Healing the body, then the soul

Shannon LeClair
Times Reporter

 

The Harvest Healing Centre wants to support the community any way they can, focusing on helping people in a practical sense first, and then possibly helping them spiritually.
“This vision for us is a little bit different in the building was built for community, a practical building. Most churches don’t have a shop, it’s not a really fancy stained-glass-window-type church, and in here we deal with a lot of different people, addicts, people like that come in and out through here as well,” said Pastor Elizabeth Karp.
“The key, for me anyway, is the people I run across they don’t have a lot, they don’t have a lot of funds and initially the church’s mandate is to look after people practically and then look after them spiritually, so the one kind of leads into the other.
“Our mission statement here is REAL, relational, excellent, accepting and life-giving, and that’s what we’re striving to be in the community, whatever that looks like.”
There are clothes for people in need, there are programs offered for the youth, including learning more about being a mechanic, and there’s the free bread that is given away a couple nights a week.
Eventually the members of the church would like to offer a soup kitchen; there have been generous donations for the kitchen so it has been set up with a commercial kitchen and the only things missing now are food and people. As it is, on Sundays, the church does offer a breakfast by donation to anyone interested.
“We can’t run on free though because then the kitchen won’t be able to make a breakfast, we need people to donate enough money to at least make enough to buy the food for the next breakfast,” said Audrey Senft, who runs the kitchen.
The church and its community are being built on the passion of the people within it. For Karp the passion began when she was younger. She was born in Norway and moved to Surrey, B.C. when her family immigrated. A lot of her friends were street kids and addicts, many of whom died young. She always recognized, though, that they were people too, just hurt people, and there wasn’t a lot of love shown, something she wanted to share. Addiction is a way to get away from hurt and pain, said Karp, and addicts have no coping skills to do that, which is why they turn to alcohol or drugs or whatever it is.
At a young age she became a mom, she was married, and has had her own ups and downs. As life went on people would continue to cross her path, and to this day she still loves who they are.
“I have huge respect for anyone that has the guts to walk in, even to this office, lay everything on the table, tell me everything they have done because they are desperate to get well, I have huge respect for that,” said Karp, which is partly why she now tries to be there for the people that don’t have anyone, to help them and guide them as much as she can.
“I believe God can bring healing into people’s lives.”