Church looks to meet community needs

There are plenty of needs in the community, from homelessness and lack of mental health care to childhood hunger and substance abuse.

For the leadership of one church in Dobson, those needs are opportunities to reach out and help others.

Scott Meadows, pastor at Dobson Church of Christ, and others in the church hosted a meeting of community leaders at their facility Wednesday, with the goal of asking how the church can help.

Among those in attendance were Dobson Mayor Ricky Draughn, Mount Airy Mayor Ron Niland, Surry County Sheriff Steve C. Hiatt, school leaders, social workers, and others, gathered for a lunch courtesy of the church ladies’ group.

“We sent out a letter to a lot of community leaders,” Meadows said of how he and church leaders went about planning the gathering. “We wanted to see if we could get the answer to two basic questions. What are the major needs in the community, and how can our church get connected in the community to meet those needs?

“We got really good responses from everybody, and it was really effective what we ended up getting,” Meadows said.

He said the two areas that stood out to him, areas he believes his church can be effective, is working to help meet the needs of children in the community, as well as finding ways to encourage those in “service work,” such as teachers, police officers, social workers, and similar fields.

Meadows said now the church leaders will get together and figure out the best way to proceed.

“We want to be focused in our efforts here, we don’t want to be all over the place…we want to have a focused effort.”

Meadows has been pastor at the 100-person church for about three months, and in that time he said he has seen a desire among church leaders and members to become more involved with the community. That is what drove them to start their effort with Wednesday’s lunch.

“We’re just trying to make the effort to reach out into the community. The church is wanting to be active in the community….now we need to prioritize the needs we found out about and go to work.”

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Source: https://www.mtairynews.com