Perfecting Faith Church offers holiday feast, and other services

Thanksgiving is an important tradition in many families — a lot of it disrupted in recent years because of the coronavirus pandemic. But families are back together, and so is another tradition — this one at Perfecting Faith Church.

The North Main Street church opened its doors to those in need last week, marking the return of its annual Thanksgiving feast. And volunteers went all-out, providing not only a good meal and great company, but also supplies to keep them going after the holidays. And even a fresh haircut.

“Every year, we have a Thanksgiving feast for those who are in shelters, for those that are homeless, for the veterans that don’t have any place to stay or family, and for those that don’t have family here, don’t have any family, or they may live here and have family problems,” said Pastor Donnie McClurkin. “So, we open it up, and we give them an atmosphere that is conducive to what a real Thanksgiving should be.”

This year, the church offered a market where visitors could pick up free clothing and toiletries, and get a haircut by volunteers from Trimz Barber Shop on Guy Lombardo Avenue, and Gifted Styles.

“This is just something we do for Thanksgiving that we have been doing for the past 15 years,” said Maurice Price, a volunteer who has belonged to Perfecting Faith for 21 years.

“We’ve been doing this to take care of the community and making sure that the community understands that the church is here for them. It’s not just the building itself — the church is within each and every one of us.”

More than 500 people attended the holiday event — each greeted by Perfecting Faith’s “red carpet policy.” Every time someone new arrived, everyone would stop what they were doing to give them a round of applause.

“When someone comes through the door, we are celebrating with flags and clapping because all of these are our guests,” McClurkin said. “We want them to feel like the guests of honor. We want to take away for a moment every stigma that caused them to have to come here. To let them know coming here was a blessing, and make them feel like they’re at home.”

This year, the church expanded its event to attract visitors from outside Freeport. Anyone from Long Island — and even as far away as one of the five boroughs — was invited to the feast. Church buses were used to transport people to and from local train stations, as well as from shelters and food banks.

“The vision started with the pastor who wanted to create a comfortable atmosphere for the people that don’t have a home who may not have a family,” said Valerie Thomas, Perfecting Faith’s branch leader for home and global missions. “We serve them wanting them to really feel special — and for them to leave feeling that way.”

McClurkin founded Perfecting Faith Church 21 years when he acquired the building at 311 N. Main St., that had once been home to a C-Town Supermarket.

“We’ve always had an outdoor approach and appeal from the time we started the church,” McClurkin said. “It was important for us to develop our evangelism and reach out to the people in the community. There’s no sense in having a church where the community is not the focus. So, we did everything — we walked the streets, we knocked on doors, we helped people out.”

Although the coronavirus pandemic did see membership drop off a bit, Perfecting Faith has expanded its reach internationally using the power of the internet. Weekly services are filmed and broadcast live online. And McClurkin was astonished to find people from all around the world tuning in. 

“We had to change and build a whole digital broadcast for our services, which took us a lot of resources to do, but it was necessary,” the pastor said. “We were able to reach people from around the world. Then we developed the satellite membership. We’ve got over 500 people from around the world that are part of the church now.”

Those viewers are coming from places like Haiti, Ireland and other European nations, with a considerable number of people finding the online broadcasts from Africa and Brazil.

Despite all that, McClurkin still keeps a close eye to the community his church serves, and aims to continue offering community events like Thanksgiving feasts, and even a Christmas toy drive.

“The community is the only reason why the church exists,” McClurkin said. “There’s no need for the church if there’s not a community attached to it.

“We’re supposed to help enhance and build up the community. This is not just a place where you come and give us money, get a good feeling, and go out and we do nothing in return. It is important that the church understand its purpose. And its goal is to enhance the community and the people in that community to help us all win.”