High River church rises above the flood
HIGH RIVER, AB—At least one congregation in flood-ravaged High River, Alberta, is not letting their personal loss and displacement deter them from serving their community.
"It's so easy to become this victimized church and see ourselves as people in need and needing to be recipients of other's ministry," says Jason Johnson, senior pastor of High River Baptist Church. "We want this to be personally our most generous year."
In late June, High River was hit hard when the Highwood River broke its banks and inundated much of the town.
Johnson says about 60 to 70 per cent of his members' homes sustained flood damage, and about a quarter of them are still in interim housing. Their church building was so badly damaged that it will need to be torn down.
Yet their time and energy as a body has been focused on overseeing a successful "mattress ministry" to needy High River families in partnership with Metropolitan Bible Church—the MET, for short—in Ottawa and Sleep Country Canada.
The MET raises the funds, Sleep Country matches the donations dollar-for-dollar and delivers and installs the mattresses, and High River Baptist handles the promotion and processes the orders. To date, close to $100,000 has been generated, and about 40 families have received three to five mattresses each.
"What I'm really proud of," says Becky McGregor, a member of the MET's compassion team that launched this ministry, "is while it was our church helping a church, it wasn't exclusive to the church. It was anyone in High River who needed mattresses."
The project grew out of an appeal to the MET for help from a former interim pastor of High River Baptist who is also McGregor's uncle. One fellow compassion team member suggested they raise money to buy mattresses for stricken families. Then another approached Sleep Country about getting involved.
"They're known for their generosity, so he filled out a web-form e-mail, not knowing if it would reach the higher-ups," says McGregor. "That afternoon, Christine Magee, [Sleep Country's] president, called."
Families ordering mattresses also receive a card that quotes Matthew 11:28. It explains that these are gifts made "in the name of Jesus."
"One thing we weren't interested in doing—and this was reflected in the Ottawa church as well—is create just another humanitarian effort," says Johnson. "Whatever we do, our mission is still to go out into the world and make disciples in Jesus' name."
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