Tent Day

What is Tent Day? Tent Day is what happens when churches take food, fun and fellowship outside of the church walls and to neighborhoods where people need to experience God's Love. We all need God's Love, but some communities are more receptive to people sharing life with them. Such is the case on Tuesday and Thursday nights in two Northern Kentucky neighborhoods.

CityMerge is a relatively new non-profit whose vision not only includes Tent Day, but meeting real needs for real people. The needs can't fully be known until the relationships are established through consistent involvement in the lives of neighborhood families though. Once the needs are identified (i.e. homework assistance, nutrition classes, or small home repairs for the elderly), the needs can be met by church members, Tent Day volunteers, or local agencies that are already active and funded in the community.

The biggest need that is met by Tent Day is relationship. In poor communities, you don't want to feel like a "project"...you want to know you are loved, valued and a needed part of your neighborhood. Through informal community dinners, games and conversation, neighbors step out of their homes and into each others lives. When you know your neighbors are working together, you know that your contribution can make a difference.

Just as this Gigi's cupcake brings BIG icing to Tent Day...CityMerge's BIG dream involves transformation of lives and neighborhoods on nothing less than a massive scale. But as I've learned over the last year, it all starts with the little things. Obedience, time, listening, discernment, personal study, dedication and love...above all else Love...is what will make lasting change in the lives of those who are marginalized in our society.

But the flip-side of this is that the Tent Day volunteers will most likely be the most transformed! When you invest your own obedience, time, listening, discernment, etc. into the lives of people in your local community who only have their lives and time to give in return, you quickly become the recipient of priceless gifts like honesty, authenticity, joy, fun, conversation, insight, perspective on what really matters, and love...above all else Love.

CityMerge hopes to one day have other Northern Kentucky churches capture the vision and adopt neighborhoods in their own communities. What would happen if every church in Northern Kentucky took one night each week to feed their neighbors and talk with them about what's going on in their homes, schools and neighborhoods? 

Can you see it?

It may turn out to be nothing more than a cut-throat game of Trouble...

or maybe...just maybe...it could become the beautiful Body of Christ that Jesus envisioned His Church could be: On Earth as it is in Heaven!