Reaching beyond the walls of the traditional church to become a compassionate congregation is the hallmark of our faith. In Acts, the early church "shared all things in common" which caused those looking from the outside to be "in awe of them." John Wesley started a reading program for urban poor children living in London. They worked six days in the mines so he taught and tutored them on Sunday. Thus, we now have “Sunday School”. Jesus had his own after-school tutoring program. It was called “Fishers of Men” He invited a bunch of poor, uneducated, smelly guys to join him for teaching lessons and discipleship down by the seashore.

So, if your church wants to reach “down, out, and beyond” here’s a few tips and things to think about before you open your doors and get out of the pews.

·      Start from the same page. Make sure everyone is on board to reach out to your community with Christ’s love and compassion. We call this “agenda harmony”. If not, trouble will stew and brew. On my first Sunday in the City, I tried to invite folks we had helped all week but the long-time pastor said, “We don’t want those kind coming in”

·      Form a “Compassionate Ministry Council” to begin to scope out what needs in you area that aren’t being met. I visited with other churches to find out no one had a food pantry open on Wednesday so that’s the day we covered.

·      Start Simple – No need to reinvent the wheel. See what others are doing, find out what works best and then take baby steps to get started. It doesn’t have to be flashy or expensive. Check out www.cityconnexx.org.

·      Recruit volunteers and community folks to help dream, design, and serve. Your best supporters and potential donors will come from this group. Don’t be afraid to ask folks outside the church to join you. They will open new doors and contacts you don’t have.

·      Build on your Strengths – do what you do best. If you have the gifts of hospitality and cooking, start with a Thanksgiving or Christmas outreach. Shepherd Community started as a Thanksgiving meal. When we saw the great response we hosted a Children’s Christmas Party the next month and were overwhelmed. From there we knew we couldn’t stop and Shepherd has been serving meals, clothing, compassion, tutoring, teaching, and much more since 1985. They have over 40 staff now with a $3 million budget and three congregations with tremendous impact on their city.

·      Use what you have – If you’ve got a gym open it up to the community for recreation programs. If you’ve got classrooms, start a reading, tutoring program. If you have a kitchen, offer breakfast for children going to school.

·      Start a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization to begin collecting outside donations, grants, funding to increase your programs and staff. Local agencies should be able to help you get started. We offer a two-day seminar called “Building Your Boat & Keeping It Afloat” to help you in this process as well as proven fundraising and organizational management workshops and manuals. If you would like to host one, the registration is free and every ministry that attends gets a $300 grant from International Bible Society. 

·      Seek out key leaders to serve as a Board of Directors. The best ministries have great Boards. Be open to bring on key committed leaders from outside your church. We offer everal workshops on Board Development in our seminar. This is a critical piece. Bad boards will kill your dreams. Great board will make sure they grow and prosper.

·      Bring Your team on an Urban Missions Trip – before you get your feet wet, see what others are doing. We have short-term missions trips through www.CityConnexx.org so you can experience best practices.

·      Last but never least – PRAY, PRAY, PRAY. If God has given you a great vision, it must be backed up with great pray. Start an intercessory prayer team today and see where God leads you. It will be the ride of your life. It has been for me, my wife, and our family.