but we really don't have any cash, we are living on a shoestring, we want to reach out, what can we do?
1. begin somewhere...
two church planters pooled their giving and began to reach their community with 7 bags of groceries...15 years later the Life Enrichment Center is now a separate non-profit...feeding over 700 people hot breakfasts, suppling classes for the clients, health screening, and moving into a 5 million dollar building...see www.daytonlec.com...
how'd this happen? they chipped away, starting with what they had to invest and remained faithful day by day, week by week, month by month, and year by year.
2. seek investors... people want to give to a great vision...seeking to love your community into a relationship with Jesus Christ...is a great vision... invite key people to lunch share your vision...then ask for funding for a project...the project can be as small as requesting funds for a drink outreach or as large as supplying the budget for a month, or for a year to help your church reach out.
3. cast vision to your people... without vision people go in circles, they waste their lives one day at a time...set a date for a day of serving...make plans...then publicly cast vision, and ask for help...i.e. at the end of every month we are going to reachout together into our community...join us as we gather supplies...define the supplies you are asking for and why...when you come to ____________ over the next few weeks bring 12 packs of coke, water, we will be reaching out during the Lazy Day Parade in Jones County etc.
then make a public display and stack the drinks in a visible place...
one church asked people to bring new stuffed animals, each week the animals were visibly placed all over the place...hanging from the ceiling by fishing line, on steps, everywhere...at the end of the time period they went to the local children's hospitals distributing the wild and crazy animals...think about the knock on effect, parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, nurses, and doctors all knew one church in the community cared
4. just serve... seek places to serve, go together into the community and serve, set a date gather together and go...nursing home visits, cleaning up parks or strip malls parking lots, washing windows, cleaning schools, just doing good...the cost? usually time and a few bucks for supplies
one church began to think...what can we do to reach our community... hey, schools need our help...so they gathered together, went to a local school, painted lockers, spring cleaned classrooms, tidied the landscape, fixed swings etc...
a few years later they made a radio appeal for bike for kids...$25000 came in in one weekend...a few weeks later they gathered in a central park to hand the bikes out to the kids, the mayor, city counsel, other church and community leaders came to the event...hundreds of kids received a new bike...where did they get the kid list? from the school principals where they had served...
Laurie Beth Jones
people who dream of what could be, will create what could be...
no cash? begin where you are...
abraham was told, lift up your eyes from where you are... he did, and a nation was born
jonah lifted up his eyes from where he was and began to worship, a city was spared
dittos for joseph, who saved egypt and israel from certain famine, daniel, who was brought before kings, and Jesus, who came not to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many...
a common thread...favor...the means, serving others
by the way, don't buy the t-shirt
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