The federal government shutdown furloughed 57 members of the Commonwealth of Faith church, where a third of the 350 attendees are federal workers, including bivocational pastor Torion Bridges and his wife Jasmine.
The change could jeopardize financial gifts from a quarter of Commonwealth of Faith’s adult members, Bridges said.
“Some people give when they don’t have, but the reality is, some people stop giving,” Bridges said, especially since they don’t know how long the shutdown will last or in some cases, whether their positions will be retained.
That made the news all the more comforting when, just a couple of days in advance of the shutdown, Bridges learned the church had been awarded a matching grant of up to $50,000 through November 2 to fund its feeding ministry.
“Food insecurity is something our church has always cared about, whether or not people can eat,” Bridges told Baptist Press. “That’s a big thing for us at Commonwealth.”
Across Michigan, about 29,900 civilians are federal workers, the Congressional Research Service said in a September 25 report.
Jasmine is among church members furloughed, while Bridges continues to report to work for the Veterans Administration, their pay delayed until the government resolves its impasse. What’s more, Bridges doesn’t accept a salary from the church he planted in 2018 through the North American Mission Board, although his wife also works in real estate and is opening a day care center.
The grant will undergird offerings that help feed children at five Metro Detroit schools with which the church partners and 15 early childhood development centers. It will also support the church’s distribution of groceries and hot meals through the Fields Feeding Program Commonwealth birthed in 2020. The program has grown to include 35 sites, Bridges said, most of them churches.
“To have this ability to be matched for that, it’s like the old hymn says, ‘Whatever betide, God will take care of you,’” Bridges said. “And I’m not trying to be funny when I say this, but I personally think that Commonwealth is one of God’s favorite churches. It just happens like that. I can’t explain the favor that’s on this house. But we just keep on doing whatever we feel God has called us to do.”
Bridges hopes the grant will allow the church to double its feeding outreach, including Westfield Charter Academy, which shares a campus with the church, and the Cornerstone Network of Schools.
“We send kids home with meals and snacks to cover what they’re not getting while away from school. We do the same with the early learning centers,” he said, “and our aim is to go from five to 10 schools and 15 to 30 centers.”
Through the Fields Feeding Program, launched in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the church plays a part in feeding those in need across Michigan through food distribution and hot meals. Commonwealth and partner sites have together served more than 80,000 hot meals and distributed more than 75 million pounds of groceries since the program’s inception in 2020.
Commonwealth launched the Fields-Harper Community Christmas Dinner in 2024, when it served a fully prepared hot Christmas dinner to 800 families of four, Bridges said.
“Any family can come into the church and enjoy a Christmas dinner, receive a small gift for each kid and have a gospel conversation,” Bridges said.
With the grant, which came from a local donor, the church hopes to serve 1,600 families this year by offering several serving times.
“I assume I’m not the only pastor that has church members in their pews that work for the federal government that need help, and we need more than just thoughts and prayers on this,” Bridges said. “We need actions to ensure our people don’t go hungry.”
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