Taking the ministry to the community

 So much of what we do in our churches focuses on the Sunday service. Pastors spend large amounts of time (hopefully) on preparing a biblically sound message that will last from 20-60 minutes. Choirs, praise bands, orchestras and worship leaders spend time practicing their performances for the worship service. Much time is spent in discussing how to get more people to attend the services. We focus so much time on that one or two hour worship service on Sunday morning that we have limited time to think about how to best serve our communities the remainder of the week.

Please don't misunderstand me... it's important to prepare our sermons and our worship services. That worship experience is important and deserves our best efforts. But, for too many churches, that is their primary focus. They spend far less time thinking about the majority of people in their communities who will not be in a worship service on Sunday, who seldom (if ever) think about God and the church. We are largely unaware of the challenges and difficulties, the pain and heartache, of those outside of the church and the family of God. We are told that a minimum of 80 percent of every county in the United States is unchurched so that means we are not ministering to the vast majority of our communities.

In the Scriptures we find Jesus spending time in the Temple, but we see Him spending far more time with the people in the communities He visited. He spent time with the outcasts of society addressing their needs. He offered a despised Samaritan woman "living water." He healed the blind, the lame, the leper. He brought healing to the demon possessed. He offered people hope as He invited them into the Kingdom of God.

Shouldn't the church today follow the example of the one who is the Head of the church? A meaningful worship service is a beautiful thing and is needed, but should we also not spend even more time ministering to those who may never step foot inside our church buildings? Our worship services should provide us with the opportunity to worship our wonderful God and savior, to learn how to apply the teachings of Scripture to our lives and to fellowship with like-minded individuals. But, it should also equip us to take ministry outside the four walls of our buildings into the community so that we can share the love and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ with all we encounter during the week.

Every church will do this in different ways. The church I currently serve just mailed out letters to everyone in our zip code inviting them to share their prayer needs with us. We set up a special email address they can use to do that which will go directly into my email account. They can remain anonymous if they wish, or if they share their contact information with me I will respond personally to them. Their prayer needs will remain confidential unless they ask that we make them available to the larger church body. This is just one way we can touch the lives of those in our community. As the pandemic restrictions begin to lift we will offer more opportunities to touch our community for God.

I encourage every church to explore ways you can take ministry into your community. Let us never assume that a well-designed worship service is all God asks of us.