For many years, Eagle Rock church has welcomed the community to their campus as official hosts of the National Night Out event in the city of Eagle Rock. This fall, the church wanted to move beyond the parking lot and into the church building by inviting the community to a health fair.
Eagle Rock family outreach ministries leader May Afenir first shared her idea to foster positive connections between the community and the church with the ministry team.
“We asked ourselves, ‘How can we get people to feel comfortable in our building and not see the church as a scary or strange place,’” recalled Angel Nair, family outreach ministries team member, “‘but as a place of healing and help and caring?’”
After much prayer, the team presented the idea to host the community health fair on Sabbath, first to the pastoral staff, the church board, and finally church members—all of whom agreed it was an important healing ministry.
With the whole congregation on board, putting together the health fair was a team effort in every way. About 15 people were part of the planning committee, who, by outreach to different organizations and collaboration with a liaison versed in coordinating these events, coordinated the many services that were provided. The planning committee, pastoral staff, and office staff also prepared the church to host the event. Prior to the health fair, Eagle Rock pastors led a six-week sermon series on service.
The goal was to make the entire campus accessible so people felt comfortable and had a positive impression being on the campus. From the fellowship hall to the sanctuary, to the foyer and more rooms upstairs and downstairs, just about every inch of the church’s interior was utilized for the health fair.
Services included dental screening, foot care, hydrotherapy, massage, skin tag removal, haircuts, manicures, and more. Pet vaccines were also offered through CAMP (Community Animal Medicine Project), and about 50 pets received vaccines.
Each attendee filled out a health age survey that asked questions addressing eating habits, sleep routines, exercise frequency, and level of spirituality. There was also a section that listed various interests to check off, such as weight management, healthy cooking, improving mental performance, reversing diabetes, and more. The church hopes to use the results of the survey to create programs, seminars, and events catered to the specific needs in which people expressed interest. Moving forward, Eagle Rock wants to continue building intentional relationships with the community and be more than just the church on the corner—a people who share the love of Jesus.
“It really lit a fire in the church,” Nair said. “People were excited about serving, so we want to keep moving forward. Jesus is coming. We need to share Him with as many people as we can.”