I am part of a three-person staff at City South Church in Edmonton and serve as the children’s pastor of our amazing church. Our multi-generational congregation includes many young families. At South, we attract people who value being authentic and who desire community within the body of Christ. Foundational to our church is equipping those on their faith journey, fostering spiritual habits of prayer, reading God’s Word, and being generous, all of which naturally lead to being missional and outbound focused.
Opportunity for Creativity
We are a smaller church of about 150 people with a staff who work collaboratively, so we have a pulse on what is happening in all the areas of church life. Because of this, our outbound focused ideas have our lead and youth pastor’s input and support, even if the focus is on kids. When you have fewer resources because of the nature of being a smaller church, it is an opportunity for creativity to flourish. At South, we are all about trying new ideas all the time.
Here are some simple actions we’ve tried as a church to love our communities. Some of these ideas have the heart of simply loving people with no strings attached, and others have the intention of invitation to something more.
Women and Children Together
One idea we used successfully involved both the women’s ministry and children’s ministry of our church. At one of the women’s events, the ladies connected with each other by making dried soup jars. We used a recipe to layer different dried ingredients and seasonings into a clear mason jar and then made them pretty with simple décor and attached a recipe card. The following Sunday morning, our children went out in small groups with their leaders across the street to the lower-income townhouses to pass them out. The plan was to ring the doorbell, hand out the soup jar, let the residents know who we were, and ask them if they wanted prayer for anything. It was amazing to see how some people opened up and received the simple yet powerful prayers of the children. We met one mom who opened up to us and then started coming to our church with her young son, which was a real blessing.
Taking children along on these little outings breaks down certain barriers which may otherwise present themselves between adults. This simple soup outreach may be adapted for a Christmas blessing idea with a little creativity by changing up the gift.
Other ideas we’ve done at South all included our children.
Set up a table with free dog treats, poop bags, and water bottles at a dog park and engaged with friendly dog owners who love to talk and meet new people.
Made candle gifts and delivered personal notes from the kids to the resident complex beside our church with an invitation to join us on a Sunday morning.
Decorated the front sidewalk entrance with positive messaging and images in washable chalk paint at a senior’s care residence.
Delivered Tim Horton’s gift cards and letters of encouragement to the healthcare workers at the Grey Nuns hospital.
Invited the community and ran a free pancake breakfast in our church parking lot.
Passed out free pumpkin pies and offered prayer in our church parking lot.
Invited the community to a free ice cream event in our church parking lot, which was all run by the kids.
Delivered Christmas dinner hampers to the neediest families in our neighbourhood through a partnership with a Youth program which runs out of the same building as our church.
I encourage all of us this season, when things get extra busy, that being outbound focused doesn’t require anything more than a simple idea and a willing heart. I pray that God will continue to open the doors of those who live in our communities.
Feel free to contact me through email if you have any questions relating to this blog.
Carolyn Wentzel has been on staff at City South Church as their children’s pastor for the past seven years. She is passionate about teaching children about Jesus and allowing the Word of God to challenge kids in the faith journey. Carolyn loves her church family at South and attends there with her husband and two teenage boys.
Bob Jones is the founder of REVwords.com, an author, blogger, and coach with 39 years of pastoral experience. Bob is also an Advance Coach with the ABNWT Resource Centre. You can connect with Bob here.