Our Saviour's service to neighbors near and far highlights '10 Days of God's Work, Our Hands'

From assembling welcome kits for recently arrived refugee families from Africa and Asia to donating blood for patients in need literally next door, members of Our Saviour's Lutheran Church in Naperville shared of their time and resources in a variety of ways this month as part of a special campaign titled "10 Days of God's Work, Our Hands."

The event, honoring the 10th anniversary of the Chicago-based Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's service-focused #GodsWorkOurHands Sunday, took place Sept. 9-18 and offered a multitude of ways for Our Saviour's congregants of all ages to engage in serving the greater community.

Donation drives for Naperville's Loaves & Fishes Community Services and refugee assistance organization World Relief Chicagoland yielded collection bins overflowing with nonperishable groceries and household essentials.

A community blood drive held Sept. 12 in partnership with Versiti, the No. 1 supplier of blood to Edward Hospital, which is next door to the church. It resulted in 32 units of blood collected to help as many as 72 patients.

An all-ages event to assemble infant-care kits for underresourced families in need saw more than 500 such kits assembled for distribution both locally and across the globe through Lutheran World Relief.

God's Work, Our Hands is about "living into our call as followers of Christ to serve our neighbors and provide care to the church, our community and the broader world," said Our Saviour's Associate Pastor Elisabeth Pynn Himmelman, who joined Our Saviour's pastoral staff in July and spearheaded the 10 Days initiative.

"We respond to God's boundless love by going out into the world to love and serve our neighbor," Pynn Himmelman continued.

For Our Saviour's, the 10-day event also served to highlight the variety of year-round mission and ministry groups that the church welcomes participation in.

For example, Our Saviour's is a year-round supporter of Minneapolis-based hunger-relief organization Feed My Starving Children - serving as one of the primary organizers of Naperville's Feed the Need mobile-pack event at North Central College in February - and a group of Our Saviour's volunteers packed MannaPack meals at the organization's Aurora site on Sept. 16.

The infant-care-kit assembly event, hosted annually by Our Saviour's Baby Care group, saw more than 400 homemade baby quilts or flannel blankets included in the care-kit bundles.

"I am so thrilled for the 10th anniversary of 'God's Work, Our Hands' and for the 10 days of engagement that we have held," reflected Our Saviour's Senior Pastor Brian Wise. "Every act of kindness, every outstretched hand and every moment of compassion, whether great or small, shows the world the good works of God."

Continuing with a "Year of Engagement" theme for the church's 2023-24 year of mission and ministry activities, Our Saviour's will host multiple additional opportunities this fall to be in service to the local and global community, collecting donations for the Naperville Humane Society in October, supporting Bridge Communities' Sleep Out Saturday in November and hosting an additional packing event at Feed My Starving Children-Aurora.

The church has two campuses in Naperville at 815 S. Washington St. (next to Edward Hospital) and 919 S. Washington St.

For more information on Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, visit oursaviours.com or facebook.com/OurSavioursLutheran/.