Front Porch Stories

Grab some tea, or some cool lemonade if it’s a hot day. Take a seat on your front porch, or a place that feels welcoming. Our External Initiatives Lead, Madi Eckert, would like to sit down with you and tell you some front porch stories from this past summer.

Sitting on the Front Porch

The “front porch” has become an image we use regularly around Act Five. It encompasses many of our values, such as taking a seat and having long conversations with others, and interacting with our neighbours regularly as they pass by. It’s also the place you need to walk through to enter our home or to leave to go elsewhere. 

This summer, in the coming and going across our front porch, I experienced hope. 

“I find it hopeful that stories of all kinds can collide together…”

I found myself in our kitchen one day in late May chatting with a group of Campus Ministers from around Canada. They were in town for a conference but decided to extend their stay to have some extra time together, and we were able to welcome them to stay at our home for a night. I listened to them laugh as they retold stories from the week, and shared about what they were dreaming and scheming about for the next year of campus ministry life. I walked away from that conversation hopeful about the work happening on campuses across the country.

At the end of July, I sat on our front porch for a long while with one of the residents of Micah House. I got to hear her story of what life was like back in her home country (learn more about Micah House on our podcast here). The rest of the Micah House residents were inside our home eating around the dinner table, playing a card game, or having a Nerf Battle in the basement. The house was buzzing while I cherished some extended time of storytelling on the porch, finding myself encouraged and challenged through her story. 

Off the Front Porch and Into the City

In walking off our front porch, I’ve meandered over to Inclusion Coffeehouse a number of times this summer to get a coffee or bagel. Inclusion Coffeehouse is run by L’Arche, who is a close partner of ours (here a podcast episode with them here), who have now become friends, so I make it a point to visit to spend time with them at the Coffeehouse. One of our alumni, Emma, did her placement with L’Arche when she was a student with us, and is now completing her second summer working for them (hear her story here). When I walked in on one particular day this summer, I discovered Emma behind the counter! It’s a hopeful and joyful experience witnessing an alumni remaining connected to an incredible organization and thriving in her role. 

We also have a partnership with the Gore Park Community Outreach, who serves over a thousand people in Hamilton every week with a fresh meal and groceries. They’re meeting very real needs in our city, and we have the privilege of partnering with them through our Serve and Observe trips with high school groups. In August, we hosted a group of students from a church for a day and partnered with them, allowing 22 students to learn about the food insecurity in our city, and to participate in preparing meals and handing them out to a group of people who are unhoused. Not only does Gore Park Community Outreach lead so well, but I witnessed this group of students engage so intentionally, eagerly, and compassionately with our neighbours on the margins. It was a day of witnessing hope in action. 

Whether we invite people to walk across our front porch to come into our home, or we leave our front porch to visit other communities in which we also find belonging, I find it hopeful that stories of all kinds can collide together, for even just a moment, and are then part of the expanding of our imaginations of the Kingdom of God.