As your church plans your calendar for the coming year, why not give these winter Christian outreach ideas a try.
Build Unity During Lent
Many churches observe Lent, the liturgical season leading up to Easter. Lent comprises 40 days before Easter, starting on Ash Wednesday and ending on Holy Thursday, excluding Sundays. As an intentional period on the church calendar, observers often fast from a specific thing while also creating space for something meaningful.
Especially in these polarized times, encourage your church to use the season of Lent to give up what they do that sows discord and instead build unity. Consider these practical ideas:
• Invite separate church ministries to join together for events and service opportunities. For example, the youth group and the older adults’ ministry could gather for a game night. Or, a small group can join the facilities team to clean up around the church.
• Encourage individuals in your church to reach out to and reconcile with a loved one with whom they’ve had a falling out.
• Plan a prayer event for people of all ages to pray for your community, the government and the future of your church body.
Recruit Easter Dinner Hosts
Easter weekend consistently sees some of the largest attendance numbers of the year in the local church. Statistics show that when visitors make a connection they’re more likely to return, so consider ways to connect those who may not have anyone to share a meal with after the service with those who have extra seats.
Begin two months before by recruiting Easter dinner hosts through your regular communication channels. Empty nesters, retirees or those who have a knack for hospitality might love to add a few more people at their table that day. Collect the names of those who respond positively and find out how many seats they have available—especially for a last-minute RSVP Easter morning.
As the holiday approaches, let your congregation know that there are people waiting to extend an Easter dinner invitation. Provide a way for those looking for a place to have Easter dinner to sign up. On Easter morning, let the congregation (and all the guests) know about this plan, and have contact information online to connect visitors with hosts.
After Easter, have a debrief with the hosts to find out how things went. A couple of weeks later, you can keep the meaningful experience going by inviting hosts to check in on those they invited to Easter dinner.
Winter Christian Outreach Ideas
Winter provides some unique service opportunities. With colder temperatures, snow and ice, older individuals or those living alone may have practical struggles, like heating their home or shoveling snow. Here are how some churches are addressing these challenges:
• Brownsboro Baptist Church in Brownsboro, Alabama, procures, cuts and stores plenty of firewood well in advance of the winter months. Because some people are unable to cut or afford wood for fuel, the church’s firewood ministry is stocked up to ensure it can meet the community’s needs.
• First Baptist Church in Clinton, Missouri, works with their county’s emergency management office and Project Homeless Clinton to open up their facility to be a warming shelter.
• South Suburban Vineyard Church in Flossmoor, Illinois, has an ongoing snow shoveling ministry for seniors. On the church’s connect card, people can sign up to volunteer. The church accepts requests for snow shoveling of two inches or more of accumulated snow on driveways and sidewalks.
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