Renewal Christian Centre, Solihull

A grocery store acted as a catalyst for an explosion of social ministry by the Renewal Christian Centre (RCC) in Solihull, Birmingham.

‘We’re not just people who come into a church building, we’re people who passionately believe that the gospel is good news for the poor and we have to find ways of connecting with them,’ says Peter Jenkins, RCC’s Mission Director. ‘Sometimes the most powerful sermons are the ones you don’t preach.’

That’s the rationale behind ‘Helping Hands’, a church grocery store. Members of the congregation were asked to bring tins of food each week and take advantage of offers such as ‘buy one, get one free’.

The local area

Although Solihull is largely a middle-class area, it encompasses Chelmsley Wood, one of the poorest areas in Britain, so the scheme was greeted with open arms and last year 40,000 items of free food were given to impoverished families – thanks to donations from local churches, organisations and schools.

Working with local authority

RCC also work in partnership with the district’s local authorities. Often when people go to Social Services asking for help or to apply for benefits, it can take weeks for their claim be processed.

‘We will kick in and cover that gap and help is given without strings attached. We deliver the food so people don’t even have to come to church to collect it,’ says Peter.

‘We have a huge storage area and all the items are boxed up carefully. We even tailor the contents so they meet specific needs, for instance by including nappies for a young mother.

Food for Christmas

‘A lady in the church told me recently that her family had been in a situation where they had no food at Christmas and didn’t know what they were going to do. Then there was a knock on their door and there was this wonderful parcel of food enough for them and all the children.

‘Billy Graham once said that a lighthouse doesn’t ring bells or sound sirens, it just shines and we need to let the gospel shine. That lady became a Christian simply because when she was in desperate need we delivered food to her, all her children had Christmas presents when they thought they would have nothing.’

RCC also does a toy service and during one recent service, 2,000 toys were donated – all brand new. These are all sorted out according to age groups and delivered along with the food.

‘Social Services work with us and when they came here to collect some toys for children in their care, they were blown away. Social workers get so many knocks and so much criticism but not many people would want to do their job, so it’s great to be able to offer them encouragement and support.’

Advice for churches

For churches considering following in RCC’s footsteps, Peter believes a key turning point was a decision his church took to tithe income to people in need.

‘What kicked us into another planet was when the elders and trustees decided to give to projects that would be of no benefit to the church, but just to bless others. The church was going along quite nicely but then it took off like a harriet jump jet because there is something about giving to the poor that honours God. As it says in Proverbs (19:17), “he who is kind to the poor, loans to God”.

‘Today, all the prosperity teaching is give and you will get ten times back, but when you give to the poor you don’t get anything back in material terms but what you get back in spiritual terms you can’t put a price on it.’