At the Wyaby Bibleway Church Outreach Ministry is about the people we’re serving, so we plan on interacting with them if possible. We stop to listen. Hear their stories. Make a friend. Offer a warm smile and words of encouragement. And do what they ask—sometimes even when it doesn’t make sense to us or it’s not what we planned, because It’s about them. We sometime may even allow them to help us. In fact, we believe it’s ideal if they will help us because they need the blessing of giving, too. And they know more about their neighborhoods and its needs and preferences than we do. So, we fold them into your service.
This leads us to our next point. It’s NOT about YOUR CHURCH, Wyaby Bibleway Church, it IS about JESUS. The local church is not the only enterprise planning activities and calling them outreach. Local Businesses give away ballpoint pens, and coffee shops distribute cup holders at trade shows and malls. But our church outreach project is not a public relations or marketing for our congregation. Businesses may call it outreach when they take a day and ask all employees to collect trash, or serve in soup kitchens, or plant flowers outside museums. But our outreach project is about more than doing good deeds.
- Our goal is to show the love of Jesus to folks who may not have encountered it before.
- Our goal is to show how followers of Jesus are not cult-like weirdos seeking new adherents but sold-out followers of the One who died for them.
- As we serve, remember to love; don’t try to sell. With that in mind, we may or may not choose to advertise our church’s name while we’re serving. Some churches have forbidden outreach workers to wear T-shirts with the church logo or to drive church vans painted with the church’s name. Others say it’s OK for a watching world to know that Jesus followers are serving where it’s needed most. In a culture that has turned its back on the church, it’s good for nonbelievers and those apathetic about Christianity to see Christians serving.
- Whatever your decision about attaching your church’s name to your project, check your motives.
- The love of Christ compels us to alleviate suffering, provide encouragement, fill empty stomachs, and facilitate healing—even if all that never brings one new person through our church doors. It’s NOT about QUICK CONVERSIONS
- It IS about PLANTING SEEDS our aim is to live out the love of Jesus and then trust the Holy Spirit to soften hearts and change perspectives of those who see us serve.
- We Trust God to use the church project as a link in the chain that eventually pulls them to Christ.
- It’s possible, of course, that we could meet someone who’s ready to hear the gospel and give their life to Christ on the spot. we ready for that, but don’t count on it or force it.
- Our mission is not to fan out into the community and assault folks who don’t know Jesus with promises of eternal damnation. We believe that today more than ever, that approach is more likely to alienate nonbelievers than to attract them.
- We believe the time for seeking commitment may come later and maybe we will make a friend we can see again.
- We pray the God may use our good will and hard work as one step that leads to nonbelievers’ conversion.
- Pray that while we’re serving, that God give us the grace to make sure nothing in our attitude or conversation conversation gets in the way of the work God wants to do in the hearts of those you’re serving.
- Jesus promised that lifting him up would draw people to him (John 12:32). So, we Lift him up and believe he will use our work to accomplish his will.
- We believe It’s NOT just about SERVICE It IS about MAKING DISCIPLES But while you’re thinking about all of that, remember this final word. The purpose of outreach is to make disciples of Jesus Christ.
- Some who see us serve will think differently about the church and be willing someday to take a second look at Jesus.
- Some who serve with you will discover new reasons and opportunities to seek him more diligently.
- Our project can open the door to relationships that will drive people deeper into Scripture and closer to those who live by it. That’s your goal. It’s the most important goal in the world. And we believe God will use you to make it happen right where you live today.
