Diocesan stories of people responding to God’s call
Let me be your (soup) servant
Talk about chicken soup for the soul! A culinarian crew from the Parish of French Village is serving up portions of Christian kindness and generosity to scores of residents in their area.
Neighbourhood Soup Servants was sparked in March of 2019 when parishioner Mary Stone, after attending a MORE Mission School, walked her neighbourhood. She pondered how her faith community could be more actively missional. Recognizing that people who are sick, homebound or are new to the neighbourhood, could use some nutritious homemade soup and a friendly visit, Mary and a few others from the Parish tied on their aprons and got cooking.
Louise Christie explains how the missional ministry works, “Once a month, the soup servants gather at St. George’s Hall to make four very large pots of soup. Everyone is assigned a task before the soup day. By 9 a.m. things are in full swing – cutting, cooking, preparing the bottles, bagging rolls, checking the list of clients.” She said, “The final touch is adding labels that have a monthly grace (prayer), the ingredients used and the date for the next visit. At noon, delivery and visitation is started. To date, there are over 70 bottles of soup being delivered to 55 households on a monthly basis.”
Twenty-five people make up the parish serving team.
The Neighbourhood Soup Servants are clear on their ‘why’, the purpose of this missional initiative. “To reach out to the wider community and to enact our Christian beliefs by demonstrating love and spreading God’s word,” explained Janet Champniss. “We also build a fellowship among those who make the soup.”
These Fresh Village parishioners are also intentionally focused on the ‘who’ of this ministry.
Janet Champniss says, they aim to serve people who would appreciate friendly connections and a night off from cooking. “Many are people living alone,” she said. “We deliver to people whose names have been identified by the people making the soup, …(and) we receive suggestions from other sources. Some people are on a regular delivery list.”
“We also include people on a short-term basis who are having temporary difficulties, who have just moved in, who just had a baby, etc.”
“The recipients are beyond grateful and the soup servants feel exactly the same way,” shared Louise Christie. “The people we deliver to become friends and we are their friends.”
“Many of our recipients are not in great need, but enjoy the brief encounter and the fact that someone has thought of them,” said Janet Champniss.
“I was hungry and you gave me food, … I was a stranger and you welcomed me, … I was sick and you took care of me.” – Matthew 25:35a, 35c, 36b
Taking seriously the call to loving service, the Neighbourhood Soup Servants do this missional work for free. Janet Champniss says sometimes they have an opportunity to share about the authentic loving nature of Christian ministry. “People say how delicious the soup is and have been very grateful and happy to have a visit,” she said. “Some ask how much we charge so we explain why we are doing it.”
The Parish of French Village is situated in the South Shore area of Nova Scotia. They are part of the Fort Sackville Region.
