Manassas congregation spends Sunday at work, not church

When a local pastor suggested to his congregation that they not go to church this past Sunday, it seemed like a strange request.

Not so. Evergreen Community Church pastor Dave Blum really had a message for the community: “Don’t Go to Church. Be the Church.”

That was the theme of Evergreen’s “Faith in Action” event as the church canceled its regular Sunday worship service and mobilized its members to spend the day doing a community project.

In spite of the all-day rain Sunday, about 85 members of the church spent the day helping residents of Bristoe Station in Manassas revitalize their neighborhood.

Families pitched in to repair playground equipment and removed debris, trash and graffiti from neighborhood parks and streets.

The church had also planned a free hot dog lunch to all Bristoe Station residents, along with live music, a moonbounce, face painting and a soccer tournament at the subdivision’s community central park, but due to the wet weather that part of the day’s activities was postponed until a later date.

Blum said the church had been planning such a community project since last summer and after meeting with Kisha Wilson-Sogunro, City of Manassas Neighborhood Services, and Joanna Santamaria, Bristoe Station Homeowner’s Association, decided to take on the cleanup project at Bristoe Station.

“Since we hold our services at the Carteret Mortgage Boys and Girls Club, we wanted to devote our cleanup effort to a community not far from where we hold our services … and Bristoe Station fit that requirement,” said Blum.

Blum said he also made a request for the residents of the community to join in the clean-up effort and a handful did.

“We believe now’s the time to get out and make a positive difference in the places where we live and worship and we plan other such projects in the future,” said Blum.

A dozen University of North Dakota students were also participating in the project. They will spend the week here on a mission trip, helping out organizations in the Manassas area.

Doug Carpenter, a member of the congregation for eight years, and his wife, Lisa, spent the day at the site picking up broken glass and sprucing the grounds.

“We wanted to demonstrate our faith and become involved in helping other people and not just talking about it,” he said.

Andrew and Julie Brown and their sons Thomas and Benjamin were among the families cleaning up the community.

“We picked up a lot of trash and disposed of it,” said Julie Brown.

The day’s activities began at 9:30 a.m. with a volunteer meeting at the Boys and Girls Club for assignments and then at 10 a.m. they were at work at the site. The church was started in 1998 by Blum and has a following of about 140 children and adults.

“We were excited to see this event make a difference in the community,” Blum concluded.

Staff writer Bennie Scarton Jr. can be reached at 703-369-6707.