April 27, 2025
MACON, Ga. — Northway Church in Macon has a vision that says “For the Gospel, For the City,” and they successfully carried out that vision on successive Saturdays in March when church members served in community outreach projects.
Between 150 to 200 volunteer church members helped the local Department of Family and Children Services pack Easter baskets for kids in foster care, assisted in the construction of a home for Habitat For Humanity, helped provide lunch for Habitat for Humanity workers, and spoke with victims of human trafficking through an organization called Freedom Collective (formerly Out of Darkness).
They also visited homebound or elderly church members, ministered to the homeless, packed backpacks for children of low-income families, picked up trash from the streets, helped with landscaping at The Ronald McDonald House, helped sort donated items to the BARN at the Rescue Mission, and helped with the Bibb County Schools Transition Resource Fair, which connects students with disabilities and their families with resources for life after high school. Those who couldn’t work those days could also donate supplies. Some of the activities were kid-friendly for parents to take kids and teenagers who wanted to get involved.
Missions Pastor Phil Anderson said this church-wide ministry is an annual event and is loved by all church members. He hopes individuals see it’s fun, meaningful, and that a lot of good is happening. “It goes back to Ephesians 4:12, equipping the saints for the purpose of ministry.”
Northway also does periodical events on a need-to-need basis throughout the year and is always looking for new opportunities, he said.
Another yearly church event is sponsoring the downtown Macon Christmas lights. “It’s become a destination point over the last five, six or seven years,” said Anderson.
Volunteers, or block ambassadors, work most nights at the lights display. “They love it that a church is doing it. We are friendly. We’re kind. And loving. And, occasionally, it opens up a conversation with people,” said Anderson.
Anderson sees Northway continuing to make a big splash like this and hopes people see good works and give glory to our Father in heaven as Matthew 5:16 says.
The church has been doing community projects for years, but this current format began in 2018. After stopping for the pandemic, they started again in March 2024. They chose two Saturdays to give volunteers more options.
Prior to 2018, these were all ministries that they had relationships with. “We might send a team to the food pantry. We had people visiting the homebound. We had people going out to the homeless to try to reach the homeless. But, it was on an individualized basis,” said Anderson.
Anderson came to Northway 17 years ago. From the start, he hoped to make inroads with local ministries and see how they could impact the city for Christ. “Part of our philosophy was identifying those groups that we could easily support, whether financially or with volunteers.”
The church did 18 different ministry projects in 2018. The first year, they finished the day by renting out Washington Park in downtown Macon and doing a worship concert. They tried to do a worship service in 1999 and 2000, but it was rained out.
The first year created a “beautiful story” for one homeless lady, he said.
“We actually had a lady be reached that was ready to turn her life around even though she was still high. It began the process of getting her in a rehab center.” He said she went from being totally drug dependent to going to rehab to working at the rehab center. “She has several jobs now, and is doing very very well. She was in Dublin, but has now come back, and has kept in touch with our leader and has come back to share her testimony.”
Anderson said other churches are also doing projects like these. Every year, Ingleside Baptist Church in Macon organizes week-long service opportunities called Macon Impact, where members serve the community together. Individuals, families, or small groups participate in projects such as yard work, providing meals for families in need, collecting items for a food drive, cleaning and organizing at local organizations, hosting and donating at a blood drive, and a city prayer walk. Macon Impact’s mission is for the church body to show and tell the love of Jesus in the community, and pray that those who are served will not only see God’s love displayed but also hear about His redeeming love through the gospel conversations that their members share.
