WS Chronicle

What first began as a street ministry, and then grew to a bilingual food pantry on the south side of Winston-Salem is now open for worship as a new church – Christ’s Beloved Community/Comunidad Amada de Cristo.

This is the newest community of faith on the south side of Winston-Salem, and organizers want to celebrate. The community is invited to The Big Celebration on Nov. 4. A community lunch begins at 12:30 p.m. with worship at 1:30 p.m. and The Big Celebration from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. The Big Celebration will feature bounce houses, face painting, free food, live music, crafts and even a greeting from Mayor Allen Joines.

What do a food pantry and a church have in common?

It started over three year ago when Christ’s Beloved Community organizers began meeting their south side neighbors and talking with the south side community about what people needed most from their neighborhood church. These conversations resulted in the Beloved Food Pantry. This food pantry is open to everyone and staffed by volunteers who speak both English and Spanish. The pantry is located at 3205 S. Main St., Winston-Salem. It’s open three times a month, typically the first Monday, the third Thursday and the fourth Saturday of each month. Check www.belovedws.org for a schedule.

The worshipping community came next. Services  at the 3205 S. Main St. location, will be English with Spanish. And, again, food is key. Before each worship service on Sundays, the community will meet for a community potluck lunch at 12:30 p.m. Worship will follow at 1:30 pm on Sundays.

The church of the Beloved Community is committed to:

*Discipleship and mission outside the church walls to create, grow and sustain our community of faith;

*Raising up leaders from within the community;

*Responding to the needs of children, youth and their families;

*Embracing reconciliation and breaking down racial barriers by being in community and worshipping together;

*Being known for loving service during the week as much as our worship together.

Christ’s Beloved Community is multi-cultural, centered on Jesus Christ, and born of two traditional denominations. Its pastor, Chantal McKinney, is Episcopalian, and its pastoral intern, Emily Norris, is Lutheran. Grounded in those two mainline denominations, Christ’s Beloved Community is spiritually fed by breaking bread together at lunch and again in worship at the Communion table. The community is then sent into the world to care for each other.

If you would like information about this new worshipping community and The Big

Celebration, contact Pastor Chantal McKinney at chantal@belovedws.org or Pastoral Intern Emily Norris at emily@belovedws.org.