Church needs help to keep mission going

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GREENVILLE — Scripture is full of miraculous stories of seas parting, sick being healed, and the dead being raised. Because those were such spectacular events, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that miracles happen in our lives.

Bishops Lee Bowling and Andy Roberts see miracles everyday working in the community – when they give people the opportunity to shower or offer them a cold bottle of water.

Bishop Bowling and Bishop Roberts came to Greenville to bring about change and impart into the lives of everyone they come in contact with. They often work with the homeless, widows and orphans’ and less fortunate who are often overlooked, or considered an outcast.

They established The Tabernacle at 527 Markwith Ave., Greenville. The bishops say they need divine intervention. They are trying to raise $5,000 to get them through to March 2023.

The Tabernacle Church believes it has a higher calling – despite the possibility of having to close its doors. Bowling said, “I’ve had many sleepless nights over what to do in the last few days and the Lord spoke to me and said even I had to have help carrying my cross. I knew then that I needed to make my request known to others.”

The church has invested over $60,000 in the community of Darke County in the last 10 months. Bowling said they invested everything into this community and now need a miracle themselves to get them over the financial burden they are under.

When they came to the area they established Showers of Blessings that offers hot showers, dignity, and well-being to their houseless neighbors. Their services are always growing and so is the needs to expand the ministry. They help people get free cell phones, job hunting and transportation, dental and health check-ups, and Rx cards.

This church also helps through its mailbox program.

For people experiencing homelessness, an address can be a gateway to gaining a home. Without an address, an individual can’t receive disability benefits, social security payments or veteran’s benefits. They can’t open a bank account, which is often needed to collect earnings from employers. They can’t receive notifications about newly available affordable housing, messages from their children’s school or correspondence from family members.

The resources that homeless people need require an address, but in order to have an address — a home, apartment or place to sleep — the individual needs to first obtain those resources.

This vicious cycle has come to be known as the Postal Paradox. Leaders at The Church of God of the Apostolic Faith saw an opportunity to disrupt it. The church opened up its reception office so people experiencing homelessness could have a permanent address to receive mail and use it when applying to jobs. Today, the program is called The Window.

“The Window is how we keep them connected,” said Archbishop Bowling. “It’s just one small little layer of making a significant difference in someone’s life who doesn’t have a permanent residence,” said Bishop Roberts, senior pastor of The Tabernacle.

They also help people get an ID (state ID, Social Security card or birth certificate). They believe they are a lifeline to getting the community connected to other services within the community. They also put homeless individuals up in motel when we they can. They have even used the church as a day shelter – H.O.P.E.S Home to get people out of the harsh cold weather.

Their mission is to reach out to anyone in need and impart to them life, hope, healing, deliverance and comfort.

Bowling said, “It’s just a sad situation to end up after all of these years of ministry in this place that we have to ask for help. We have never had to really do this as our ministry has always carried itself.”

However, due to unforeseen circumstances they are at the place where people must decide if what they provide is worth them getting involved and helping with this vision.

The bishops shared, “Times are hard for everyone but if we will come together as one voice, we can accomplish this goal and task at hand. Financial troubles are everywhere I understand that, but if we close our doors, we can open in another city, but I do not feel a call to those cities. I feel God wants to bring unity to Greenville and do a work with those in this city who are struggling and are homeless and we are praying for a miracle, in the weeks to come.” Bowling added, “We’re all hanging on by a thread, but we have a big God who can do the impossible.”

The church was planning on adding a literacy program for the adults; math and reading; tutoring. Many people they work with cannot read and write.

The church is hoping for prayer warriors more than ever now – and divine intervention – so it can carry on a mission that is not finished in Darke County.

You may reach the church at 527 Markwith Ave., Greenville, Ohio 45331, call 937-459-4027, email [email protected] or give online at https://gofund.me/b11c8a33 and the CashApp $COGGreenville.

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