Articles for tag: Community Outreach

September 4, 2019

Christian Standard

Small Tennessee Church Oversees Big Laundry Ministry

By Jim Nieman A women’s group at a church of about 35 in Rogersville, Tenn., started a ministry in 2016 that has grown like, well . . . a pile of laundry. The Rogersville Laundry Ministry began as a once-a-month outreach to people at a local laundromat and has developed into a weekly endeavor that relies on dozens of volunteers from several churches to serve hundreds of people at two laundromats. “Our church’s mission is ‘Loving People to Jesus,’” said Dawnel Newhouse of First Christian Church of Rogersville. “Basically, it’s what we’re trying to do” with the laundry ministry. But

August 22, 2019

Christian Standard

SPOTLIGHT: Creekside Community Church, Hot Springs, Ark.

By Melissa Wuske “The community knows who we are,” said Mark Maybrey, lead minister of Creekside Community Church, Hot Springs, Arkansas. “From day one, all of us in our core group of 18 people have had a missional heart for the community.” Starting with those 18 people in 2015, the church now averages about 90 each Sunday. The key in this busy resort town is meeting people where they are. When Maybrey moved to Hot Springs, people told him, “There’s always something to do. Your kids are going to love it.” But nothing prepared him for the shock that first

August 21, 2019

Christian Standard

Kansas Church Plans ‘Major Evangelistic Event’ at City Park

By Jim Nieman With school resuming and families settling back into a routine, South Rock Christian Church has planned an outdoor community worship service at a city park through which it hopes to reach hundreds of unchurched people. This Sunday’s event, dubbed South Rock ONE, “is all about reaching people who don’t know Christ and/or don’t have a church,” said Rick Wheeler, lead pastor with SRCC, located in Derby, Kan., a few miles south of Wichita. The church averages about 1,300 in weekly attendance. “We’ve done outreach events off-site, but never a worship service,” Wheeler said. “We sent a letter

August 12, 2019

Christian Standard

California Church Sees a Steady Rise

(We shined a “Spotlight” on four large and medium churches of note in our August print issue. Here’s a bonus article about Rise City Church of Lakeside, Calif., the second-fastest-growing large church [average weekly attendance of 500 to 999] in our most recent survey.) By Chris Moon Rise City Church of Lakeside, Calif., is showing she was aptly named. The church has seen a strong, steady rise in attendance since being planted six years ago. Attendance at Rise City grew by 31.8 percent in 2018. It averaged 837 people each Sunday, making it the second-fastest-growing church in Christian Standard’s list

August 7, 2019

Christian Standard

Church Shows Ongoing Love for Seniors at Mobile Home Park

By Jim Nieman For at least a decade, a California church has been investing in the lives of a group of folks that many tend to overlook. The Christian Church of Thousand Oaks’ ministry to senior residents of the Ranch Mobile Home Park started as an outgrowth of a local “Action” day when Christians are encouraged to get out and serve their neighbors and communities. CCTO started by working on the grounds at a local mobile home park managed by a church member. The manager later recommended the church focus efforts at Ranch, an affiliated, but smaller, mobile home park

July 22, 2019

Christian Standard

‘You Can’t Do Better Than That’ (Inner City Church of Christ, Baltimore)

By Melissa Wuske “We were in heaven. You couldn’t tell us we weren’t in heaven.” That’s how Eric Lorick recalls the early days of Inner City Church of Christ in Baltimore, which started in January 2014. On Sundays the church would set up for worship—and then tear down—in a rented space in a community center. “[Such] work brings us together as a church family,” he said. From those earliest days, his vision was “to make a difference, to bring hope to the hopeless. . . . You can’t do better than that in a city like Baltimore.” That vision is

June 22, 2019

Christian Standard

SPOTLIGHT: Jessamine Christian Church, Nicholasville, Kentucky

Baptism Is Only the Beginning By Kelly Carr Kentucky native Lee Faust stepped into a beautiful ministry this year. He heard that Jessamine Christian Church would need a new lead pastor when Wally Rendel retired, and when he visited JCC, he discovered a body of believers filled with history and maturity who wanted to reach out, disciple new believers, and draw people into deeper relationships. That lined up perfectly with Faust’s passions and experience. He started with the church in March. “My 2019 goal has been to learn the heart of the people and let all ages know I am

May 21, 2019

Christian Standard

Rusaw Takes on New Challenge

Pastor steps down after 28 year at Longmont, Colorado, church to lead Spire By Chris Moon “I’m not a hugger,” Rick Rusaw told Christian Standard as he was preparing for his last weekend as pastor with LifeBridge Christian Church in Longmont, Colo., “but I’ve been giving out a lifetime’s worth of hugs this week.” Rusaw stepped down Sunday from his 28-year run at LifeBridge and now is focusing his efforts as CEO of Spire Network, the successor organization to the North American Christian Convention. Rusaw started at the church in 1991 after a stint as executive vice president at Cincinnati

April 3, 2019

Christian Standard

‘We’re Not Going to Lose You, Brother!’

Redemption Christian Church in Jasper, Ind., played a crucial role in setting a young man on a path toward Christ—and toward a productive ministry to people in need called L4G (Living for God). “Our mission statement is trust God, be humble and show love,” Mo Peraza told the DuBois County Free Press. Peraza was born in El Salvador and grew up in South Central Los Angeles before moving to small-town Indiana. As a teen, he started selling drugs, which was the “beginning of a downward struggle.” He hung out with the wrong crowd, bounced from job to job, was arrested

March 25, 2019

Christian Standard

SPOTLIGHT: Manchester Christian Church, Manchester, New Hampshire

A Decentralized Approach to Church Growth By Steve Carr The church must look different tomorrow than it does today. This is the conviction of Bo Chancey, lead minister of Manchester Christian Church in New England. It is a fascinating observation, considering Manchester Christian, which now averages about 4,000 weekly, is already the largest Protestant church in New Hampshire, the second most dechurched region in America. Still, the church’s strategy relies upon continual risk-taking and nontraditional approaches to growth. Change is an essential part of Manchester Christian’s DNA. “Churches always change, because the church is people, and people are constantly changing,”

March 25, 2019

Christian Standard

SPOTLIGHT: Southeast Christian Church, Louisville, Kentucky

Reaching Out to the Community and the World By Andy Rector In 2018, Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, experienced gains in many ways. “It truly was a year of growth,” said Dave Stone, senior pastor. Growth occurred in evangelism: “The majority of people who were baptized in 2018 were baptized by the person who led them to the Lord,” Stone said. Growth occurred with the facilities: Construction began on the Chapel in the Woods, only a quarter mile from the main campus. The chapel is designed for weddings, funerals, and worship. There also was numeric growth: “Our attendance grew more

February 27, 2019

Christian Standard

Neighborhood Church: Creating Connection

By Mel McGowan Forty years ago, Christian residents in a Visalia, California, neighborhood took notice of the children who cut through their yards on the way to meet up with friends. What caught their neighbors’ attention wasn’t the children’s chosen route, it was their shockingly foul language. That got the neighborhood folks thinking: These kids should be having innocent fun, yet they are swearing like sailors. Maybe these potty-mouthed children need connection. And what better way to connect with kids than to bake cupcakes for them? Soon, the children’s parents began coming around. The neighborhood cupcake outreach eventually transformed into

November 28, 2018

Christian Standard

River Valley to Merge with Southeast (Plus News Briefs)

River Valley Christian Church, Goshen, Ky., has approved a merger with Southeast Christian Church, Louisville. Leaders from River Valley approached Southeast a few months ago and discussions led to the agreement to merge, pending Sunday’s approval by RVCC’s congregation. “We’re grateful that River Valley and Southeast are like-minded churches who have similar missions, and who are unified under the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Eph. 4:13),” SECC pastors Dave Stone and Kyle Idleman wrote in an email. “Join us as we praise God for this unique opportunity to continue to build His church as we share the hope and love of

November 13, 2018

Christian Standard

Mix, Weigh, Seal, Ship: Packing Meals and Sharing Jesus’ Love

Lifeline Christian Mission partners with churches, schools, and others to provide the supplies—and opportunities—to serve people locally and globally through food-packing events.   By Ben Simms Mix. Weigh. Seal. Ship. These four simple steps involve several generations, as participants gather to package shelf-stable meals for the hungry. A meal-packing event is one of the easiest and most popular ways to engage a group of people, whether large or small, in a service project together. The fun begins as you bring your group together, whether it’s your church, school, or employees. You host the meal-packing event at your location across the

October 2, 2018

Christian Standard

Blessing a Barn Quilt

By Benjamin Stroup The smell of cow was new for me. I grew up in a city, and life is altogether different here in Maysville, Kentucky (population: 10,000 people, 40,000 cows). As a child, on those rare occasions when we would drive by cows, everyone in the car would throw back their heads and “mooooo.” Now cows live in the field across from my house. It’s definitely not Cincinnati! Many days, the essence of cow manure wafts across the road and regales us. It’s not the sound of cows (or humans) mooing that’s unbearable . . . except for those

September 21, 2018

Jim Estep

Change

E2: Effective Elders Blog Editor’s Note: Each Friday we publish a new blog post from our partners in ministry, E2: Effective Elders. We publish it here simultaneous to E2’s posting on their site. The leaders of E2 write an article for our print and online magazine every month as well. Those articles are full of wisdom and practical help for elders. Please check them out! _____ By Jim Estep Putting it simply: Change is hard. We try to change our diet, exercise more, adapt to new technology, change our routines . . . but it’s hard to take the risk of

July 30, 2018

Christian Standard

BikeMasters Ministry Takes Show on Road in California

By Jim Nieman Volunteers from CrossCity Christian Church, Fresno, Calif., started repairing bikes as a small part of a big ministry event about 15 years ago, but it wasn’t until three years ago that the church began throwing significant financial resources behind the bike-repair effort and made it a full-fledged ministry. BikeMasters now repairs bikes at about 10 events a year, focusing its efforts and peddling good feelings mainly in poorer neighborhoods. “It’s taken on a life of its own,” says Jim Corrao, CrossCity’s chief financial officer and missions pastor for the past five years (and, before that, executive pastor

May 6, 2018

Christian Standard

SPOTLIGHT: Sunbury (Ohio) Christian Church

Church changes its DNA through service projects and grows, with room to expand.   By Darrel Rowland Ten years ago, Sunbury Christian Church spent $500,000 to buy 11 acres at the edge of a village in central Ohio. The church knew its old facility less than two miles away was inadequate, despite renovations that added a gym and got rid of the 1960s-era green paisley carpet. Still, half-a-million dollars for a congregation of about 300 as the Great Recession struck? “We swallowed real hard,” remembers senior minister Mike Bratten. “The need outweighed the fear.” The parcel wasn’t just randomly selected.

April 18, 2018

Christian Standard

SPOTLIGHT: Crossroads Christian Church, Macon, Missouri

“We’re not a traditional country church. . . . We choose uncomfortable instead of traditions.”   By TR Robertson When Matt Stieger was hired in 2008 as lead minister of Crossroads Christian Church (a church formed in 1972 in Macon, Missouri, a town of 5,400), the average attendance was 200. Ten years later, as the church entered 2018, Crossroads was averaging around 550 each Sunday morning. ​ “We decided we were going to offer a different idea of what church is,” Stieger said. “We’re not a traditional country church. We choose joy and celebration. We choose new instead of what is old. We

March 23, 2018

Christian Standard

How to Maximize High-Attendance Weekends (and Minimize ‘One-Hit Wonders’)

By David Dummitt Easter is the best-attended weekend of church services, with Christmas being a close second. How can we strategically maximize our opportunity to connect with people during these weekends in ways that make first-time guests want to come back? The old adage says you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. But you can create environments and opportunities that sweeten the water. When planning big-attendance weekends, we must think critically and creatively about how we can create exceptional environments and opportunities to which people will want to return.   ‘Surprise and Delight’ For

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