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Story | Cornerstone Community Church of the Nazarene

Three Churches Collaborate on Faith in Action

Cornerstone Community Church of the Nazarene did an elementary school project, senior center outreach, habitat for humanity Project, and homeless outreach as a part of their Faith in Action Campaign...

Pastor Sheldon Boyd, of Cornerstone Community Church of the Nazarene in Chino, California, says that participating in the Faith in Action Campaign has brought transformation into his community. Over 400 people from three different churches, including Pastor Sheldon’s, cancelled their Sunday church services on Nov. 4 and went out to be the church within their community through Faith in Action.

Congregation members participated in a variety of projects to bless their community. These included a beautification project for E.J., Marshall Elementary School and two projects at The Gardens at Hillsboro, a local senior center. At The Gardens, participants worked alongside seniors to decorate Christmas boxes and make cookies. They also went to visit and sing with the residents of the Alzheimer section of the center.

Some participants worked on projects with Habitat for Humanity. One of their projects was to prepare a home site, called House of Faith. Participants cleaned the lot and made preparations for building the home that hopefully will be started before the end of the year. They also built a playhouse that will go on the site.

Participants collaborated on two other projects for a ministry called Chino Care Connection, which collects food and clothing for the homeless or needy. For the Faith in Action campaign the founder of Chino Care connected the group with an area in Ontario, California, called “Tent City” – a large corner lot where the city allows the homeless to pitch tents and live temporarily. A group of participants made breakfast for these individuals, held a worship service and organized their warehouse.

Though participants worked on the projects for only two and a half hours, their large number enabled them to do a great amount of work. Because so many people helped at E.J. Marshall Elementary School, the grounds manager there said that what they did in two hours would have taken two or three months for the school to accomplish on its own.

Pastor Sheldon said God was glorified through the collaborative effort of three churches coming together, as well as through the many projects being formed in the community as part of the Faith in Action service day. As a result of this campaign, the churches are developing what is currently called “Cornerstone Strike Force”— a group of people included on a call list, so if the city calls Pastor Sheldon’s church with a need, he can make one call to get assistance in motion. They are hoping this will position them so, as Pastor Sheldon describes, “the city thinks of us and sees us as a church for our community.”

As a result of the Faith in Action campaign, Pastor Sheldon believes that the community “can begin to see us as churches with a purpose, that we’re not self-serving.” He is praying that the community feels they “can call on us, and that’s what we hope will come out of this in one form or another, that they’ll think of us when needs arise.”