Mission Trip Birdsboro Volunteers Serve The Community

Mission Trip Birdsboro (MTB) volunteers were out in full force this year helping neighbors in need with projects around their homes.

From July 21 to 25, volunteers from local churches worked at 30 different locations in the community painting, completing home repairs and doing landscaping work, which included tree removal and planting flowers. Volunteers also made repairs to the pavilion and picnic tables at Main Bird Park.

Volunteers wore distinctive red shirts bearing the phrase "Build Each Other Up," which was this year's MTB theme. In addition, each work site included a sign that read "God's Hands at Work."

"This year, there were more participants than ever - 130 volunteers," reported volunteer Stuart Wells, a member of St. Paul's United Church of Christ (UCC), Birdsboro. "As a nondenominational Christian ministry, MTB gives participants the opportunity to share Christ's love by striving to exemplify Christ's teachings to love our neighbors and to serve others in need with kindness."

Wells quoted James 2:18, which reads, "You have faith and I have works. Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith."

"In other words, actions speak louder than words, and during Mission Trip Birdsboro participants strive to demonstrate what it looks like to 'love your neighbor as yourself,'" Wells stated.

One of the youngest volunteers was Sami Blankenbiller, a student at Twin Valley Middle School and a member of Abundant Life Church in Birdsboro, who spent time painting a deck and a fence. Sami and two of his siblings were encouraged to participate in MTB by their dad. "My dad said we should do this to show our love of neighbors and God's love," said Sami.

In addition to completing the work, volunteers met daily for prayer and worship at different church locations, and a closing celebration was held at St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Birdsboro.

MTB, now in its eighth year, started at St. Paul's UCC in 2014. In that initial year, about 19 church volunteers worked on four homes and completed three community projects. The number of projects doubled the following year. As more churches began to participate, the ministry continued to grow. The number of volunteers grew to 49 in 2018, followed by 113 in 2019. "Even during last year's pandemic, Mission Trip Birdsboro had 108 volunteers," Wells pointed out, noting that last year's workers completed outdoor tasks only while wearing masks and practicing social distancing.

Wells reported that because of its growth, the MTB leadership team and St. Paul's UCC decided to have MTB become its own independent ministry as a nonprofit organization. "Next year, the ministry will continue its good works as an interfaith, interdenominational organization called Mission Trip Birdsboro & Beyond," said Wells.

For more information about MTB and to view photos and videos of this year's work and prayer gatherings, visit http://www.facebook.com/MissionTripBirdsboro.