Church Outreach Into The Community

If your church is ready to reach out into the community and truly become a community church, here are a few, simple steps with which to begin the journey. All of this is done in coordination with your pastor.

1. Have a community team ... or the church as a whole as this might be a fun church project ... walk or drive through the community within a few miles of your church and list all the organizations available for partnership with your church (it's important not to be recreating the wheel) and/or opportunities to serve found within your church's immediate community, where you hope to have immediate impact.


2. Have a delegation from the church (appropriate leadership, hopefully with your pastor) go to the town council, school supervisor, and local fire & police chiefs and ask them what they need done in the community by a local, community church (again, no need to try to reinvent the wheel).

3. In the Philadelphia area, churches may contact the Words and Deeds network (part of Evangelicals for Social Action--there is a link on the right side of this blog) and see if the network would be a good fit to work with your church to move to actively serving your local community. This network is designed to partner with local churches for creative outreach. Check in your region and see if such a network may be found close to you.

4. Once the research is done and you feel your church is ready for outreach, as part of an implementing campaign, your church might use the program "Faith in Action," which gets a church directly involved in outreach and evangelism in the local community. It is put out by Zondervan, Outreach, and World Vision. It will provide you with all you need to roll out an outreach and evangelism program in your community.
 
With outreach and evangelism come church renewal, so there is every reason to give this a try. May God bless you and your church in your efforts!