CULLMAN, Ala. – Some churches choose to spend their money and outreach solely within the confines of their church walls and for their parishioners. Others opt to grow and reach beyond those boundaries and seek to fill the needs within their neighborhoods and beyond, like Northside Baptist Church.
Hosting a free monthly community meal on the second Tuesday of each month, Northside Baptist members provide a robust dinner to families in their northwest Cullman neighborhood and to many from surrounding areas.
Pastor Stephen Springer shares, “We’re here to serve our community. We’re trying to turn our focus more on the community than ourselves. This is one of the things we got started back right after COVID. We want to give back to the community and let them know that during hard or difficult times we can give them a break from cooking at home. They can come, sit down and enjoy a meal so we can let them know that we care about them.”
Serving over 125 plates of delicious barbeque, baked beans and potato salad on Tuesday evening, church members kindly greeted their neighbors and welcomed them to partake in a sit-down dinner in their inviting dining area or to take advantage of take-home plates. Rounding out the meal was ice cream sandwiches for dessert.
Considering the current heat wave, the church decided to have a special treat for its young visitors on Tuesday night.
Members of the community gather at Northside Baptist to fellowship together (Amy Leonard for The Cullman Tribune)
“This week, we decided since school’s out and it’s hot, we got a blow-up bounce house and water slide for the kids. It looks like the water slide is the big hit with the heat,” he laughed.
He continues, “Everyone in the neighborhood is invited and we advertise it on Facebook so that anybody who is not in the community can also come. We want to serve those in our community and also reach out beyond our neighborhood too.
“We feel especially in this day and age, with gas prices going up to almost five dollars a gallon, it’s important to help where we can. We try to serve a good meal every month to our community.”
Church members have also taken it upon themselves to deliver the monthly meals to homebound residents in the neighborhood to ensure they also are remembered during sometimes lonely days.
1 Peter 4:10 reads, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in various forms.”
Northside Baptist Church, through their community meals, compassionately walks the walk in Christian fellowship.
Their next community meal will be held on July 12 from 5:00 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. Their Sunday School class is held at 9:00 a.m. every Sunday with the worship service afterward at 10:15 a.m. The service is also available on Facebook Live every Sunday. The church is located at 1310 Katherine Street, NW in Cullman.
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