From Slate-
Founded in the mid-19th century, New Hope United Methodist
Church had been operating on a razor-thin budget for years. Even after
renovating the sanctuary recently, Sunday attendance was low, with $300
in the collection plate on a good week. But the church’s small, bustling
food bank served 50 people a week in the low-income Starlight
neighborhood of Atlanta. Others came to the church for Bible study and a
free meal on Thursday nights, where a volunteer made sure everyone went
home with an extra plate.
But the pandemic accelerated New Hope’s struggles. More than half its
meager weekly donations came through cash in the Sunday offering basket,
and the congregation has not met in person since mid-March. To raise
extra money, pastor Abby Norman had recently started renting out the
historic church building for documentaries and other film projects,
including rap and country music video shoots. (Norman said she mostly
stayed out of it but did ask the artists to email her the lyrics first.)
The pandemic killed those gigs, too. Last week, Norman told her
congregation that the church—and the food bank—would have to close. “We
were so close,” Norman said. “It’s not just that we’re losing a church
that worships Jesus on Sunday. It’s generations worth of knowledge about
how to care for a community.”
More here-
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