COG were asked 'How can I promote outreach in my church group?'
It’s quite personal I guess- why you want to reach out to
others but from my experience it is only by taking that step outside that your
eyes and heart are opened and then you start to understand the true gospel and
the whole meaning of love. Once your mind is set the opportunities are endless-
In the UK we are surrounded by need and despair, just as Jesus was, and you can
help in so many ways whatever you age or ability. In our society, you can fall
very quickly and when you are In that bad space your local church is really about
the only place you can go for warmth and non judgemental support. Even if we
have family and many don’t , that isn’t always the answer. Many avenues of ‘support’
mean form filling and questions, when the person really just needs a cup of
coffee and a chat. So once you see the role if your church as not being just to
teach but to love then you can look at what assets and skills you have and put
them to use. This then mans you start to work as a team with one vison and that
is powerful. I work at foodbank with many faiths but we are united in our
mission that day- to love whoever walks through that door- and we pray for
that. Jesus gave us the message- unconditional love is life changing and powerful.
So the hope of COG is to spread that message- we as a team
are united in our mission to get people acting on their faith and DOING rather
than talking. So if you browse our site you will see our three objectives – the
ways in which we hope to make the CD community wake up to outreach and also a
section with some ideas. The message is ‘ get to know your local community’-
immerse yourselves in it to find the demand- use social media- create events that ‘give’ and
no take to start relationships- open your doors wide- show people that their local
CD church is active and warm. We are here to support with grant funding for any
project you decide to do and if you need help send us ‘what you have’ in your
church and maybe we can advise a project. Do a survey in your church group to ask
skills- is there a musical person that could lead a community choir or just a
music session ( our local Tesco has an evening once a month for ‘music making’-
bring your instrument and make a noise!) – is there someone experienced in
dementia etc that can give an evening of
advice and support?.. I run a time bank and so many peoples say they have
nothing to give but give them opportunities and they realize they do!
Sorry rather long!
But hope that starts you off.