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Letters: Churches play major roll in community

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I’ve seen a lot of comments on social media concerning churches. A lot of the comments center around the desire to tax churches.

One of the main reasons churches aren’t taxed is because of the First Amendment and keeping freedom of religion and speech. But the argument I will always make is that churches serve the community in multiple ways.

Churches have many programs to help people in need, addiction recovery, marriages, kids and seniors. On top of that, churches reach out to the community and assist the community in many ways.

Our local churches in Surprise do an amazing job of serving the community. Early in the pandemic, Radiant church brought in Convoy of Hope and distributed two semi-truck trailer loads of food for those in need in the community.

Radiant also has a program where they send out hundreds of volunteers on the second Saturday of the month to help different organizations that serve local communities. Salvation Army through November handed out over 16,000 food bags, 350 backpacks and served over 52,000 meals. They also paid out over $250,000 in utility assistance, $75,000 in rental assistance, and over $24,000 in other assistance.

Inglesia Del Valle hands out food to the local community in the Original Town Site once a month. They also have a tutoring and mentoring program for the youth there. West Valley Bible Church partnered with Lutheran Social Services to house and feed the homeless. City Church adopted a family that is in desperate need and gave them food and gift cards to grocery stores. They also gifted them a microwave and air fryer to be able to cook food.

CCV has a long tradition of serving the community through sports programs and now they help with counseling services for addiction, anxiety, boundaries, depression, finance, grief and marriages. Riverview Church gives the city supplies that are given out to the homeless population in our community.

This is just a small example of the service our churches perform in our city. Our local churches do a great job of living out Matthew 25:35-36 “for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ 

I think we can all agree that the local churches are a vital part of the community. 

Editor’s Note: Mr. Grim is a member of the Surprise Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission.