Neighborhood Ministries

Personal Outreach  People today are surrounded with appeals. Many have learned to tune them out. As a result, advertising and promotions which have been effective in the past no longer move people. Years ago I was out of work and got hired by a telemarketing group to recruit volunteers for non-profit organizations like the Red Cross, the Cancer Society, and similar organizations. They had found that traditional advertising didn’t work as well as before and began hiring companies to contact individuals on a block looking for someone who would mail out appeals to their neighbors on the block, because people responded to a letter from a neighbor more readily than from an organization. Often when people see a letter is from an organization they don’t belong to, they will throw it away and not even open it. A letter from a neighbor will make them curious. The church has always been effective because of the relationships of members with those around them. That is even more important today as people become increasingly isolated emotionally. It has resulted in large numbers of people feeling lonely even in the middle of a crowd. Door-to-door canvasing is better than media campaigns but not nearly as effective as neighbors visiting neighbors. The vast number of people visiting a church today do so at the personal invitation of a friend or neighbor. However a single visit is not nearly as effective as when members build a relationship through ongoing contacts with their neighbors. Members need to build a personal relationship with their neighbors to gain credibility. It is easy to say you care about someone but talk is cheap. Continual visits show that you really do care about them and aren’t just out collecting people to fill the pews. Trust is in short supply because they see so many people, including churches that are just out for their money. It will often take several visits before they begin to see that you are sincere and that they can trust you. Once they begin to trust you, they will be more willing to listen to what you have to say.