Community Outreach Projects
Serving Communities can support and work hand in hand with social agencies setup by Christians and churches to serve the communities for Christ. Many of these agencies are hampered by the lack of resources and sometimes unable to go beyond meeting the social needs of the people if they rely on government funding. Social agencies and ministry workers can craft Outreach projects according to the needs in the field or the social environment and provides avenues for Serving Communities to reach out to another community of people with needs that the members will try to meet with the love and resources that they have received from God in their lives. As Outreach Partners, they will be enabling communities of learners who share their burden and passion to partner with them in reaching out to their target beneficiaries.

Each Outreach Partner can create multiple Outreach projects to meet different needs in the community. The number of people required for the project, the duration and the kind of resources required can all be specified in the Outreach project and available through the Community Exchange for different Serving Communities to adopt. For example, a family service center whose has a ministry of reaching out to children whose parent(s) are incinerated crafted an Outreach projects for volunteers who are interested to befriend children and spend time with them weekly for at least a year. A group of mothers who is part of a parenting support community adopted this Outreach project to befriend five of these children. Other mothers who are in the community also came alongside to help even though they are not officially responsible to befriend these five children. The following year, another group of mothers in the community took over the official responsibilities of befriending the children who had now increased to seven as more mothers took up the challenge with the support of their spouses. Throughout the years, the children remain in contact with this support community who take turns to befriend them and keep in touch with them. The love and care shown by the community inevitably has a profound impact on the lives of these few children in their growing years.

Any Small Group in church can have an outward focus. A Small Group of Sunday school teachers could include reaching out to kids in the neighborhoods through vacation program and regular follow-up as part of their ministry, and a Small Group in the church choir can reach out to another community in an orphanage or a nursing home on a regular basis. Rick Rusaw and Eric Swanson, co-authors of The Externally Focused Church, described service as the ‘transformational sweet spot’ where the needs and dreams of the city, the mandates and desires of God and the calling of the church intersect. For more ideas and best practices on how your Small Group can engage in Outreach project as a Discipling Community, please refer to an excellent book written by Pastor Steve Sjogren entitled Conspiracy of Kindness, especially Chapter 9 - Serving Communities Turned Inside Out.

Outreach is most effective when accomplished by communities reaching out to other communities as the services and resources required are more sustainable over a longer period of time. The impact can be nothing short of lives transforming when Serving Communities are not only learning but actually putting into practice what they have learned through serving others. If you are directly involved in outreach and are interested to partner with Serving Communities in Outreach, please sign up as one of our Community Outreach Partner.