Church Outreach to Neighbors Through Shared Community Space
Capital Area Christian Church outgrew its small building and moved to a 53-acre property with a clear desire to reach its neighbors. Over time, the church developed its campus into a community resource, including an accessible playground and multipurpose facility used by local groups. The article encourages churches to prayerfully study their own neighborhoods and take practical risks in outreach.
- Capital Area Christian Church used its property to create welcoming spaces for families and children with disabilities.
- The church’s multipurpose building serves community groups even when that use brings wear, tear, and inconvenience.
- Churches are encouraged to ask local questions, pray, partner wisely, and serve their neighbors with costly compassion.
by TJ George
Several years ago, the Christians at Capital Area Christian Church in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, worshiped in a very little building we had completely outgrown. We had used up every inch of life that building had to offer, and something had to be done.
Through a miraculous series of events, God dropped a 53-acre property into our laps selling for well below market price. Fifty-three acres, do you know big that is? Under the wise guidance of our eldership and after much prayer, we bought the property.
From the start, our leadership’s intention was to develop the property in a way that reached out to our neighbors. Our particular neighbors are middle-class and upper-middle-class folks, young families with young children. Homelessness and poverty are not front-burner concerns. Everyone is fairly well dressed and well fed. Although various ideas were thrown around, nobody knew with certainty what “reaching out to our community” would mean.
Eight years into the “new” building and campus, we have a much clearer picture. Let me share with you something of how it looks.
Adventure Zone Park
Our campus now has an enormous picnic pavilion and fully handicapped-accessible playground. It cost well over a half-million dollars and is the only facility in the area that welcomes children with disabilities to come and play. The poured rubber floors allow special needs children access to everything the other kids play on, and every piece of equipment was designed by them and with them in mind. The park will eventually include public bathrooms, accessible parking, softball fields, volleyball courts, and basketball facilities. Most of these projects are well underway. Also operational is a snow-tubing hill that is not for the faint of heart.
Not one dollar of this entire project was funded from church coffers. Every penny was donated by private citizens, local businesses, and local nonprofit organizations. And the entire community participated the week of the playground build. It rained every day except one, but people showed up in droves. This is an amazing story of God at work.
Our neighbors, many of whom would never have stepped onto church property, now let their children play here, in a safe place. As a staff, we sit in our offices and pray over these people. Who knows, one day some of these folks might actually attend a worship service! But even if they don’t, we have extended care and compassion to those God has placed around us.
The Main Building
Our leaders knew the new building could be a wonderful resource for our community, and that influenced the design of our main room, which looks very much like, well, a gym. Basketball lines are painted on the carpet. Other lines are for volleyball. There is an open ceiling and no pews, just chairs that must be set up and taken down every week. But that’s OK, because various community groups use our building virtually every single day.
And our building shows the wear and tear of their activities. Five different indoor softball organizations practice in our building three days a week during November, December, January, February, March, and sometimes April. And “softballs” aren’t soft. While not as hard as bowling balls, they can do some real damage when hurled by a 16-year-old athlete. A poorly thrown ball occasionally results in a small divot in the auditorium wall, but sometimes it leaves a hole.
We have volleyball teams in there too, and several body-sized holes in the walls have tested our buildings and grounds crew’s patience and creativity. (How do you “hide” a body-sized hole for Sunday morning when you don’t even know it’s there until Saturday night?)
The paint is always scuffed, and the carpet is always stained with coffee, juice, Gatorade, Nerds, or ground-in french fries (usually covered in ketchup, just to make it even trickier to clean up!). Believe it or not, not everyone easily accepts all this. Why do we allow it to happen?
We let it happen because we unwaveringly believe it is what God calls us to do. It’s messy. It comes with a price tag. And it’s wonderful.
TJ George serves as pastor of connection ministries with Capital Area Christian Church in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.
Does Your Church Want to Reach Out?
How does God expect you to reach out to your neighbors? It’s never a question of “if,” but rather, “how” God wants you to reach out. Start asking questions like these:
- What kind of people live in the community? Are they primarily young families with children? Retired? Single? Poor? Wealthy?
- What do the neighbors like to do? Are they outdoorsy? Is fitness “big”? Would fitness/hiking/walking trails appeal to people? Are they into theater and the arts?
- What community resources are there? Are certain nonprofit organizations willing to partner with the church to accomplish a goal? Will local businesses get on board?
Do your homework. If insurance/liability issues are part of the equation, get help from an expert. Don’t leave yourself open to unnecessary problems. Pray, pray, pray! God is eager to give you his answer, so don’t forget to ask. Put a plan together and find good people to make it happen. Be prepared to work harder and longer than you may have ever worked before.
Best of all, watch God work. Obedience to his call always results in blessings. Maybe not today or this week, but they will come. People will notice you really care about them, and God’s name will be honored. Take a risk with God. It’s worth the cost of some drywall and plaster.
—TJG
