PETROLIA (BRN) – “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction…” (James 1:27).

Widows and single moms are an extremely underserviced population in western Pennsylvania. The area surrounding our church, Harvest Community Church – Petroleum Valley (PVC), and the town of Emlenton, Pa., where we conducted the oil change outreach, is far removed from local businesses, so there is no easy access for widows and single moms to have their cars serviced in an inexpensive manner.

Our goal was threefold: 1) to fill that immediate need; 2) to intentionally make use of the opportunity to get to know those who attended and share the gospel with them; 3) advertise throughout the larger area that we care about them and invite them to join us. Emlenton is a community we are considering as a potential area to plant another campus.

While those who attended waited for their cars to be serviced, members of Harvest Community Church offered them something hot to drink and some company.

The day of the outreach, Oct. 21, was cold and rainy, so we blessed our guests with coffee, hot chocolate, snacks and a warm fire while we worked on their cars. While they waited, our hospitality team spent quality time interacting with them, and took advantage of the occasion to share why we chose to serve them in this manner. That opened up the door for some good Gospel conversations.

Although I am not aware of anyone who received Christ on that cold morning, I am confident that the women as well as some of the family members that attended with them heard the Gospel very clearly. Not only did they hear it, they saw it in action through a deed of kindness.

All of the widows and single moms we ministered to during the outreach were extremely grateful for the service. In fact, one widow was so blessed she drove to our PVC Campus and joined us for church the following Sunday. With the help of the BRN evangelism grant, we were able to secure supplies, facilities, snacks and outreach materials to share with the widows and moms who came. The grant also enabled us to do a mass mailing which, among other things, enabled us to reach out to the entire greater community to let them know who we are and invite them to join us.

Have an outreach event you would like to host, but could use a little help when it comes to the cost? Apply for a BRN Evangelism Grant today by visiting brnunited.org/grant!