Articles for tag: Church Outreach

Greenview Christian Church Celebrates 150 Years (Plus News Briefs)

Compiled by Chris Moon and Jim Nieman Greenview (Ill.) Christian Church celebrated its 150th anniversary over the weekend. A special service Sunday included visits from previous ministers and then a luncheon. On Saturday, there was a joint service with nearby Sweetwater Christian Church, which started GCC in 1869. The service featured hymns from 150 years ago and a presentation on the history of both congregations. GCC senior minister Andy Nichols told The Courier, “There’s a reason that roughly half of the members have been almost lifelong members. [It’s] because they feel like they are part of a family once they are part of the church.” _ _ _ News

February 22, 2018

Michael C. Mack

The Wrong Number

By Michael C. Mack My life started changing while I was preparing for Christmas in 1987. While I was decorating my apartment, trimming my tree, and wrapping presents to celebrate Jesus’ coming into the world, I realized· he wasn’t really in my world. About that time, I took a class on stress and time management. We were to prioritize our “guiding values,’’ those things in our lives—like job security, financial success, good friends, and faith—that are most important to us. I learned that my leading values were faith and creativity, both of which had little to do with my job

May Ministry Ideas

By Michael C. Mack National Day of Prayer””May 5: Consider visiting local businesses and government officials to ask how you may pray for them. Gather people on that day to ask God”™s blessings on your community. The National Day of Prayer, observed annually on the first Thursday of May in the United States, invites people of all faiths to pray for the nation. It was created in 1952 by a joint resolution of Congress, and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman. Mother”™s Day””May 8: Churches typically focus their Mother”™s Day observance on moms and their families who attend

Reaching Out to Single Moms

By Michael C. Mack Studies show more than a quarter of American adults are divorced or raising children alone. Yet surveys indicate only 5 percent of single parents attend church regularly. What can the church do to reach single moms? One congregation has thrown baby showers for single moms-to-be. The goal is to show love to someone struggling and unsure of God”s love in a difficult time. Women from the church cook, plan games, and act as hosts at the event. The Single Moms Ministry at McCook (Nebraska) Christian Church started a new Bible study group and handed out fliers

Blitz Your Community

By Michael C. Mack In May, Northeast Christian Church, Louisville, Kentucky, canceled weekend church services, opting instead to serve an urban community of the city where the church has a campus. Nearly 2,000 church members rode buses to Clifton, where they were mobilized for more than 4,000 hours of service. How does a church plan a serving event of this scale? Randy Gordon, “Go and Do” minister at Northeast, suggested that church leaders “establish points of contact in the community to identify the legitimate needs.” Northeast staff and volunteers visited schools, businesses, government leaders, community ministries, and a bar owner

January 14, 2014

Mark A. Taylor

Not Hiding, but Seeking

By Mark A. Taylor If you follow contributing editor Jennifer Johnson”s blog, then you”ve probably already enjoyed a chuckle from a link she posted there last week. If not, go now to “21 Brilliant Little Children Who Have Absolutely Mastered the Game of Hide and Seek,” and then please come back. The delight of the pictures is the tendency of toddlers to think they”re hidden if they cover their heads. There they are under the bedspread or behind a sofa cushion or wearing a lampshade, with feet or hands and arms all sticking out in plain sight. But they can”t

Church Outreach Extends to Self-Service Laundries

By Jennifer Taylor Once a month, volunteers from Crossroads Christian Church (Lexington, KY) serve others. But instead of washing feet, they”re washing clothes. Brent Barger, outward focus lead pastor at the church, started Crossroads” “Laundry Love” outreach after successfully implementing it at a church plant in northern Ohio. “It”s simple,” he says. “We visit a local self-service laundry on a Saturday morning and do people”s laundry for free.” Each volunteer has a specific assignment, from welcoming customers to keeping track of each person”s laundry to roaming the room with rolls of quarters. They don”t load laundry into the machines””most of

Barnabas Day

By Tyler Edwards It”s no secret in the world of restaurant employees that Sunday morning is the worst shift. The problem is not missing church, it”s serving the people who went to church. Sunday morning consistently boasts the rudest, most demanding, least patient, and cheapest people.1 I once heard a waiter say, “When I work Sundays and I see a group bow their heads to pray, I know I can kiss my tip good-bye.” Having been a server for five years, I can say these critics have a point. I”m embarrassed that we, “the church crowd,” have earned this reputation.

December 18, 2011

Christian Standard

One Holiday, So Many Ways to Celebrate

By Linda Mirante What about Christmas? Do we embrace it, ignore it, celebrate it, or protest against it? There are as many opinions as there are people. Just ask them. I think of Christmas as a season rather than a day. A season with the opportunity to share and show Christ to the world. A season of celebrating the birth of Jesus””who would bring us the gifts of peace, hope, joy, forgiveness, and redemption. A season filled with wonderment and anticipation. A season of love. The Christmas story as recorded in Luke 2 has been told through the years via

We Call It Kids Camp

By Dave Smith “I like you Mr. Dave.” I looked down at 6-year-old Max, son of Polish parents, and one of the children at Northshore Christian Church”s Kids” Camp, and replied, “I like you too, Max.” And after a week of shepherding some 15 second-graders, I decided I also liked kids” camp. Many of our new churches throughout the Northeast have a summer kid”s camp. In other places, we call them Vacation Bible Schools. This year I spent a week helping Northshore with its fifth kids” camp. Northshore Christian Church began in the fall of 2005 in Riverhead, New York,

They”re Putting Holes in Our Walls!

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

Doing Good”“an Earmark of Our Times?

By Mark A. Taylor Could it be that cultural and sociological trends are supporting and energizing the church”s “external focus” that we seem to be seeing everywhere? Our weekly e-newsletter and semiweekly “Buzz” column are filled with stories of churches reaching out to their communities. Youth groups and seniors ministries and whole congregations are organizing themselves to feed the hungry, erect Habit for Humanity homes, tutor in the public schools, build playgrounds in urban parks, and serve in dozens of other ways. Last year”s National Missionary Convention rode this wave with its challenge to “Get Your Hands Dirty.” And we

Military Support Group

A Call to Action

Since spring 2003, Connection Pointe Christian Church’s Military Support Group has sent care packages, cards, and encouragement to American military personnel. Volunteers meet for planning and prayer while helping families waiting at home.

lobby test

The Lobby Test

Vince Antonucci’s “lobby test” reveals whether churches are reaching people who have never attended church before. His challenge invites congregations to see themselves through outsiders’ eyes and pursue Jesus’ mission to seek and save the lost.

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