What if you are the pastor of a small church, but would like to do something to serve your community? What if you love the idea of adopting a school, but barely have enough resources to cover your nursery on Sunday?
Is it possible to do acts of mercy in your local Jerusalem with a tiny band of volunteers? Surprisingly, it is. Here are six tips for small church outreach:
1. Relieve yourself of false guilt.
If there is one thing that plagues small church pastors in a big metro area, it’s the constant guilt about what your church is “not doing.” Mostly, this guilt comes as a result of comparing yourself to the other churches in town.
Instead, begin to look at the entire body of Christ in your community rather than your own specific congregation. You are just one of many God is using in that region to bring about His glory. When I finally realized that God wasn’t calling Gages Lake Bible Church to be the entire church to our local region, it enabled me to focus on a few small areas of opportunity and giftedness.
2. Look for ways to partner with existing churches and organizations.
It’s important to build relationships with other Christian leaders in town to see what existing projects your church can join. They are always in need of manpower and money. You’d be surprised at how your little contribution can make a big difference.
Sometimes you can offer your building, even it is small, as a staging or training area. Every church has boundaries on their involvement with other churches, but I encourage you to partner in areas of agreement and get your people involved in worthy, God-honoring community endeavors.
3. Recognize what your people are already doing.
You might be surprised to know that your people are already involved in community projects.
For instance, I discovered that one of our new members was an active volunteer with a antipoverty ministry. Another is part of a homeless outreach.
So when opportunities to serve come up, I publicize these in our bulletin to attract other likeminded volunteers to the efforts. I’m finding that not every endeavor has to be planned, coordinated and arranged from the leadership on down. Sometimes the effort is a matter of empowering work already happening.
