Outreach and Mobilization
Evangelism
The root of this word is derived from the Greek word euangelion which is translated both as gospel and as good news.
Evangelism refers to the action of spreading the good news and the content of the good news that is spread. Evangelism, in a nutshell, is telling people that they have offended a Holy God and stand before Him as condemned sinners. However, the good news is that Jesus died to reconcile condemned sinners to God.
Outreach
The word outreach is not in the Bible but the concept is a major theme throughout the Bible.
Outreach assumes action; it is the act of reaching out. Particularly at Christ Covenant, it is bringing our people and resources into the community:
- To help meet the needs of the people in the community.
- To make people aware of our existence in the community and provide an opportunity for the community to learn about our church.
- To provide people an opportunity to see believers work for the good of the community.
How Outreach and Evangelism work in Tandem:
Outreach allows unbelievers to experience the love of Jesus through believers.
However, we can only share the good news with our words. Salvation does not occur by our actions alone but people responding to the message that changes hearts.
Therefore,
The Vision of Outreach and Evangelism is to help aid our body, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to intentionally avail themselves (Time, Talent, and Treasure) to love others and take steps of faith to serve our community and present the gospel to unbelievers.
How Will it Work
As a community we will work to implement The Five Fingers of Outreach:
- Prayer
The praying ministry of the church is vital to seeing the power of God manifest itself upon his people and the work they accomplish in faith. Therefore, there will always be a specific focus on prayer that accompanies every practical work we undertake as a ministry.
- Neighboring
In Luke 10:25-37 Jesus shows a neighbor is someone in your proximity regardless of any difference, i.e. socio-economic, denomination, race etc. When we say Neighboring we mean to get to know and come alongside someone in proximity and demonstrate the love and mercy of God to them.
We hope to neighbor with those in close proximity as a way of life. Because life is busy and intentionality is key in outreach and evangelism, we want to provide opportunities that help our body engage their neighbors:
- Sunday School Strategic Breaks (Begins Fall 2023)
We are going to take a week off the front and back end of Sunday and give that time back to our body to be used for Outreach. We ask our community to use that time to open space to be hospitable, specifically toward an unbelieving neighbor i.e. invite your neighbor over for a meal or invite them to church, use the time strategically to care for someone and to set yourself up to be able to care for someone in your neighborhood.
- O Nights (Begin May 2, 2023)
Christ Covenant O (Outreach) Nights will be a consistent time of initial monthly engagement of door-to-door surveys/evangelism and prayer in the community. This is a consistent practical opportunity to grow in understanding our community, connect with the community at a base level and have possible opportunities for evangelism.
- Momentum Outreaches
We encourage the entire Christ Covenant Community four times a year to gather and invite others into the environment of the covenant community with the aim to build connections, relationships, have fun and the hope to share the Gospel. These are important because they help build a consistent connection with our community.
- Current Ministry Rhythms
Most of our ministries have natural opportunities where we can invite others. We want to help each ministry to consider when those occur and to intentionally use that time to encourage our people to be inviters. For example, before ministries such as Bible Study, Trail Life, etc. begin again each season, we want to prepare each ministry to invite others to be a part of the upcoming activity.
- Partnerships
Our people serve in a myriad of ways. However, as a church, in order to help communities flourish we must strategically concentrate our efforts and partner substantially with other gospel centered organizations. Our partnerships will focus specifically on what the Bible describes as the least of these (the poor, widows, single parents, prisoners, children, seniors, sick, special needs, and immigrants).
See all of our Service Partnerships.
