At Sermon on the Mount Mennonite Church in Sioux Falls, S.D., we know we are small because, while some congregations have small groups of around 20 people, our entire email list is 20 people.

We had higher numbers in the 1980s, ’90s and 2000s when the church supported a Mennonite Voluntary Service unit. Now we number, on average, 12 to 15 on Sunday mornings.

During the pandemic, we moved to an online platform, which we still use when someone is feeling under the weather or traveling but doesn’t want to miss worship. There is also a woman who calls in to another congregant’s cell phone because she doesn’t have a computer.

Like many churches, Sermon on the Mount faces an aging population. Our youngest is me — in my mid-30s.

I saw my childhood Mennonite congregation shrink considerably before my family moved to a bigger church, Oak Grove Mennonite in West Liberty, Ohio, when I was in high school. My parents still attend there, and I consider it my home church. I can join Oak Grove’s livestream every Sunday before attending Sermon on the Mount and particularly appreciate joining in with the congregational singing, seeing the kids and youth participate and hearing a solid Anabaptist sermon.

At Sermon on the Mount, despite our small numbers and aging population, we thrive because we all take on responsibilities. Each December we look at our tasks-and-responsibilities chart, which covers everything from who counts the offering to who oversees yard maintenance.

We don’t have a pastor, so we take turns planning and leading worship. We look to Mennonite Church USA’s Leader magazine for many of our services, as well as resources put out by Mennonite Central Committee or other church organizations.

Sometimes we host guest speakers and preachers. Last year we committed four Sundays to Bible study on content for the Anabaptist Community Bible. We have a leadership team of shepherds (like elders or deacons) and a moderator. Several people provide building upkeep and address maintenance issues.

Everyone is encouraged to come up with ideas and make them realities. Someone recently suggested the carpet be replaced, so we asked them to research options for discussion and decisions. I am interested in converting our lawn to native plants, so I’m in charge of researching and planning how to get this project started.

Another way we’re thriving is in our service to the community. Sermon on the Mount doesn’t have many weekday activities in the church building, so we rent it to three other small congregations: a Liberian group, a Spanish-speaking group and a neighborhood church plant. As a result, our building is in use six days a week.

We also run a food giveaway, led by a member who accepts deliveries and organizes the operation on Mondays and Tuesdays. It is open to anyone regardless of income and doesn’t set limits on how often it can be visited.

The food giveaway uses a nonprofit in the city called Bread Break, which collects extra food from convenience stores, restaurants and bakeries and delivers it to organizations for clients who may not have reliable access to food.

The food giveaway grew out of a neighborhood program, Kid Link, born in 2020 to address both the community’s food desert and the lack of out-of-school programming for kids.

Sermon on the Mount sits directly across the street from an elementary school. Because the program started during the height of the pandemic, activities took place on the playground and included games that helped kids practice math, science and reading skills. The Nightwatch food truck served a free hot meal to attendees and anyone else.

When winter arrived, the school was off limits due to pandemic regulations. So, we offered our church building for Kid Link. Several congregants volunteered each week to run activities, including Shalom Readers, a reading program for kids in Central Plains Mennonite Conference.

On Tuesday nights, our church was full of children engrossed in fun and educational activities, their parents or caregivers, teachers, church members and other community people. It was beautiful.

A couple of years ago, the school system partnered with several nonprofits to run Community Learning Centers after school, and Kid Link was absorbed into this. The Nightwatch food truck no longer parks in front of our church on Tuesdays, but we still receive food donations to share with our neighborhood community.

Within the past year, the Eat Well Mobile Market has parked in front of the church every Wednesday. This grocery store on wheels brings reasonably priced food items to the church’s neighborhood and other food deserts. We support the market financially and occasionally volunteer our time.

We see God’s hand in all of this as we remain open to what is laid before us. While no one from the neighborhood joins us regularly for Sunday worship, we continue to bring Jesus to our neighbors.

Beth Yoder is a shepherd at Sermon on the Mount Mennonite Church. She works as a life skills educator with pregnant women and mothers at a drug rehab center and with homeless teenagers at an independent living facility.