Photo courtesy of Mountaintop Community Church.
Members of Mountaintop Community Church write down what they love about Birmingham as part of the FOR|BHM campaign the church launched in the fall.
When it comes to social media movements or hashtags, many are focused on speaking out against something.
And while Doug Ferguson said there is a time and place for being against an idea or problem, focusing too much on the negative is something he and his congregation want to see less often.
“Too many of us are identified by what we are against,” said the Mountaintop Community Church senior pastor, noting those within the Christian church more so than other groups.
“That’s not what we want to be known for. We want to be known for the things that we are for.”
Ferguson’s church is where the FOR|BHM movement began. FOR|BHM, Ferguson explained, is the result of the idea to be “for” something, in this case “for” the greater Birmingham community.
“We want to let people know that God is for Birmingham, and we’re for Birmingham, too,” he said.
He said the idea came to him and others in his church last fall, formally kicking off in November, to focus on doing acts of kindness within the community.
Showing you are FOR|BHM can take many forms, Ferguson said, from just posting about a favorite taco truck to paying for a stranger’s breakfast and beyond.
On the FOR|BHM website, examples of the acts of kindness are detailed in stories and videos curated but not solicited by the church.
Over the last several months, individuals have shown they are for the city by organizing blood drives, helping local stores market their business for free or delivering care packages to the intensive care unit waiting room on Christmas Eve.
“It’s getting lived out in all kinds of neat ways,” he said.
Ferguson said others are simply sharing the reasons they love their community with the hashtag #forbhm on social media.
“It’s not complicated,” he said. “That’s what I love about it.”
He said the movement is not about being blindly positive — he and church members realize that there are difficult issues the community deals with and need to be addressed.
“We’re not immune to things that are wrong, but we want to focus on things that are right,” he said, adding that some of the initiatives started through FOR|BHM are aiming to address the racial divide in the city, the needs of kids in the foster care system and creating a community for moms suffering with postpartum depression.
“We want to inspire people to just love their neighbors,” Ferguson said.
Those looking to get involved can share their stories of being “for” the community on social media or on the website, or can inquire at the church about hats, T-shirts or other merchandise to show support.
For more information, visit forbhm.com.
