June 2007
Outreach Corner
Leverage a Community-Wide Event
Need some help coming up with an outreach idea for your church? Start by finding out what events are on your community calendar, and see what you can do to connect to it. We've been involved in some very creative events, and seen some great ones that really draw people normally not interested in attending church.
We've seen some recent examples in our own backyard of North Idaho. Sunday, June 24th Coeur d'Alene, ID hosted the internationally-known, olympic-distance triathalon called the IRONMAN. 2200+ athletes from all over the world came to compete and try to qualify for the famous IRONMAN in Hawaii later in the year.
Many volunteers and companies in this community are involved in making the event a success. We saw two local churches leverage this event in creative ways that serve as great examples for your church to consider as you think of reaching out. One church turned the fact that the race was on a Sunday into an opportunity rather than a challenge. What did they do? Their church was located on the bike race route, so they decided to invite the community to a FREE BBQ over lunch! Their street-side sign read "Come watch the Ironman with Us - Free BBQ - 10am - 2pm". Many churches in the community chose to complain about the race's timing...these folks chose to leverage it!
Another church used the event as a chance to serve by acting as one of the hosts for the Volunteer Appreciation dinner two days after the race. Announcements were made weeks beforehand inviting people from their church family to get involved in this "Conspiracy of Kindness" and be the feet and hands of Jesus in their community.
What events this summer can your church or men's ministry take advantage of? What are ways that your church can be a visible, loving, serving presence in your community that shows God's love in a tangible way? Or how can you leverage the momentum and attention of a particular event to create excitement and creatively reach the unchurched? Give it a try!
Read the other articles in this issue:
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