When Ros O’Donohoe from Good Shepherd Para Vista in suburban Adelaide explains the story of the inspirational ‘Meet and Eat’ ministry, there’s a phrase that comes up again and again. ‘It’s the Father’s ministry.’
These words are a testament to the faith Ros draws on as she and a team of helpers prepare and serve dinner for 80 to 90 people at the church hall every Monday apart from public holidays. Congregation members also eat with the guests and gauge prayer needs.
Some who come for the food, friendship and singalongs have been sleeping rough. ‘All who come are a joy to have’, Ros says. ‘The addicted ones or the broken souls who didn’t want to be in this position, those who didn’t have a basic education; those are the dear ones I will protect.’ A collaboration with the homeless charity Orange Sky means guests can have clothes washed and dried while they eat and use shower facilities.
Much of the food served at ‘Meet and Eat’ comes from Pathway Community Centre at nearby Modbury North. The congregation contributes about $150 each month. ‘The church has been enormously supportive’, Ros says. ‘Basically, we don’t need more money … it’s the Father’s ministry. The church put in a new kitchen, which is such a blessing. And one day a Good Shepherd member asked to help, indicating that he loved to cook – praise God!’
But things don’t always go to plan. ‘When the freezer stopped working, all the food had to be trashed’, Ros recalls. ‘But I believed the Father would supply what we needed. And, by the end of the week, Pathway had an abundance of food, so God kept the food flowing.’
Meet and Eat had its origins in a smaller, simpler ministry, the seed of which was planted in 2008. Ros and her late husband Barry, who died in 2013, received a prophecy that God would start a new ministry through them.
It began with morning teas for several of Ros and Barry’s neighbours who had lost spouses to cancer. Some of them were hostile towards the church. ‘Eventually, we asked if they would come to “a hall”, for me to cook them soup and toast’, she says. ‘They agreed but there was to be “no church talk”.
‘We called it “Soup night” at first. Yet, whatever it’s called, it’s always the Father’s ministry. When the Father starts a ministry, he has all the resources.’
The food, friendship and faith on offer change lives. By 2011, 12 ‘grumpy neighbours’ were being welcomed by six Good Shepherd members, sharing soup and laughter. ‘All of my original grumpy neighbours later asked for Jesus’, Ros says. ‘They experienced love and acceptance.’
Ros explains, too, that, as a small child, her back neighbour saw a picture of Jesus with the words, “Suffer the little children to come unto me”. ‘Her fear was that the man in the picture would make her suffer. I couldn’t change that, despite being her neighbour for 35 years – yet soup and love changed her heart at 93 years of age! She needed what we had. Praise God!
‘So, the greatest blessing is to see others finding salvation over a bowl of soup. That energises me to work with joy.’
