Nightshift Street Ministries

I heard of Nightshift Street Ministries a while ago from MC, and few nights ago, I finally had a chance to join her in this ministry. It was a great experience and I wanted to take this opportunity to share with you a little bit about this ministry. Nightshift Street Ministries is is a front line ministry that serves the people on the street of Surrey. Multiple churches in Surrey come together and they take turns providing drinks, hot food, pastries, clothing, blankets, and etc to homeless people every night. It's similar to the soup kitchen I volunteer at in some ways, but different in other ways. 

What amazed me the most about this ministry is its effort in building relationship with the people they serve. The volunteers often know the clients by name and they have genuine conversation about how they are doing. There is a real sense of community forming and relationship building. The goal of the organization is not just to provide for the physical needs of the people, but to also to provide for the spiritual need and to build relationships. One of the volunteer said to me, "it's not the food that keeps them coming back, it's the friendship". This really got me thinking. In the past, I've always been focused on the physical need of people. It is true the physical need such as hunger is important, without filling it people can't focus on anything else. At the same time, after fulfilling that need, what's next? It's more clear to me now that the next step is to fill that emotional and relational void. In many ways, the emotional and relational need is more important than physical need. I mean how many of us going out for dinner with a friend because of the food? Are we there for the food or are we there because we want to spend time with the person with are eating with? I think the majority of us would agree the time spent with friend is far more important than the food we eat. I think this is the goal of the ministry, to provide for the physical need of people, but also to to form friendships and community.I am so thankful that I had an opportunity to take part in this ministry.

"...I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." Matthew 25:40