So what do you do to connect with and get to know your community?
A few years ago I did a short-cut and just ordered a demographic report that told me lots of interesting tidbits. For a time I felt pretty good. It showed me various trends. It told me what denominations were most prevalent and what age groups were living within a five mile radius of the church. But I realized that I didn’t really have an understanding of my community. I’m still trying to grasp with what my community is all about.
In this post I wrote about why I think it’s important that you actually live in the community that you’re trying to minister to. At the moment I live about 40 minutes (on a good day) from where my church is. So I certainly feel handicapped. Lord willing I’ll be able to sell our house and move closer. But I’m trying to do what I can where I am. I’ve been thinking about it, and I’d like to get your input for how someone can connect and get to know their community in a more personal and real way.
I’ll share a a quick thought first, and then I’d love it if you could share some ideas:
One thing I’ve been doing to get out is to work on my sermons every week from a local Borders book store. I actually met another pastor who gets some work done there as well. I think it’s kinda funny, actually. I’ve been doing it for a little over a month now, and I feel like like the employees and I are at least getting to the “hey, I think I recognize you again” stage.
I’m almost embarrassed to admit it, but I actually don’t know that many unchurched people, except for those that have come to church and am building a relationship with. But it is something I want to work on.
So let’s throw some stuff down and get some ideas flowing.
[image by Scorpions and Centaurs]
I feel the same way. I pastor 3 churches and live about 45 minutes from each of them. I can do administration in the church fairly well but actually doing ministry is hard living this far away.
Yeah, this is tough. I was dialoguing with a friend of mine a few months ago about this struggle, and he mentioned that when he had two churches, he choose to stay closer to one of the churches on purpose. He said that he noticed that the church he was closer to experienced the most growth. But if the churches are too far away, then this wouldn’t be practical. It wouldn’t be good to be an hour away. And certainly 45 minutes is already quite far. So what can be done?