Sam Rainer of Church Answers has said, “Your church’s address is not an accident. God sovereignly placed your church in your location to reach the people around you.” With that in mind, we need to lead our students to serve the people around our churches, not just within them. There are several ways to do that. We can join other organizations in their efforts, such as crisis pregnancy centers, local food banks and community clean-up projects. While those are good, they may not minister to the community immediately surrounding your church. As youth pastors and leaders, we need to take a close look at our neighborhoods and engage our people in serving the community.
I have been a part of two churches that have endeavored to do that. While at Temple Baptist Church in Rogers, we initially provided a Bible walk, but then transitioned to a Trunk or Treat event. It blew up. We had so many people that we really didn’t know what to do with them. Our location was fantastic, and it was a wonderful way to show love to the community. When I moved to Calvary, the church already had a partnership with a community service organization called Potter’s House. They utilize our Family Life Center during the week for some of their ministry, but I knew we needed to do more. We now have a Fall Fun Fest that provides an opportunity for our people to show love toward our neighborhood, our ministry partners and our community in general.
Your church may or may not have any community events. If not, I would encourage you to make an effort to show your love toward your community. Your students and church will benefit from serving. Let me offer a few suggestions as you seek to serve those around your church:
• Make sure your service is valuable to the community. We often start with what we want to do rather than what is most valuable to our community. Of course, the whole world needs the gospel, but what are the felt needs of your neighborhood? And how do we meet those needs? These needs have shaped our Fall Fun Fest. We are sure to have plenty of food for our guests. Our neighborhood is full of food-insecure families. We learned that by talking with our partner ministries and understanding the elementary school close to the church. While there may be other things that might be fun for us, we know that this event holds value to our neighborhood. During the pandemic, we gave out breakfast bags to members of the neighborhood. While your neighborhood may not need food, there is something that will have significance to them. Do the research and find out what is most important to your community.
• Enlist your people. While every event needs a champion, only a team can make it happen. If you try to do things on your own, you will burn out and rob people of their opportunity to serve. In addition, you need your people to connect with whoever you are serving. A member of the congregation reaching out has a huge impact. Pastors and church leaders are expected to do that type of work. When laypeople jump in and do the work of ministry, it is seen by both those inside and outside the church.
• Communicate well concerning your event or ministry opportunity. There are two sides to this coin. One, you need to communicate with your congregation. Two, you should communicate with your community. That means sharing details through social media, email lists, worship bulletins and word of mouth. Communication is key. You may have to do an event more than once to generate the “word of mouth” in the community.
• Don’t expect to see your attendees or participants in church the next Sunday. Make sure you don’t have wrong expectations as you share with your community. Our job is to love the people around our church buildings. God has given us an address. That is our mission field. We want them to know Jesus, but first, they must know that they are loved. That may take months and even years, especially in some cases. Your church may not be known for actively loving on your neighborhood. Be patient and let God do His work in His time.
Serving your community through events and acts of service is vital. It is a way for us to show love to our neighborhoods. As those of us who have young people in our churches, our students need to see us serving and calling them to serve alongside.
We would love to hear how you are serving your community. Join the conversation at Facebook.com/groups/StudentMinistryMattersCommunity.
