We highly recommend finding a book club that’s already going on in your city to be a part of. You can use the “Meetup” app, the local library or the local bookstore website to see what book clubs are going on in your city. If there just doesn’t seem to be any going on, then start one in your city so new people who aren’t necessarily from your church can attend.
Or encourage people in your church to start one in their neighborhood! Do all kinds of different books, not just Christian literature.
3. Hold a 4th of July concert.
Among summer church outreach ideas this is one of our favorites. We all know you’re not American if you don’t enjoy good BBQ and fireworks on Independence Day. It’s the Christmastime of the summer. Or maybe New Years? Either way—it’s just about the only fun holiday that happens during the summer. And it’s a great opportunity to get together with your city and celebrate.
A great way to do this is to partner with your city to put on a local concert! You can get local bands to play, have food trucks, offer to make or pay for good barbecue, provide games/entertainment, free refreshments or desserts, and figure out how to put together a firework show!
Families love having a place they can get together to celebrate and spend time together. It would be cool to make something like this happen—even on a smaller level.
4. Challenge your church to host neighborhood game nights.
When most of us think of board games, we think of the classics: Scrabble, Monopoly and a good game of Clue. But today it seems like there are as many board games as there are books.
Game nights can be a fun way to get to know your neighbors and friends better, let everyone’s competitive side come out, and share a fun experience together. And since the summer time means off season for practices, people can bring their kids along as well! (Some of our favorite adult board games for summer church outreach ideas are: Speak Out, Ticket to Ride, Catan and Codenames.)
5. Start or join a biking, walking or runner’s club.
Working out alone is the worst. It’s true of anything else—doing something alongside another person just makes it better, easier and more fun. I am way more likely to actually take a yoga class, run or go to the gym if I have someone I’m going with. It’s easy to cancel on yourself. Summer is a great time when people are re-evaluating their New Year’s resolutions and starting to think about their health again.
This can be a great time to find or join some sort of club that meets your level of movement capability and meet other people who have a similar interest as you. You can share why your health is important with each other and hear other people’s life stories. What a great way to get to know your community!
You can use the “Meetup” app for this, look at your city’s website, post notices in your neighborhood, or ask some friends and co-workers if they want to join you on a weekly bike ride, run, walk or whatever works for you.
6. Offer free car washes or yard care.
You don’t need big events for summer church outreach ideas. Acts of service are a great way to show people in your community that you care about them and aren’t just out for them to attend your church. You can set up a car wash in your church’s parking lot and make sure to advertise well in advance. Or, if the space isn’t able to host a car wash, you could offer this in neighboring areas.
Offering to do free yard work will offer a little more flexibility, as you’re going to people’s homes. For yard work, you’ll just need a good lawn mower and to be ready to pull some weeds!
7. Watch kids on “date nights.”
The off-season of the year is a great time for parents to get some quality time in together. It makes it tough if parents don’t have money to afford a sitter and don’t know anyone who can watch their kiddos for them. Have your church host a “date night day care” so parents can go out while you watch the kids. Make it fun, exciting and a mini camp-like experience so that kids will want to come back.
You can also encourage your church to do this in their own neighborhood.
Let us know which of these summer church outreach ideas you’ll try this summer and how it goes.
