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By Richard Vance
Special to the UMConnection

Marvin Chapel UMC, in Martinsburg, W.Va., is one of many churches in the Baltimore-Washington Conference that use food in innovative ways to reach out and create community.

'The leaders decided that dinners were a good way to reach out to the community,' said the Rev. Harvey Bane, pastor of Marvin Chapel. 'We felt that one of the best ways to let people know the church is in the community is to invite people to dinner.'

Volunteers from the church readied themselves for their new outreach by building a new addition to the church, called Discipleship Hall, which seats 120 people and has a kitchen with cabinets and woodwork made from the trees cut down to make way for the new facility.

Once built, they were ready to invite the community in.

For their first community dinner in December church members visited 110 homes to give residents printed invitations to dinner. The result was a full house. Some of the families attending had not realized the church was in their community.

For their second community dinner on Feb. 7, Marvin Chapel added newspaper advertisements inviting people to come to a free community dinner. Again, the people poured in.

Among those attending were over 25 students from nearby Shepherd University. They came as a result of an invitation from church member Laura Clayton, a nursing professor at the university, and her colleague Kathy Dilley.

Clayton made gift bags for each guest. They contained packages of microwave popcorn, hot chocolate, animal crackers, a granola bar, a bookmark and a coupon for a free sub sandwich.

While busy transporting food dishes from the kitchen to the buffet table, member Cora Jones said, 'We like bringing people together for fellowship. We don?t want our new fellowship hall just sitting here. We want to use it.'

While Marvin Chapel is in rural West Virginia, Mt. Vernon Place UMC is in inner-city Baltimore. For more than 20 years, Carolanne Myers has operated Carpenter?s Kitchen at the church, serving a community meal each Saturday evening. Attending are 150 to 250 people, mostly homeless men, women and children.

'A lot of the people have no place,' Myers said. 'They are on the streets. Some have been coming for 20 years. Others have a room but no cooking privileges.' She sees about 150 to 200 guests the first of the month, but by the end of the month, when most of their money has been spent, as many as 250 people come to the church for a meal.

'We?re seeing more women and children than ever before. In prior years, 90 percent who came were men. In the last few years, more women and children are on the streets,' she said. 'Women end up on the streets after being battered or abused, some because of getting a divorce and losing their property and economic means.'

While many live near the church, others come from farther away after hearing about the church that serves a full, hot meal with meat, potatoes, vegetables, fruit, dessert and hot coffee. After the meal, those attending are given socks to keep their feet warm and dry in the cold weather.

'St. James UMC in Friendship made scarves for us to distribute to those coming,' Myers said. The Carpenter?s Kitchen is joined by a number of other United Methodist churches, as well as an Episcopal church and a Church of the Brethren, in putting on the community outreach dinner. Each Saturday night a different church sends about 30 volunteers to help.

'We got started years ago as a result of our former pastor, the Rev. Ed Ankeny?s series of sermons on ?Who Is My Neighbor??' Myers said.

For Myers the meaning of community established around food is best expressed when she says, 'I get a lot of hugs. I get a lot of kisses. This is my family.'

'Food is a common denominator, said Ankeny, now serving Mays Chapel UMC. 'Food brings all persons to the same level - at the table.'

On Thursday evenings, the Rev. Iris Farabee-Lewis operates a community dinner at St. James UMC in Baltimore. She reflected, 'Jesus fed the folks. Because of the breakdown of family we are not in a place where people talk to each other. The church can help the family to communicate and talk with each other.'

Whether serving people inside the local church or serving diverse communities outside the church, United Methodists use food to demonstrate creative hospitality. It?s their own special way of opening hearts, minds and doors while developing fulfilling relationships as disciples of Jesus Christ.