LaSalle Street Church in Chicago gave 320 regular members and attendees each a check for $500 with one instruction: go out and do something good with it, Reuters reported.
Senior Pastor Laura Truax and other church elders made the decision after a development sold in June, giving the church $1.6 million, according to Reuters. The money from the checks is from a tenth of $1.6 million.
Back in the 1970s, LaSalle Street and three other local churches had helped support a multiethnic, multi-income housing development in a now-pricy neighborhood, Reuters reported. The church as a whole will decide what to do with the rest of the money.
Truax said LaSalle is a strong social justice church, and "we had this amazing opportunity to invest in the kingdom in a big way," Reuters reported.
On an "idea wall" inside the church's basement, members who received a check began sharing their ideas on what to do with the money, according to Reuters.
A group of doctors suggested sending the money to an Ebola clinic in Sierra Leone, while others plan to support CeaseFire, an anti-violence group, Reuters reported.
"I was just in disbelief," said Valency Hastings, 42, when she got her check from the non-denominational LaSalle Street Church, according to Reuters. "The enormity of the responsibility of it has begun to sink in."
Those who received the check were asked to pray about how they could best spend the money, Reuters reported.
"We asked people what they feel they've been called to do," Truax said, according to Reuters. La Salle Congregants vary from the wealthy to the homeless, so if someone wants to use the money for rent, Truax said that is OK, too.
