Faith and Spiritual Life: Good works

Published 11:15 pm Friday, November 16, 2007

Everett church puts rakes to work

EVERETT — On Nov. 10, a team of 35 people from New Life Foursquare Church spent three hours raking leaves for neighbors near the church. People ages 2 through 70 participated, serving 26 homes.

Neighbors were appreciative — one offered workers a case of water.

An older woman said she was touched by the service visit because it normally takes her three days to rake her large yard. New Life volunteers did it in 15 minutes.

“We enjoy opportunities like this to serve our neighbors and get to know them,” Pastor Rick Sawczuk said. “It’s a practical way of showing that we care about them. And not only do others benefit from it, but we realize that it’s good for us to get out and serve. We look forward to doing more outreach projects in our community.”

New Life volunteers echoed Sawczuk’s comments, stressing the importance of giving.

“I enjoyed the opportunity to get out into the community and give back to our neighbors by surprising them with tidy yards,” Danielle Kean said. “It was also a great experience to work with and get to know fellow New Life attendees.”

The next New Life service project will be on Dec. 15.

Children creating ‘healing socks’

EVERETT — Today’s Church has recently undertaken the task of creating “Healing Socks” to distribute to nursing homes and the homebound elderly.

The Bible teaches that clothes that are prayed over can promote healing when applied to the body.

The group responsible for undertaking this task is “Missionettes,” made up of third- to fifth-grade girls. The children, along with the church’s leadership team, will be praying over the socks before giving them away.

The socks will be distributed through nursing home visitations starting Dec. 15.

The goal is to nurture connections between the young and the elderly and to promote seniors’ well-being.