Between 50 and 60 people gathered Wednesday night at the Zion Hill Christian Fellowship Church. 

Some were members of the church. Others were residents of the Iberia Homeless Shelter, the city’s all-men shelter, or of the Serenity Help Center, a women’s shelter that grew out of the church. 

It was the first time the three organizations had broken bread together at Thanksgiving. 

After a short religious service, the church served all in attendance a hot plate of food that included turkey rolls, rice dressing, green beans, potato salad and dessert. 

“We’re joining these two shelters together because we realize that, while some people are displaced from their families, they still have a family here,” Bishop Darren Sophus said.

“All of that love and that warmness and that fellowship that you get with family, they’ll get that tonight,” he said. “They’ll be at that table of honor tonight.”

Behind the seating of the main church, a wall had been erected to separate the area of worship from the dining tables that had been set up and covered in cloth at the back of the hall.

“We didn’t want it to feel like we’re eating at a church. We wanted it to feel more like home when we eat,” he said. 

Anthony Antoine, associate pastor and an elder, said it was “just a part of being a light in the community.”

“We’re not just about going to church on Sunday and wearing your finest suit and smelling nice and all of that,” Antoine said. “We’re about going out into the community and getting your hands dirty and working with the people. We’re Christians, so we must be Christ-like. It’s what the Lord commands us to do,” he said. 

Mary Hill, a 14-year member of Zion Hill who was serving food with her husband, Albert Hill, echoed that sentiment. 

“We live to serve,” Hill said. “It’s part of doing what Christ did. He served as a man. If we’re going to be Christ-like, we should be serving like him.” 

Antoine delivered the first sermon of the evening to residents of the men’s shelter, who were the first to arrive.   

“Tomorrow, across the nation, people will be celebrating Thanksgiving. But every day we give thanks to God,” he said. 

Zion Hill Christian Fellowship Church has been in existence 15 years, Antoine said, but has been at its current location, at 626 W. Main St., since 2008. Last week the church distributed meals on Hopkins Street, shortly after the neighborhood was shaken by a series of shooting that left at least one dead.

The church has another feeding planned on Anne Street in December. 

“It’s about extending the love of Christ outside of the church walls,” Sophus said. 

Sophus helped create the Serenity Help Center, which his wife, Ernestine Sophus, now runs. 

“It’s something got put in my heart to do,” he said.