For over a decade, the Resource Center (known as Mercy Ministries prior to 2009 when The Spero Project became a managing partner) has operated as a single location food pantry. During this time it has resourced thousands of families with food each year--a tremendous blessing for all of those who have been involved in giving or receiving food. Mercy Ministries leaves a powerful legacy of staff and volunteers who were committed to the purpose and to the clients served.
Recently, though, a challenging question has been asked: “How can we continue to resource the apparent physical needs in Oklahoma City, but primarily focus on the more important emotional and spiritual needs of those who are being resourced?” Simply put, how can we begin to resource relationship with those who are neighbors to us in our City?
After a season of asking ourselves and others in the city this question, the answer became very clear. The Church must be the answer. There needed to be a call to The Church of Oklahoma City to be responsible for those who are being resourced, which in many cases are planted directly in same neighborhood as one or more local churches. Because of this conviction, we have spent the past several months transitioning from a single-location food pantry model towards something that is completely new to us.
To focus primarily on the relational need, we felt God leading us to implement a vision that has two areas of focus. The first is in-home delivery, primarily to widows in our city. In-home delivery, in a very real way, brings the solution to the neighborhood. It’s more personal and opens the door for the relationship to be the focus. Our hope is that those being resourced won’t see those bringing food as their provider as much as seeing them as their friend. That we wouldn’t be praying for them, but we would be praying with them. That there would be a connection to a local community of believers who would live out their faith by loving their neighbor right where God has placed them. That they would do this not just by meeting a physical, tangible need, but by being Christ through loving someone and being vulnerable enough to receive love through the relationship that is established.
The second area of focus is neighborhood distribution centers throughout the city. This change in method shifts the responsibility by decentralizing it to specific neighborhoods. Instead of the responsibility falling on Spero and its volunteers, ownership is taken by local churches through our City who are planted within or in close proximity to these under-resourced neighborhoods. Again, the relational focus is of the utmost importance. The food that The Spero Project provides will begin to act as “relational capital” to churches that we partner with in these neighborhoods. Ultimately this will be beneficial for those who are both giving and receiving food.
The next step with distribution in these neighborhoods was bringing in those being resourced into the process. We believe that each of these individuals are the solution to sustainable change within their own neighborhoods. Tangible steps for involvement were asking individuals and families to help with the sorting and distribution of food. We have been overwhelmed at the amount of neighborhood involvement and leadership that has emerged already in these neighborhood distribution centers. Eventually, these changes will lead into starting community CO-OPs and planting community gardens.
Currently, we have 16 churches committed to in-home deliveries. In most cases the homes they are delivering to are in close proximity to the church itself. We also have partnerships with three neighborhoods being actively resourced through The Spero Project in partnership with local churches, with plans to grow into several other neighborhoods.
If you would like more information about the process or how to get involved, please contact joe@thesperoproject.com.