We’ve all seen the yard signs that read “Be Kind.” The people of Greenwood Baptist Church wanted to live that message by consistently serving lost people in their community of Weatherford, Texas.
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THE CHURCH THE CHALLENGE ONE BIG IDEA |
“We had done some large-scale annual events, but we felt the pull from God to do something on a consistent basis,” says Austin Cooper, the church’s outreach and connection pastor. “We felt the Lord was leading us to the life and mission of Jesus.”
They read the Gospels and highlighted where Jesus interacted with people that were far away from God. They saw a clear rhythm that Jesus would meet people where they were (at wells, public markets, etc.) rather than ask them to come to him. Then when he met them, he served them in a practical way with no strings attached.
“We asked ourselves what Jesus would do if he were serving people here in the 21st century,” Cooper reflects.
They came up with 50 simple, intentional outreach ideas, such as holding $1 car washes with a twist. After washing the car, the volunteers would give the dollar back and tell the driver, “We’re giving you this dollar the way God gave us his Son.”
Then the volunteer would ask if they could say a short prayer for the person in the car.
“I’d say 90% of the time, it’s a yes,” notes Cooper.
The church also has distributed free Dr Peppers at red lights, raked leaves, and given out free snow cones and doughnuts. They even threw a birthday party for a dementia unit at a local care home.
The church typically has anywhere from 30 to 60 people participate in what they call “low-risk, high-grace” outreaches. They purposefully lower what they ask their people to do so that anyone—introverts, kids, the elderly—can be involved.
“We don’t force people to be trained in evangelism because when we did try [evangelism training], only about 5% of the church showed up,” Cooper explains. “Now more people get involved with outreach, and God grows them from there.”
Other churches have approached Greenwood Baptist wanting to replicate a similar outward-focused ministry. So far they have trained 500 other churches in doing kindness outreaches.
“God is a sending God by nature,” says Cooper. “Once people get outside the four walls of the church and start serving people, they get flooded with ideas of how God wants to use them in an outward-focused context.”