Outreach
Serving your local community.
Related topics: Activist Faith, Engaged in Culture, Ministry, Missions
LATEST POSTS
the invisible girls by sarah thebarge: you will eat it up, promise
At twenty-seven, Sarah Thebarge was diagnosed with breast cancer. She went through multiple surgeries, painful treatments, and long hospital stays. An important relationship ended, her church family bailed, a friend died of cancer, and her world fell apart....
new ezine, new ideas: impact (with crafts)
Impact is a new quarterly ezine focused on impacting others in a positive way. Each issue will focus on a specific theme, and the inaugural theme is impacting others with crafts. Crafts? Aren't those the popsicle stick creations your kids won't stop showering you...
overhead projectors make Jesus smile
We've been attending a tiny church in a local trailer park. It's one of those classic situations where you think you are there to serve others, and you walk away feeling served to by them. There aren't greeters or ushers or enough chairs. When it's time to gather...
cruisin’ through the night
The church sound equipment had been tampered with. A group of middle school boys passing through the church after school were responsible. In response, they were required to complete community service hours at the church. My husband, the youth pastor at the time,...
[reasons they leave #6] the church is unfriendly to doubt
[serialposts]My Thoughts on Reason #6 of The Barna Report They threw leaves into the air on this beautiful Fall Sunday. I wish all our days could reflect such happy abandon. I stood in front of my church across from the courthouse plaza watching those kids. On my...
[reasons they leave #5] the exclusivity of christianity
[serialposts]“I’ve got good news and bad news,” I announced to the fifteen or so members of my church’s high school youth group. “The good news is I brought cookies. The bad news is I need help with my homework. I’ve been asked to write a blog post about this...
[reasons they leave #3] church antagonism towards science
[serialposts]“God, why is the sky blue?” I was eighteen when I finally asked Him; not relying on the answers that I was taught all my life in school. His reply ended up being more deeply touching and radical than anything I’d ever heard, and, from that moment on, I...
[reasons they leave #2] shallow experience of christianity
[serialposts] Reason #2 – Teens’ and twentysomethings’ experience of Christianity is shallow. A second reason that young people depart church as young adults is that something is lacking in their experience of church. One-third said “church is boring” (31%)....
to the ends of the earth
[serialposts]I'm standing in a remote village in Haiti on the shore of the massive Lake Azeui. I upload a picture of some of the members of our mission team to Facebook and Twitter. They're singing and dancing with the locals. There's a communication gap, but music...
light the torches and lower the drawbridge…
“I want to be part of a church that wants to be part of something.” These words came from my 17-year-old daughter, Grace. These words have rattled around in my head since they were spoken. They weren’t said out of anger or spite, but frustration at the...
how to make a local difference
Last week, the Barna Group released a new report revealing that 75% of adults believe that churches have a positive effect on their local communities. This sounds like good news, right? So why is it that church membership is dwindling? It seems that people would...
order up some soul pancakes!
Someone once advised me to ask questions when approaching an unbeliever. Soul Pancake gives Christians the chance to ask questions. I stumbled onto Soul Pancake via Facebook. It's a strange name that causes cravings for Lone Spur's short stack. Your questions won't...
church projects: workday with @habitatsrq
We just asked. A quick email to the local Habitat for Humanity office helped us to discover how we can help on a local project. When we asked about who this home was for... The homeowner Lisa is a life-long resident of the Newtown area and has been a school bus...