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One cookie at a time, members of Mowatt UMC in Greenbelt are addressing bullying in the community and creating a bridge of caring and Christ’s love that stretches into the community.

It’s a good story of ministry bubbling up from people of faith sensing a need in their communities, said the Rev. Fay Lundin, the church’s pastor.

There’s a bridge over the Baltimore Washington Parkway that connects Eleanor Roosevelt High School and the city of Greenbelt. “Most of Greenbelt’s high school students pass over the bridge on their way home,” Lundin said.

But part of the path winds through a woods and is isolated. When Ellen Noll, one of Mowatt’s members, heard from her daughter that students were being harassed and beaen up on the Greenbelt side of the bridge, she brought it to the attention of the church.

Under Noll’s leadership, the church decided to be a visible presence. An initial group of three people began handing out cookies one day a week. Occasionally one of the members would bring his chess set and challenge the youth to a game. “As the youth got to know us,” said Lundin, “they began to talk to us about their day, about their plans, even about their schoolwork.”

At the close of last year’s school year, when church members were not present, a young man was beaten near the place where they handed out cookies. The members went to a city council meeting and told them what they were doing. They told their story in the local newspaper and people became excited about the possibilities of presence. The program grew.

Today, except on extremely cold or rainy days, there are people signed up to hand out cookies to the kids from 3:10 to 4 p.m. Volunteers from other churches, including College Park UMC, the neighborhood watch and even city officials, have joined the effort.

The group hands out about 60 cookies a day. Some of the kids don’t take a cookie, they just share a word or two. Some of the students don’t talk, or even make eye contact. But many have said they appreciate the church’s presence. The neighbors, Lundin said, report that vandalism is down, and so far this year there has been no violence at that location.

“For the students who cross the bridge, our presence there says they are not alone. A lot of the kids ask why we’re there. We just tell them that we care,” said Lundin. The message has caught on. Mowatt is “now known to the kids as being that church with cookies that cares.”

Lundin is not sure how this program could be replicated at other churches or how Mowatt UMC might expand this ministry. The church has added a line item for cookies to its budget; however, so far the volunteers have provided them.

“I think the important thing,” said Lundin, “is being a presence. We can’t make bullying disappear, but we can make it go away in that area.”

A few other people in the area are adopting this ministry of presence, being present in their front yards in the vicinity of bus stops, just to let the students know people are looking out for them.

For those interested in starting similar ministries, Lundin recommends beginning delicately, making sure no one feels forced to interact, avoiding confrontation and taking care to meet kids where they are, rather than insisting the kids come to the church. “It’s saying we care about you, where you are.”

“This is such a little investment and if we can make a difference in their lives, that’s fantastic,” she said. “As a church, we’re now thinking outside the sanctuary.”