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"Small church does not mean small ministry," said the Rev. Debra Linton, pastor of Araby UMC, which recently reached out to a family on its street and learned what it means to love one's neighbor.

The Brown family had lived along Araby Church Road for a long time. They were "known for being a little bit different," Linton said. There was a husband and wife and a daughter in her late 30s who appeared to suffer from mental illness.

Members watched bits of the Brown's story unfold over time as they drove past on the way to church and the congregation reached out from time to time with gift cards to local grocery stores.

Church members knew the family, who were renters, had been evicted. They had pieced together the story as they watched the family's possessions being scattered all over the front yard and large dumpsters were brought in.

But one evening this winter, during a week of bitter cold when temperatures dropped well below freezing, Lew Pregley, the church's organist, came home from work and told his wife JoAnn that he believed the family was living in a red shed they had dragged close to the edge of the road. JoAnn didn't hesitate.

"She just had to do something," Linton said. "There was no time for thinking about boundaries or what was appropriate. Because of who they are, they felt compelled to act."

JoAnn called Cecil and Darlene Ball, two fellow church members, who agreed to help and she went to the shed.

It turned out that Mr. and Mrs. Brown had sent their daughter to a shelter, but they wouldn't leave the shed because they didn't want to leave their dog and were afraid someone might try to steal their possessions.

"When I opened the shed they had nothing but two quilts," Pregley said. She went home and got a down comforter, convinced that even then the family would freeze in the night.

Mrs. Brown, Regina, was out walking in stocking feet, Pregley reported. "I put a hat on her, got her inside the shed and covered them both up with blankets. The dog got in with them."

Pregley cried throughout the night and in the morning called the police to help relocate the couple. Because they had been evicted by the court, the Browns were legally trespassing and the police reported that they would have to take them to jail.

The Balls brought them breakfast. Together, the church members convinced the police to take them to the shelter, rather than jail. "We were committed," Pregley said.

Because of the couple's foul aroma the policeman would not allow them to ride in his vehicle. "And they did smell. The stench was nauseating. But we loaded them into my car," Pregley said. "It is after all, only a car and they are human beings."

The stench also kept the shelter from welcoming them, but the Araby members got them new clothes and they were allowed to bathe before shelter officials settled them in.

Later that night, Mr. Brown died. He was in his 60s. He had a diabetic heart attack and his kidneys failed, Pregley said.

While they mourned the man's death, the church members also celebrated the fact that they were able to provide him with some dignity. He was able to slip away clean, clothed and fed.

The church members continued to visit and arranged for the mother and daughter to be housed together in another local shelter.

Brown's death still makes Pregley cry. Looking back, she believes it was God who led her to act. "I'm a Christian," she said. "That's the way God wants me to live."

"This incident became the sermon for weeks," Linton said.

"But the sermon material didn't stop with the family.Members of the congregation, who admitted to feeling furious at the "heartless" landlord who kicked the Browns out, received a letter from those landlords thanking them for helping the tenants, who they had been trying to care for in a variety of ways for the past 17 years. When the Browns ceased paying the rent and declined all help, the county stepped in and condemned the property.

"So I preached a sermon on the greater story of forgiveness," Linton said. "It became a lesson of appearances and forgiveness."

These stories, she said "preach like parables." At Araby, "the parable became a living thing."

In the past eight months, since Linton arrived at this small country church, where many of the members' parents once worked as farmers, the congregation has grown from 27 in worship to 55.

It's a little group, said Linton, but through their actions they're learning what it means to be an Acts 2 church. "They're learning that if we can't go outside the door, if we just worship inside in our own comfort zone," she said "we're not doing what we're called to do. We are called to go - to go and be and make disciples."

Linton believes her small country church may never grow into a megachurch. But we don't have to, she said. "We share a wonderful feeling being in the presence of the divine. The question is how do we share that with others?"

The church has begun calling itself an invitational church.

"This takes away concerns that we're trying to change who we are to ‘grow our numbers,'" Linton said. "Instead we're focused on how do we open our doors and let what's inside trickle out."

To do this the church has begun several new initiatives. For example, each member, including the children, provided the pastor with envelopes that hold the names of friends and acquaintances in the area. Invitations to Easter worship were inserted and mailed out to blanket the community.

The church also recently decided to open a clothes closet for children in its building. Out of the blue, a woman with an upscale consignment store in Urbana called about donating 100 bags of clothes to the church.

From reaching out this past winter to the family in the shed, and through other ongoing programs Araby UMC is discovering that "people can get stuck when they try to make church just two hours a week," Linton said. "The more portals a church has for people to find a way in, the more we please God."