Church Central hosted a free yard sale that gave away thousands of clothes to the Milledgeville community.
“Being generous is a part of what God has called us to do as believers,” said Jeff Simmons, pastor of Church Central. “Throughout the year, we focus on opportunities for people to show generosity to the outward community.”
The free yard sale was a service event for the church’s annual Generous Sunday. Generous Sundays are hosted at the end of a lesson series being taught by the church. These events allow members of the church and volunteers to give back to the outer community and learn by doing.
“Around spring, we do a long series where I communicate what being generous looks like. We have a different version every year for generosity and how we can be a generous community,” said Simmons.
In the past, Church Central has hosted several service projects at the end of these series including: assisting widows with yard work, building ramps for hospice patients, remodeling the Division of Family and Children Services office, remodeling the Habitat for Humanity office, and giving away free clothes.
“As Christians, we should be the most generous people on the planet,” said Simmons. “The practice is always to do what Jesus did for us. What God did for us, by giving his son, is by far the most generosity any of us know.”
This year's series focused on a lesson around John the Baptist. To plan this year’s Generous Sunday, the church took John the Baptist’s words of calling out the scribes and Pharisees literally.
“He called them a brood of vipers, a family of snakes,” said Simmons. “When they asked, “Well, what should we change?” He responded, “If you’ve got more than one coat, give the other away. And if you’ve got extra food, share.” So, we took those words literally and gave away clothes and food to our community.”
At the free yard sale, visitors were treated to a big cookout and about 12 racks and 10 tables full of clothes donated by the church.
“The church had no warning. They found out about this project Easter Sunday and had until the following Sunday to donate clothes,” said Simmons. “People brought bags and bags of clothes to the church and we gave away 1000s of articles of clothes. It was crazy.”
After the event, there were some leftovers of both clothes and food. The leftover clothes were donated to a local thrift store and the food was taken to the local soup kitchen.
“We took the leftovers to these places so that those people can continue to bless others with those food and clothes,” said Simmons.
Church Central has been a part of the community for about 18 years. It has grown in popularity not only as a home to worship in but also as a place of generosity. The church will continuously work to give back to the community every year and always welcome volunteers to assist with these projects.