Big Family Outreaches are often relatively expensive, drain personal and team energy, and require months of prep, so the church I serve at started asking, what if there are Outreach Ideas that are simpler, more sustainable and more affordable?
Out of that we came up with a new outreach strategy.
The idea is that you communicate to families your vision for how they can personally reach another family, share an idea to help them, give them something practical that goes hand-in-hand with the idea, and encourage them throughout each month to reach another family for God.
So for example, at the church I serve at, this is what it looked like in the past month:
- We told families we want them to reach out to just one other family by showing that family love and generosity, then following God’s lead about when to have a spiritual conversation. We included this same message in the handout we gave to parents and in a weekly email we send to parents (COMMUNICATION).
- We shared with families that a great place to start would be to make chocolate chip cookies for the family they want to reach (IDEA).
- At the end of service, we gave a package of chocolate chip cookie mix to each family (SOMETHING PRACTICAL).
- Finally, we encouraged families throughout the month to follow through with baking cookies for another family through text messages, a weekly email and reminding families on Sunday mornings (ENCOURAGEMENT).
It’s very simple to do, it continues throughout each month, and with this particular idea it was only $1/family.
At the church I serve at we have five Outreach Ideas we cycle through every 12 months that all cost <$5/family.
Below I’ll outline each idea, share the cost and how many times we do the idea each year; please use any idea you think will be effective in your context, and I’d love for you to share any ideas you think of. (We’re always trying to be creative in what we give to families, so it would seriously be super helpful if you thought of something and shared it in the comments.)
The Five Outreach Ideas
1. Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix – $1/family – 2x/yr: Tell families you want them to bake cookies for the family they’re reaching and deliver them as a family.
2. Pizza Dinner – $5/family – 2x/yr: Give families $5 gift cards to Little Caesar’s or Dominos and tell them to use the cards to have the family they’re reaching over for dinner.
3. Redbox & Popcorn – $2/family – 2x/yr: We staple a card with a code for a free Redbox Rental (http://www.redbox.com/gifts) ($1.50) to a bag of popcorn (3/$1 at Dollar Tree) and tell families to invite who they’re reaching over for a movie night.
4. Break Night – $5/family – 4x/yr: We tell families we’re providing childcare for 2.5 hours at the church and to invite the parent(s) from the family they’re reaching to have a night of grown-up fun. We use youth for childcare (w/at least two adults to oversee) and pay $10/hour. We ask church families to pay $10 and the family they’re reaching is free.
5. Chich-fil-a Gift Cards – $5/family- 2x/yr: Who doesn’t love Christian chicken??? We give a $5 Chic-fil-a gift card to each family and tell them to give it to the family they’re reaching.
And throughout the whole process, we constantly encourage families to follow God’s lead and prompting about when to have any spiritual conversations, which leads to families staying close to God so they can discern his prompting, step out in faith and follow it.
I would seriously love to hear any ideas you come up with, so leave a comment.
And my heart is really to help Kid and Family leaders do ministry better, so if this was helpful, pass on the word and share!
This article originally appeared here.
