Local Congregation Meets the Challenge

When Rev. Matt Benton, Pastor of Spirit and Life United Methodist Church (UMC) in Woodbridge, VA challenged his congregation to collect 2,018 socks in 2018 as a service project for a local homeless shelter, he thought this would be a year-long project. He quickly found out otherwise, as members of the church met his challenge in just 6 weeks. The church collected over 2,300 socks (1,150 pairs) for Streetlight Community Ministries; a local Woodbridge nonprofit organization that runs a year-round homeless shelter serving eastern Prince William County. Local businesses also pitched in to help; Vincent & Vincent Salon in Dumfries served as a drop off point for donations in the local community.

This is not the first challenge Benton has given his congregation. In summer 2017, he challenged the congregation to collect 600 cans of food for the Action in the Community Service (ACTS) food pantry in Dumfries. He chose the goal of 600 cans to pay tribute to the 600 children who participated in the Community Vacation Bible School, held in mid-June 2017. Even with the usual "Summer slump" of attendance that most churches experience, Spirit and Life's congregation exceeded that challenge by collecting over 650 cans of food for ACTS in about 6 weeks.

Spirit and Life UMC is a new church plant that offers both an English speaking service, as well as a Bilingual service in Spanish and English. The church started in 2010 by meeting in a member's home, and has grown to two separate services at the same time in the same location. Serving others comes naturally to the members of Spirit and Life.

All are invited to join us for worship on Sunday mornings at 10:00 AM at Forest Park High School, located at 15721 Forest Park Drive, Woodbridge, VA 22193. We offer two worship services: one in English and one that is bi-lingual English and Spanish.