Thursday Thinking - Churches Partnering with Secular Community Groups

This article from Christianity Today's Pivot Blog has a number of really good things to think about...

8 Reasons Churches Should Partner with Secular Community Groups

by by Karl Vaters / Christianity Today Pivot Blog / March 2017

 

How can we reach our communities if they have no idea we love them? 

And how will they know we love them if we don’t work alongside them?

 

Our church used to partner exclusively with other Christian ministries. For everything from missions to community service. Before that, we would only partner with ministries in our denomination.

Today, while we still only partner with Christian groups for missions (can’t call it missions otherwise) up to half the groups we partner with for local community service are not Christian-based.

No, we haven’t gone soft on our faithfulness to the gospel. And we have standards for those we will and will not partner with. But in the last few years we’ve decided to step outside our previously normal routine and work with people and groups who don’t identify as faith-based. Most, maybe all of them, have Christians in key leadership positions. But that’s not why we work with them.

Here are 8 reasons why it’s important for us to work with secular community groups.

 

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE TO GET THE FULL EXPLANATION OF THE FOLLOWING

1. It Increases Our Sphere of Influence
2. It Can Impact Their Perception of Christians – And Jesus
3. It Bursts Our Church-World Bubble
4. It Shakes Up Our Comfort Zone
5. They'll Help Us Reach People We Can't Reach
6. It's Less Self-Serving
7. It Stretches Our Faith
8. It’s Humbling