Chris Lange, FISM News
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Houses of worship across the country are sharing the love of Christ with their communities through practical biblical generosity.
At a time when average gas prices remain above $4 per gallon, evangelical churches across multiple denominations have stepped up to lend a helping hand to struggling communities by giving away tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of gas cards.
Brian Carn, pastor of The Kingdom City Church in Charlotte, North Carolina used $10,000 of his own money to give more than 300 drivers $35 gas cards earlier this month. The church’s “Gas on God” event held at a Mobil gas station on Brookshire Boulevard attracted a long line of drivers, many of whom expressed heartfelt gratitude for the gesture.
“Once we get here, you feel the Holy Spirit around us and the kindness. You could feel His Spirit just move you,” said one woman, as reported in the Christian Post. “Speaking with people prior to even getting up to the pump and getting your gas, praying with the people, it’s earth-shaking,” she added.
“I just really appreciate everything you guys have done for me and everyone out here today,” another woman said.
Carn said one woman among the crowd told him, “I don’t need gas. I just need prayer.”
“This is what it’s all about,” Carn said. “God is so faithful.” The pastor went on to explain that the church originally planned to hold the event in February, before the average gas price had reached the $4 mark, but that the operation had been “shut down.”
“We went and prayed and asked the Lord to turn it for our good. We see what the Lord did was held it back until the whole country is talking about gas,” Carn said.
On Saturday in the Grand Crossing neighborhood of Chicago, New Life Covenant Church Southeast held a gas giveaway event at a local Shell station. Senior Pastor John Hannah told CBS News that his congregation did not hesitate to respond to his sudden request to provide funds for the gas cards.
“I basically stood in front of my church and said, ‘Guys, we want to bless 200 cars,’” Hannah said. “I asked a certain amount of people if they’d give us $25, and they gave it. We raised it right there on the spot.”
Churches in other parts of the country, including Alabama, North Carolina, Missouri, and Mississippi, are also ministering to their communities through similar acts of practical kindness and Spirit-filled generosity. West Point Baptist Church in Hattiesburg, Mississippi took a creative approach to their gas-relief outreach, partnering with three local fuel stations to roll back gas prices by $1 for an hour on Saturday.
Carn said Americans hurt by rising costs are essentially living through a different type of pandemic that, like COVID-19, has fostered feelings of uncertainty about the future.
“The pandemic isn’t over,” Carn said in an Instagram video. “The pandemic is the spirit of fear. Now, people are fearful over whether they are going to have gas or they are not going to have gas,” he continued, adding, “They shouldn’t have to make that choice.”