Members of Grace United Methodist Church in Winfield gathered for an event to celebrate what they call “DOING Good Friday,” on April 15. This event is an alternative to the typically somber services which commemorate the day of Christ’s Crucifixion. “Instead of feeling sadness and loss on this day, we chose to help our congregation feel useful and productive. We believe Jesus taught us to worship with our hands and feet, as well as our hearts and minds,” said Kathleen Mason, leader of the Missions and Social Justice Team at GUMC. Pastor Charles McKinzie added, “The act we remember on Good Friday is one of compassion and grace given freely for all. What better way to remember the day than through acts of service to others?"
The team solicited applications from church and community members both to work on this day, and to submit projects to be done. The response from the congregation was quick and impressive, said Deanna Denny, who headed up the project planning. More than 75 people volunteered to serve, and more than a dozen projects were accomplished.
Projects varied from providing lunch to firefighters, police, and community health department staff to putting a new walkway on the College Hill Coffee lawn, cleaning gutters, painting, picking up trash and raking up gum balls on the sidewalk in the neighborhood around the church, among others. Over the past few years Grace UMC has prioritized the practice of neighboring or as they put it: “loving our actual neighbors” in many different forms.
Church members of all ages participated in the Doing Good Friday event, from school age children to retirees.
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