One of the first things we did as a church was to partner with our city to reach some low income, impoverished areas of the community.
For the past several years, once a year, we have put together as many as 1,400 people to invest in people outside the walls of our church. We sent over 800 people into our schools to meet the requests of principals and teachers, completing things their budgets couldn’t afford to do.
We participated with local radio stations to gather thousands of pounds of food for the poor.
We’ve helped to launch a ministry to homeless people and one to military wives. We’ve been consistently called upon by our community to help with local festivals and events and even by our mayor to help in flood recovery efforts.
My wife, who works in a local credit union and is active in the community, is frequently asked, “Are you part of that church that’s always helping people?” We love that question. We both get it often.
I think our intentional investment is one of the primary reasons our church has grown into one of the fastest growing churches in America in a little over 6 years.
Please understand, I’m not trying to brag about what we are doing.
I believe other churches are making a huge difference in their community, certainly many more than ours. I simply want to encourage any church I lead to show our city the love of Jesus and maybe even encourage your church (and mine) to do more.
I think we have a better chance of reaching our cities for Christ if they know we care. The more we get out of our buildings and meet real needs, the more we’ll have opportunities to share the hope we know is in Christ.
In my time at Grace, we’ve tried to be intentional about letting our community know we love them…and so far…it is working. I’ve got a new assignment in ministry ahead, and in my discussions so far, I’m encouraging this church also to greatly invest in its community.
Share with me. What is your church doing to display the love of Christ to your community in a practical way?
