Mid-week chapel service adds an extra dimension to food relief

The popular Rockdale Salvos lunchtime chapel service in full swing.

BY LAUREN MARTIN

With cost-of-living pressures continuing for many Australians, Salvation Army food relief and assistance centres across the country are constantly busy. At Rockdale Corps, south of Sydney, a new dimension to meeting human need has been added – a mid-week chapel service for community members accessing the Food Pantry program.

Corps Officers Auxiliary-Lieutenants Matt Cairns and Renata Davies said corps volunteers had developed good relationships with community members who regularly access the Wednesday food relief service.

Conversations and friendships are formed as attendees sit at tables in the corps’ worship space and enjoy morning tea while waiting for their allocated turn at the food pantry.

“We set up the hall with tables and chairs and have tea and coffee, which creates community while people are waiting,” said Matt.

“Some people play board games, [and] there’s always a game of Rumikub going! It’s a social outlet for people that’s meeting the need of loneliness and isolation, at the same time as meeting the need for food relief.”

The Holy Spirit had been speaking with Matt and Renata for some time about a second worship gathering for the corps community.

“We sat in that space for a while,” said Renata, “until we realised that God was already bringing everyone here on a Wednesday, so why not do chapel then?

“Seeking God, and where God is already working, and partnering in that space ... it doesn’t always need to be an ‘extra’ - sometimes it can be a ‘together with’.” 

Community members enjoy a hearty lunch following the Wednesday chapel service at Rockdale Salvos.

So, about a year ago, the corps introduced a short chapel service once a month, following the Food Pantry program. There is music and a mini-message, and then lunch is served.

“It’s developing,” said Matt. “It’s growing, and there’s a really nice community in that space.”

Some community members, perhaps because they have become familiar with the hall and with a faith experience, have now come along to the corps’ Sunday service.

“They are now comfortable in the space, and Sundays is in the same hall, and they [already] know lots of people.”

The chapel is a light and fun experience of faith and getting to know Jesus, and it is where people feel welcome, even if they have a different faith background or no faith at all. This year, the team has introduced a theme once a month on Wednesdays, which community members look forward to.

“One month it was ‘wacky Wednesday’ where people wore funny costumes,” said Matt. “And on a recent Wednesday it was dress-to-impress. It has become an important space for many of our people.”

Prayer requests are often communicated during or after the chapel service and these are taken to the corps’ Wednesday night prayer meeting.

The team is praying about future directions and deeper faith pathways and waiting on the Holy Spirit to reveal the next steps.