat, I then asked: "What's been cool about school's return?"
"We get to see our friends, here, at Study Buddies," several quickly intoned.
"The school gave us our own computers!"
"We don't have to be at home by ourselves…" one shared, with his brother quickly adding, "Or be with our parents at their work."
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Tuesday was Day 2 of Study Buddies, our 1st Explorers Ministry's initiative to provide care for children affected by the scheduling jujitsu the school board has initiated. Without consistent in-person instruction, parents face a terrible dilemma—they must either take their children to their workplace, work from home to tend to their children's homeschooling efforts, or leave their children at home alone.
When it became clear on August 4th that the return to school was going to involve a combination of in-person, off-site, hybrid, and remote learning, parents began to panic. Angry, forlorn, fatigued, and dismayed at what may have to be compromised, parents reached out to us and asked the church if we could help them.
Seeing the issue as both an expression of “loving kindness” and “doing justice,” our 1st Explorers Ministry Committee and staff held this question and felt a strong sense of call to help.
As you can probably imagine, the response from our community, from partnering churches, parents, grandparents, and children—of course—has been extraordinary.
"We do not know what we have done without Study Buddies," one parent told me in the car pick-up line.
"Thank you for making it possible for our family to have some sense of routine and normalcy," added another.
"How can we support y'all and help the ministry?" queried members from a partnering church (They have volunteered to help take children's temperatures when they arrive each morning).
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The Study Buddies had gathered in the sanctuary because it was time for their daily Bible Story. Tuesday was my day to share a Jesus-story.
Pointing to the illuminated picture of Jesus teaching the crowds in one of our stained-glass windows, I told the children: "Jesus shared a message of hope to people who were as scared and confused then as we feel today. Jesus told them how much God loved them and how much they meant to Him. He told them that God would care for them even when things were difficult or seemed impossible."
"One day, a large crowd of people—like the number of people who might go to a WCU football game—couldn't get enough of Jesus's good news and stayed with him all day. But there was a problem. The crowd of people hadn't eaten, and they were hungry. There were no nearby restaurants or stores, and the task of feeding all these people seemed impossible to Jesus's disciples."
"But one child had some food—a few loaves of bread and a couple of sardine-like fish. He shared his food with Jesus, and then Jesus multiplied the bread and the fish so that everyone could be fed! Jesus worked a miracle to care for everyone who was there and who was hungry. And how? By blessing the little bit of food the boy was willing to share."
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On the surface, the needs of our community's families are far greater than we can meet. What can we do to address them? In truth, there's not much we can do. The church is not a school. We cannot afford to provide salaries for licensed teachers. We do not have a curriculum to draw upon, the books or materials for teaching it, or the pedagogical skills to implement it. The task of filling a gap that the pandemic has created seems impossible.
What do we have, though? What can we share?
Well, for one, we have unused and unoccupied space that is clean, safe, and secure. At the very least, children can come and do their remote learning assignments in our church alongside their friends and peers.
Thanks to the technological prowess and generosity of Jim Campbell, we have the finest, and most robust internet connectivity of any church in our community. Students can confidently connect to the internet at our church for their 'face-to-face' moments with their respective teachers.
We also have a ministry and a staff that has developed a relationship of trust with our community. Our friends and neighbors know that we can provide after school and summer camp care. We have built an infrastructure to employ college students and young adults to shepherd students to serve as counselors and now as study hall monitors.
What more do we have to share? We have our church. We have you. You have asked how you can help. Knowing that the 1st Explorers Budget for Study Buddies is tight so that parents' price-point is affordable, church members have graciously purchased supplies for our ministry. Church members have cleaned the carpets, provided furniture upgrades, cleaned and organized the children's library, given generously to the designated Lou Bryson Memorial Fund for 1st Explorers in addition to their tithes, and much, much more.
By sharing what we do have—even though it may not be much—we are giving our resources to God so that He can bless and multiply our efforts.
No, Study Buddies doesn't check off all the boxes or provide for the multitude of needs that our community's children need. Our current offering is limited to the month that the Jackson County School System has announced plans for. And yes, there's danger involved, isn't there? Indeed, there are things beyond our control. Study Buddies is something that we can do, however. Our ministry offering is something that we can share.
Like our successful Summer Explorers Camp, what we are providing right now is so very much appreciated. Our community knows that it is made possible because we are taking a risk and sharing our lunch box. Our children are hungry for connection and are thankful to have a community during this most difficult time. Lest we forget, our children are hearing the Good News of Jesus Christ each day and are responding to His call to follow Him.
What does your lunch box look like? What do you have that you can share with this ministry, to our community, to the needs you see emerging? What you may have in your lunch pail may not seem like much in the moment, but it may just help meet unspoken needs and position us to extend our care beyond just one month. We need volunteers. We need tutors. We need adults who are willing to love children. We need supplies, snacks, and financial resources to help offset the unbudgeted expenses parents are now forced to incur.
We did not go looking for this need. The need, and the moment, found us.
And because of God's redemptive work through Christ Jesus, and because of your undying willingness to share and to serve, the moment before us is full of opportunity, promise, and blessing for more than just ourselves.