Taking church out of the church

[truecrimelover]

Hi everyone ☺️
I was wondering what sort of outreach/community work your churches offer. I'm looking for ideas (and advice) on setting up some form of ministry (authorised) to reach those who may not necessarily come into a church, for whatever reason
Thanks in advance!

Reading your post, immediately Acts 13:1-3 sprang to my mind.

So I would advise taking some time out (preferably as a group with other like minded people in your church) to pray, fast and seek the Lord for His will in your particular situation.

Expect Him to direct your path. (Proverbs 3 v 5-6)

May you see many come to faith through the work He tells you to do. So encouraged to see that you are minded to reach out to those around you xx 🙏🏻

I think the best one I've seen is space after school once a week for secondary school kids to come and chill.
There's snacks and things like table tennis/pool etc for them to play. Gets about 100 kids who wouldn't normally come through the doors of a church.

That's amazing advice, thank you for taking time to comment its much appreciated.
I will definitely reflect on the verses you suggested. I feel called to 'urban evangelism' and understand that the 'regular church' isn't for everyone but Jesus definitely is! 🙏🏼 thank you again for your encouragement xx

This is something our diocese really suffers with, the figures are really low. Apart from the choir - there's only 2 teens that regularly attend ours 🥺 we are really close to a local high school and I wonder if we could maybe set something up in the local hall. Is there any worship (in whatever form that looks like!) involved or is it just providing a safe space for them?
Thank you so much for commenting xx

“I feel called to 'urban evangelism' and understand that the 'regular church' isn't for everyone but Jesus definitely is! “

This so resonates with me. I find that the Lord directs us to interactions outside “church” parameters in amazing ways if we are willing to wait on Him and listen to the leading of His Spirit.

I’m excited for you and would love to hear how you get on 🙏🏻 xx

It's literally just a safe space, deliberately no Christianity at all other than occasionally having fliers about events. There are a team who are there to chat, and sometimes that does lead further, but very much taken by the kids not the team.
Some of them start coming to other events which are Christian based, but I see it as much as building a positive relationship which hopefully will come back to them. When they're in their thirties and things are going wrong, they'll hopefully think "that church would have listened" and come back to their nearby church and want to know more.

I think that's where we would need to start for sure. Thank you again, it's definitely food for thought 🙏🏼 xx

Do you have a good sized parish room or hall to host people?

Toddler group is always a popular one, maybe look around to see what days other groups are on locally so you do a different day or time.

Could you host talks, a local author or charity so thar people know of you. I think often people just don't see a church is there! It's just another building to them.

If still relevant my church does alot based on hobbies/interests and job specific groups. So Christians meeting up with an interest in xx.

Although Ive always been a Christian I had a moment where I really struggled with church and these groups really helped me to connect back to church.

I also run a bunch of events - not Christian, but brining community together - and I have learned that there is alot of reasons people would gather - especially in the city where there is a lot of lonliness. So finding out what people in your area need or might want can be a good start also.