When Hurricane Helene tore through Canton, North Carolina, it left miles of devastation with electricity out for everyone, no access to cell service or internet, very limited access to water, food, transportation, and areas completely cut off by flood waters, downed trees and landslides. Amid this devastation, Reverend Amanda Fowler, pastor of Canton Wesleyan Church and a volunteer firefighter, found ways to serve her community from both the church and the firehouse.
Last summer, Rev. Fowler felt a call from God inviting her to consider becoming a volunteer firefighter. Her answer was to become a firefighter. Before Helene, she felt like her pastoral and firefighter roles were separate, rarely intersecting. But once the flooding started, people needed a firefighter and a pastor. Both roles gave Rev. Fowler avenues of deep service to her neighbors. Sometimes, the roles reinforced and broadened each other.
“During the flood, my role as a firefighter gave me access to places that might have otherwise been off-limits,” Rev. Fowler explained. “I could step into situations as both a firefighter and a pastor, offering hope and practical help. Sometimes, my fire chief would call and say, ‘Here’s what I have; can you go here?’ People were afraid to ask for help from authorities, but as a pastor in plain clothes, I could approach them differently.”
Helene’s destruction was overwhelming. Rev. Fowler admitted that her initial reaction was one of being frozen in disbelief. “The tendency is to look at the devastation and say, ‘Where do we even start?’ But our hope in God calls us to action. It stirs something in our hearts, telling us that we can step forward, even when we feel unprepared,” she shared.
This hope is what kept Rev. Fowler and her church community moving. “There were moments when I felt over my head, without the resources or skills needed. But through faith, we found that God provided exactly what we needed at the right time. It was through the Spirit that we knew where to begin and how to keep going,” she said.
Despite being a smaller congregation, Canton Wesleyan Church quickly became a distribution center for supplies and support. People from across the country partnered with them. One woman from Wisconsin sent blankets and comforters, flying them to a cousin in Virginia who drove five hours to deliver them. People across the country partnered with Canton Wesleyan to provide Christmas for over 200 families in the nearby community, delivering specific gifts that each family requested.
Canton Wesleyan asked each community household to check off items they needed for survival and rebuilding, after which the congregation would fill and deliver the drop-off bins. Providing the drop-off bins continues with the church filling them each Sunday and delivering them throughout the week. The church also hosted volunteer teams who helped cut down trees and clean out homes. Rev. Fowler remembers how a nearby church opened its doors to provide showers for the volunteers. Signs began appearing at the end of driveways, listing what families were willing to share — water, diapers and everyday essentials.
What amazed Rev. Fowler most was the spirit of her congregation. “One hundred percent of our members got involved,” she said. “When supplies would come in or we needed someone to organize, I didn’t have to ask anyone — they jumped in immediately to say, ‘What do you need? How can we help? What are we doing?’ I had one guy who every day — without asking — made lunch and brought it over and fed all the volunteers.”
All this is even more amazing when you consider that Canton Wesleyan is a church of 30 people, with over 40 percent under the age of 18.
Reflecting on this past season, Rev. Fowler talks about how she’s seen the congregation take on the mindset of abundance, even in a time of incredible scarcity: sharing what they have, giving of their time and approaching their church as a central and load-bearing way to do good in their community. “We want our neighbors to know we are for them — whether they ever attend our congregation or not,” she said.
Looking ahead, Rev. Fowler hopes readers will continue to pray for the ongoing recovery efforts and can get involved through giving — from donating money for relief efforts, campers and RVs for relief workers or displaced families to stay in, or even physically coming down to do work. Canton Wesleyan continues to be a central part of relief work in their community.
For more stories of Holding onto Hope or to learn how Wesleyans are finding fresh ways to love God and neighbor, visit wesleyan.org/news.
Rev. Ethan Linder is the pastor of discipleship at College Wesleyan Church in Marion, Indiana, and contributing editor at The Wesleyan Church’s Education and Clergy Development Division.
