Hillcrest Church in Charleston is empowering Kingdom growth through a special ministry church members have begun in a local trailer park.

Two years ago, after taking countless missions trips out-of-state, Ministry Development Director Shelia Ray began to ask herself why the church was not doing more local missions.  “I felt God leading us to minister in this trailer park.  It was as if He was saying ‘this is where you need to be.’”

After hosting a few one-time Christmas and Easter programs, Hillcrest Church members now go to the trailer park every other Sunday to sing praise songs, share a Bible story and spend time with the children and adults who live there. 

“In the Bible I see how Jesus made relationships with people.  Our main objective now is to build relationships, get to know names, listen to problems and pray with them.  These are just people who need to know Jesus,” Ray said.

Hillcrest Church saw more than 100 of the children in the park attend a Vacation Bible School there this summer.  When some of the children who attend the bi-monthly worship time were asked where they went to church, they responded, “I go to the Church in the Park.”  Now church members bring a sign with that new name to the park every other week, announcing that church is about to begin.

Church member Rose Swann has seen more children become excited about the ministry since it began.  “You can see the excitement in the kids at the park.  You see them realize that someone cares enough about them to come back again and again.”

That consistency is also reaching adults in the park.  Swann tells of one resident whose children had been attending the worship time while she stayed inside her home.  Gradually she would sit outside on her porch to listen, then moved closer to become part of the group. 

Some Hillcrest Church members have asked if the purpose of this ministry was to bring new members into the church.  “We may not see any of these people come into the church, but we may see them in heaven,” Ray responds.

The ministry has affected church members, too.  According to Ray, it gives people who didn’t think they had a gift a chance to serve.  “The gift of hospitality is used to talk to people.  Our children and youth have done clowning and one senior adult Sunday School class has assisted a family in the park by meeting some needs for school supplies and clothes,” she said.

Ray said she can see God move in other ways throughout the church because of this ministry, including the start of another new ministry.  One ladies Sunday School class has begun a prayer group at a local assisted living facility.

To a church considering a ministry like the “Church in the Park,” Swann recommends praying for the opportunity.  “And don’t be discouraged if people do not respond quickly [to the ministry], because God will lead people there.  All you have to do is go and tell them about Jesus.”

Pastor David Ridley said this kind of ministry “requires an individual or individuals who are highly motivated and willing to persist even though results may not come immediately.  Shelia and Rose are two such people.”

“Our church members are seeing that ‘church’ doesn’t have to happen within four walls.  We are called to do whatever it takes to share Christ with others,” Ray said, describing the very essence of empowering Kingdom growth.