The love of Jesus is often shown through actions, rather than words, and nowhere is this more evident than in our church’s Compassion Ministries.

The backbone of this ministry is our food and clothing bank. What started out in a small closet handing out a few canned goods has evolved into a ministry that reaches thousands of families each year.

Another way we reach out to our community is our annual Thanksgiving Outreach. Last year we gave out over 1,200 complete turkey dinners, which fed 5-6,000 people.

We also partner with our city to paint houses for the elderly, we hand out hundreds of backpacks and school supplies in our annual Back to School Outreach, and we have a free medical clinic at our church, along with free ESL classes, tax assistance, resume writing and job placement.

In today’s economic landscape it is crucial that churches show the love of Jesus in tangible ways to their surrounding communities!

This article originally appeared in the NAE Insight.

Brian Anderson

Brian Anderson is the founding pastor of Vineyard Church North Phoenix, which began as a home Bible study in 1985. It now has a congregation of over 3,500 and has planted seven other Vineyard churches in the Phoenix area. In addition to being a current board member for Vineyard USA, he is regional overseer for the Southwest region of the United States. He is a graduate of Grand Canyon University and Arizona State University.