Getting in your zone

       My best friend Steven and I chat almost every evening. Sometimes we talk about things we agree on, sometimes we totally disagree. Recently, we got on a topic we agreed on. The church, more specifically, what it is for and what it should do to reach people.

      One way to start, is by being a friendly church. I've been in churches where I felt very welcome, and been in some where I didn't feel welcome at all. I've heard people say my church is friendly, and have known of people to say it wasn't and even quit attending because they didn't think it was friendly enough. I personally think we are in the middle. We could do much better, but we could do much worse too.

     Steven recently attended church with his cousin and her husband, also friends of mine: Cindy & Russell. He was impressed with the outreach they do, and how friendly the church is. The church has several "zones". The zones are different seating sections in the church. If you are in zone #1, for example, and it is your turn to be in the rotation or whatever they call it, you are responsible to make any visitors in your "zone" feel welcome. Speak to them, say you're glad they are there, etc. I think its a great idea.

   Another church has so many loaves of bread, I think like banana breads, etc, baked for each Sunday and sends one home with visitors.

   My church has pens with the church name on it and visitor cards to fill out which are given to first time visitors. I assume the pastor follows up on the visitor at some point.

   There are some people from my church who go calling every Saturday for children's church - we have 2 buses that picks up kids, and occasionally adults, to bring to church. Every year, we have a vacation Bible school which is another outreach method.

   But are we doing enough? And I don't mean just my church, all of us. And should we just associate outreach with the church and never do it on our own?

    I am definitely including myself in this. I fall way too short myself, but I feel most Christians in general are failing at what God wants most from us as a church and individuals. We almost have a checklist Christianity. What's that?
     1) Read my Bible: check
     2) Prayed: check
     3) went to Sunday School: check
     4) went to the a.m. worship service: check

   And so forth. We focus on what we feel we need to do to please God and to look good to our other Christians..... sound harsh? Maybe so, but I am personally sick of doing things to please other people. I wonder how many of us go to certain church services, go to special revival services, etc, because we fear what people will think if we skip out? How many of us have things we don't do, clothes we don't wear, places we don't go, because we fear what other people at church will think of us?

   Maybe I'm the only one who has erred in this area, but I have. I won't go into details, but I've been guilty of working at pleasing people more than God. It sounds bad to say that, but that is exactly what has happened. That is one reason I don't like to pray around people, i.e. in church, because I try to use the right words, voice inflection, etc..... it is almost like I am praying to the people around me, instead of to God. I'm not, but why is it so hard for me to just set people aside and focus on God?

   Back to my subject: I like the zone idea, but in one way, its sad. And no, I am not criticizing it. I just said I liked it, see previous comment :-) - what is sad, is that people don't just do that on their own. Sad that visitors aren't jumped on, so to speak, by whoever they are sitting near.

   And if you think about it, we all have our own zones, in the church, and out of the church. There are people we rub elbows with daily, weekly, and sometimes just once. I'm not saying we need to witness to every person we meet, but we need to be reaching out somehow, loving people, even if its a smile and a "hello". Christians should be the friendliest people on earth, but some of the most stuck up people I know claim to be Christians. And what a sad and pathetic thing that is: a stuck up, and unfriendly Christian. Is it no wonder so many people have an unflattering opinion of Christians?

  There are countless ways to reach people, to show them you care. To reference my best friend again, he was saying how often he has seen people sitting in a coffee shop, McDonalds, etc, studying/reading their Bible. He made the point that even that could be a way to reach people. If you're doing that, and look and act approachable, someone might come to you, if they need help or are interested in Christianity...... but are we approachable? Do we really come across as people who love God and love people who cross our paths? Or do we come across as unfriendly. busy, unapproachable?

   I truly think most of us are missing it. We have our checklist that we are faithful to, and compared to everyone else in the church, we look pretty good. But are we? Most of us are so busy that we don't have time to reach out to people. When we are at church, we have our cliques and have to fellowship and talk to the same people we always talk to after church. We don't want to take the time to speak to a visitor and make them feel welcome, or even to someone outside of our clique to ask how they are doing. We are busy, self absorbed, and make excuses why we don't do more.

   I read the book Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala a few years back. It is a fascinating book, and if you have never read it, you should. Cymbala pastors the Brooklyn Tabernacle church, and tells how they got started. They had just a few people attending, and started focusing on prayer meetings. The church started to grow. They stayed focused on prayer - to this day, I believe they have people praying in the basement for the service while it is going on - and started focusing on reaching people. They weren't afraid to get their hands dirty. They even went after the male prostitutes in their area. They got them into church, and got them saved. They had to go so far as to teach some of these guys how to walk and act like a man....... can you imagine being that dedicated to reaching people for Christ? I've heard people in my church make derogatory statements about gay people. "They should all be hung", "I wouldn't want those perverts around me or my kids", "I'd rather have a murderer or rapist around my kids than one of THEM." I know all of the people in my church don't feel that way, but how many people in my church, in your church, would be willing to go as far as the Brooklyn Tabernacle people have gone?

   This Jesus who we serve and claim to want to be like...... I know what He would do. He'd be out there trying to reach the worst of society: the prostitute, the drunkard, the drug addict, the gay people..... even the child molester.

   God isn't impressed with how many chapters we read a day in our Bible, by how much we put in the offering, of how good we look sitting in our church pew...... if God can be impressed, He is impressed when we do what He does best: love people, and reach out to them for Him, to bring them to Him. It doesn't have to be outright witnessing. Just being kind, loving, and helping people will draw them to Jesus. But do we want to use our time? Do we want to get our hands dirty? If we want to be the church and people God wants us to be, we may have to do that. We definitely have to love people, even the people committing what we consider to be the worst of sins.

    There are people who do their part, and more than their part, but I'm afraid the majority of Christians are like me. We don't do enough, if anything to reach out to people. And if not, we should be ashamed of ourselves and seek to change. Seek to reach out to people in the zone we are in.

   As I was typing this blog, I saw a facebook post from  churchleaders.com about outreach. It is titled 17 Summer Outreach Tips. So if you need an idea, here are some:

Intentional interim pastors usually find themselves called to serve inward-focused churches. This is typically true because we are called to churches that have been through a period of protracted turmoil, because the senior leadership has lost mission and vision, or because other serious problems (e.g., declining income) have drawn the church’s attention in on itself. The interim pastor’s job is to turn this around, but that can be a tall order.
You can stimulate personal evangelism — or at the very least raise awareness of the need — by weaving these 17 easy-to-implement ideas into your preaching and teaching: (by Bud Brown)

1. Map the neighbors. In church one Sunday, ask the congregation to sketch maps of their immediate neighbors (those on either side and the three houses across the street). If the family in a house is Christian, mark it “C,” if they are not mark it “NC,” and if you don’t know mark it “NS.” Then challenge them to connect with the “NC” and “NS.”

2. Pray when you pass a cult meeting place. Urge the congregation to pay attention to the Kingdom Halls and Mormon Stakes on their regular commute, and then to say a quick prayer that the people therein would hear and believe the gospel.

3. Team with another couple for a summer neighborhood Bible study. Have the congregation team up to invite neighbors to a six-week dinner and “investigation” about the evidence for the reliability of the Christian message. Be sure to recommend a resource they can use!

4. Throw a “Know Your Neighbors” BBQ. Most folks in the congregation won’t really know their neighbors. If each family in your church will host a “Know Your Neighbors BBQ” on a Sunday afternoon, a lot of connections will be made. At each gathering, each family or neighbor will give a very short “story” about who they are. Include a short testimony of faith, but keep it low key.

5. Host a "garage giveaway." Have three or four families from the church team up to have a garage sale. But instead of selling the items, give them away along with a Gospel of John book or a gospel tract.

6. Plan a backyard VBS. Move vacation Bible study out of the church campus. Stage it in various homes around the community. That way your church members will learn which families are concerned for their children’s welfare and can offer additional service and invitation directly to them.

7. Have a B.Y.O.S. cookout for the co-workers. The folks that work in office settings or in the trades can invite their colleagues to a “bring your own steak” party. The host provides the grill, charcoal, all the rest of the dinner and drink items, and the tableware. The visitors each bring their own item for the grill. (Anything that involves meat and fire is usually of interest to the male of the species.)

8. Get pizza delivered for the construction crew down the street. If your parishioners live in developing subdivisions, they can bless the construction crews by having fresh pizza delivered to them at lunch time.

9. Target the new neighbors. Ask the members to keep their eyes open for houses under construction and for moving vans. On move-in day, they can introduce themselves with a list of schools, churches and shopping in the area, along with contact information for the police and emergency services. Be sure to throw a brochure from the church in the mix!

10. Use your smartphone to make a video of neighbors around the church. Most smartphones make reasonable quality videos. Walk the streets around the church and film the area. If someone is out and about, do a “man on the street” interview (ask, “What are some of the needs people living in this area have?”). Then show it in church.

11. Invite a school principal to speak about the needs of children and families. Chances are, your church is near a school. Invite the principal or a teacher to address the congregation about needs of children and families in that school. Afterwards, lead a discussion about how the church can marshal its resources to address some of those needs.

12. Tell stories about people in the church who have done outreach. Your church almost certainly has someone who is passionate about evangelism and outreach. When you get wind of someone having engaged in an outreach activity, be sure to mention it and praise that person in the main worship service. Remember, whatever gets rewarded gets repeated!

13. Mention personal evangelism in every sermon. If you are doing personal evangelism, be sure to mention it. But be careful how you phrase this to make sure that the report isn’t about you. And only mention your own activities sparingly.

14. Ask the mayor or a town councilman to speak to the congregation. Have him or her address those areas of the community where the “lowest and the least” dwell, the problems faced by families, projected areas of growth, and how your church might speak to the community with needs.

15. Share flowers or fresh produce from your garden with the neighbors. This is a perfect excuse to meet the neighbors whom you haven’t spoken to in five years. “I just got this from my garden and I’m hoping you can use it. We have more than enough for ourselves.” Who knows where that introduction will lead?

16. Volunteer your services. While you’re washing your car, mowing the lawn or raking leaves, offer to do it for your neighbor.

17. Observe when neighbors are outside and what they do, then make it a point to do the same. If your neighborhood is full of dog walkers, buy a dog and walk it at the same time as most other folks. If your neighborhood is crawling with joggers or cyclists, join right in. Opportunities to share a bit of the gospel will present themselves naturally as you cultivate budding relationships.