As part of our 5 week road trip, we are collecting stories of evangelistic outreach ideas, and learning what some churches are doing successfully or not.
Meeting a Community Need
One community church had heard that a local city council banned people from walking their dogs in the local park.
If you owned a dog and wanted to take the dog for a walk, you were not allowed to legally take your dog for a walk in the city park.
The church took a different action.
Seeing the need in a community, they fenced in their front yard and set up a dog park for the community. Of course, some rules were in place to keep it clean and pet friendly. Benches were provided for people to sit on and visit while their dogs played.
Over the few years, this park has become a vital spot for the community to gather, even though the local council has changed it laws.
People have formed clubs around the type of dog: beagle club, poodle club etc.
Between 5-7pm, when the owners get home, the dog park is very busy with lots of community members gathering.
Sounds like a great outreach idea: it serves the need of the community, allows the church to be more visible.
Does the church connect?
This sounds like a great idea to help a church connect with it’s community, to build relationships with people in it.
- Perhaps the pastor can get a dog and join the club for that breed.
- Perhaps church members can get dogs and start visiting and connecting with people.
- The church can “do life” with the community, providing the grounds for great discussions about faith, for opportunities to invite people to church.
- The church can connect with its neighbors.
- Imagine having hundreds of people and their dogs on your church’s front yard each week.
From the second hand conversations I have had, it appears that people in this particular church do not visit the dog park in their front yard.
A few folks were asked if church members are connecting with people, and no one knew of any.
Perhaps the church is missing a great outreach opportunity that is meeting regularly in their front yard.
Let me ask you this?
Consider how the general public uses your building outside of worship service times: dog park, AA or NA meetings, day care, after school tutoring, etc.
- How are church members connecting with people already visiting your church on a regular basis outside of Sunday morning?
- Are church members inviting these people to your worship services?
- Are church members talking about their faith?
Coaching Call
Do you want to discuss your where your outreach to the community is stuck?
I offer a coaching call where I spend time on the phone with you or your committee, up to 90 minutes, where I help you trouble shoot and develop some action plans. I can help you review your systems through a step by step flow chart that I’ve developed. Read more about that outreach coaching here.
Should we single out First Time Visitors?
Good to “see” you Nancy and thanks for sharing.
Do you think that any families found their way to connect with the church because of this hosting?
If one could do it all over again, what additional steps do you think could taken where relationships could be built, or where the spiritual needs of families could be shared?
How could this event go beyond a public meeting space? This is where I think the church with the dog park overlooked. No intentional effort to build any geniune relationships with the users.
Chris.
Hi Chris,
Our church is determined to reach out to and be a real part of the community, and has always allowed community usage of the warehouse-style facilities, at no charge. For several years one of the local high schools used it as the site for their annual week-long Adv. Placement testing. There was plenty of parking for the students who drove themselves, and school buses always brought everyone else – plenty of room for the buses, as well. Church staff and volunteers even provided (free) pizza and drinks for the students between morning and afternoon tests. And of course there was never official prayer before testing began, but informed church members prayed for the students (off-site) throughout the week. Everyone seemed to appreciate it, and the testing atmosphere was relaxed and friendly compared to the regular classrooms with uncomfortable desks. Would you believe that after a few years the high school counseling staff who were responsible for set-up and clean-up (aided by church folks) decided it was too much trouble for them and moved the testing back to campus? Not sure what more the church could’ve done, but it was great while it lasted!
It is a great idea. The church has a natural community center.
The failure here is that nobody from the church has a dog, and nobody from the church connects with the groups that meets on its campus.
I hope that as you plan the vision for your church, that there are people in your church that would see this as a natural bridge building context.
Good to see you online again.
Chris.
WOW! I am currently in Dallas, TX helping my daugther while she recovers from surgery. This afternoon, while driving over to get a hamberger, we passed a dog park. I mentioned that I thought that would be a great idea for my new church in Dover, DE. We are blessed to have over 20 acres of land and I thought that it would be an excellent opportunity to reach out to the community by having a place for dog owners to come and meet. And, as I open my email, God has placed this message in front of me. Although I will be here for a couple of more weeks, my first mission when I get home is to start looking into what it will take to get a project like this started. Praise God!