Making Outreach Count(s)
As many of you may have heard, starting on January 1st, churches will be asked not only their attendance, membership, baptisms, and professions of faith, but questions regarding outreach. For some churches this has been a welcome advancement. For others this might be an uphill battle: either because of the task of organizing and collecting this somewhat abstract data, or because outreach numbers have dwindled or are virtually non-existent.
I don't believe I need to sell the importance of outreach ministries to churches across the conference. If I do, then I think we need to start asking some more serious questions about the work of the churches in the conference. What I do need to do is to explain why these numbers are important: in my eyes the most important number we collect, though they may only be estimated numbers.
In the world of church, outreach counts. Outreach is what transforms lives--not only for those receiving it but also those doing it. Outreach is what drives the church, and without it the Christian church would be non-existent. In the book of Acts the confused and bewildered disciples after Jesus' death and ascension didn't really know what to do with themselves. In fact, they were in the face of danger (Acts 5:17-42) and arguably (and somewhat logically) could have gone into hiding. You know what they did instead? They worshiped, prayed, and did outreach (Acts 6:1-7). The martyr Stephen was one of those chosen to serve those in need, along with six others.
Again, I don't need to stress the importance of outreach to our churches, but what we do need to stress is this: simply talking about outreach doesn't make you a church, doing outreach does.
Specifically, the questions that churches are being asked are: (1) "How many people within your congregation were involved in acts of outreach this week?" and (2) "How many people outside of your congregation were you in outreach to this week?" These are, admittedly, open-ended questions. After much discussion with pastors in, and outside of the conference I felt it would be best to phrase them in this way. You may be wondering if I see the obvious irony of asking for concrete numbers from abstract questions; and the answer is absolutely. It is, admittedly, an imperfect measuring system. But we need some way to know the health of our churches in this regard.
I know that churches will go about collecting this data in different ways, and for some it will be a struggle. Some ideas that have been presented are: having one point person to collect the data weekly from regular outreach ministries such as scouts, food pantries, and nursing home visits, or making the collection of this data a part of weekly worship--allowing members to anonymously place a slip of paper into the offering plate, or another place, as a part of their offering to God. As a pastor, I am also having to organize a way to collect this data on a weekly basis.
These numbers are not meant to be a heavy burden--they are meant to be an invitation to growth, service, and love. They aren't meant to shame congregation members into doing outreach, but they are meant to provoke questions about what is, and should be, a constant priority in our lives as Christians. As a conference, this is the most important number we can measure--this is what it means to be a church.
I hope if any church has concerns or questions, they will feel free to contact me. I welcome the emails, questions, conversations, and the inevitable transformation this will bring about in many of our churches.