At first I just shrugged off the question.

I considered my friends and family and what adjectives I would use to describe their personalities. When I tried to describe Jesus, Paul’s passage on Love came to mind (1 Corinthians 13). After all, Jesus is Love, so it was easy to substitute Jesus’ name for the word Love and get an accurate description of Jesus’ character.

“Jesus is patient, Jesus is kind. He does not envy, he does not boast, he is not proud. Jesus is not rude, he is not self-seeking, he is not easily angered…”

But when I tried to substitute my own name, the description didn’t fit, and I felt the need to make excuses for why. Once I realized how far I was from the model that Jesus provides, I felt ashamed that I was the representative He had sent to reach and connect with my community.

Now try substituting the word “Christians.” Think about how society views Christians and the church. Would they agree that Christians are not proud? Not rude? That we don’t keep a record of wrongs? What do they think of those charged with the “Good News” needed for a lost and dying world.

You can imagine my surprise later that day at the meeting when the woman I was speaking with referred to herself as a “Christian” and then quickly corrected herself saying, “I mean, ‘follower of Christ.’” Twice! Was it Mahatma Ghandi who said, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ”?

As “followers of Christ” who reach and connect with our communities we need to do our best to live a life that is modeled after the One we claim to follow. That is a life that is patient, kind, never arrogant or rude, never rejoicing in wrongdoing, bears all things, a life of Love.

What adjectives would your friends, family or community use to describe you? How would they describe your church family? What happens when you substitute your name in 1 Corinthians 13?

As you look across our convention, our churches are all uniquely and divinely placed within different cultures and contexts…different communities. Since each local church context is different, the strategies to ‘connect with our communities’ will need to be different. If you hear of a wildly successful outreach event at a church in the next town, there are no guarantees that following their formula will yield the same results for your church. If your community has a different culture with different needs, your strategy must also be different.

Although there may be significant differences from one community to the next (sometimes even within the same town) there are some fundamental strategies in Scripture that every church can apply when trying to connect with their community:

1. People, not programs—

   Luke 19:10 tells us that “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Jesus didn’t come to develop outreach strategies, to create curriculum or to tour the Christian conference circuit. Jesus cared about people, He came to seek out non-believers and to save them. We’re given The Great Commission in Matthew 28, commanding us to make disciples of all nations. Programming, planning and strategizing are important…but loving people is vital.

2. Partnership, not competition—

   Jesus was the ultimate community organizer. He hand-picked key leaders and motivated people to action by focusing on issues that they cared about. My home church, Calvary Baptist of Bel Air, MD partnered with First Baptist of Aberdeen, MD to provide backpacks and school supplies to over 70 children in Aberdeen. The supplies were donated by children attending VBS at CBC/Bel Air. The backpacks were packed by volunteers from CBC/Bel Air, then distributed by volunteers from both churches during a block party at FBC/Aberdeen. By meeting a need, over 70 families had a positive experience with FBC/Aberdeen that day. Are you willing to overlook ‘territory’ and find common ground with other believers for the greater good?

3. Give it away, for free—

   Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Every fall in Bel Air, one block from our church, is the Bel Air Festival of the Arts. Thousands of people swarm to town for the event and parking is difficult to find. This year we contacted the festival organizers and offered our parking lot to them. We provided free refreshments, a comfort station, moon bounces and free shuttle service to and from the event. People couldn’t understand why a church would do this, for free. We gave out a gift bag to every car that left our lot, over 450 bags! More than 450 people had a positive experience with CBC/Bel Air that day.

Do you spend more time talking about connecting with your community than you do actually interacting with them? Do you see other churches as a threat or as partner in our shared goal of making disciples? Do you demonstrate Christ to your community by serving them, with no strings attached?

How has your church succeeded in connecting with your community? How has your church failed at connecting with your community? We can all learn a lot from each other’s experiences, let’s talk about it in the comments section!

Wally Yocum
Minister of Youth and Contemporary Worship
Calvary Baptist Church, Bel Air, MD
Follow on twitter at @WallyYocum

That had been my experience until God called me to start a Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) ministry at my church two years ago. I was reluctant to take on starting a new ministry since I already had two preschoolers and a baby on the way, but I talked several other moms into helping and we agreed that together we might be able to do it.

The heartbeat of MOPS is community and connection with moms who are experiencing the same stages of parenthood. This year MOPS is focusing on reaching as many moms as possible to insure that no mom is alone.

According to MOPS, International President, Naomi Cramer Overton, research is showing that moms who are not connected have higher rates of depression, suicide, child abuse, and children who are failing to thrive. Those findings challenge me as a MOPS leader to do all that I can to reach as many moms as I can through any means that I can.

Personally, I know that MOPS is the place where I will be accepted with spit-up on my shoulder, bags under my eyes, and no diapers left in the diaper bag just when one is needed. I know that the mistakes that I have made in my mothering journey just might alleviate another mom’s guilty conscience caused by her inability to be “perfect.” But most importantly, I believe God’s promise that “where two or three come together, there I am with them” (Matthew 18:20).

God is a God of connection and community and in our MOPS group He is working in the midst of us to bring salvation, healing, and hope that will have eternal benefits for each mom and family represented. We are developing moms into ministry leaders, community servants, and mentors.

My prayer is that pastors and ministry leaders will encourage, support, and come alongside the growing population of young mothers to equip them to reach their God-given potential during the mothering season.