Outreach: Culture BEFORE Department

DaddyOh and I just spent the weekend with the RIDICULOUSLY awesome people of Centerpoint Church in Chillicothe, OH. (part of our ARC family)

I was given the grand honor to spend some time with their amazing outreach team…brainstorming, exploring, and dreaming!

What I didn’t expect was this…

They said, “We have some outreach happening, but we are ready to really see it grow in our city.”

When I hear that I think “Okay. Fresh out the gate. Sweet. Let’s do this!”

But what I found blew my mind.

Centerpoint might not yet have dozens of re-occuring outreaches going on each week. They might not have all of their outreach teams in place. Or know exactly what their outreach sweet spot is just YET.

But what they DO have is this…an outreach CULTURE.

And in many places, this is not always the case.

People want to “start ‘DOING’ outreach”.

But it isn’t always part of WHO they are yet.

But Chillicothe stuck out differently.

From day one, Dad and I were greeted with personalized gifts that no one could have known we liked unless they made secret phone calls back home.

We were given handwritten notes from the lead pastor himself.

We weren’t given directions to the meeting places, instead we were given RIDES there by the pastors themselves.

And instead of meeting at an office we were invited to their parents farmhouse for BBQ on one of their only nights of the week off.

I knew that these gestures weren’t just them pulling out their tricks for the out-of-towners. This was REAL DEAL thoughtfulness and attention to me as a person, not me as just another guest out of the dozens they already have coming through.

I was valued….personally.

But it didn’t stop there.

The way they do CHURCH is the same way.

“As greeters, we don’t prop doors open with our butts. We open the door with our hands for EVERY person that walks through.”

“We are ALL on the guest services team.” (And they truly LIVE by that. Worship leaders and pastors and EVEN the production managers are out in the lobby in between services to talk to guests. At one point the production manager LEFT the sound booth during service to walk first time guests to the nursery where they could drop off their children. THAT is unheard of. )

At this church laughter is valued.

Guests are valued.

Volunteers are valued.

The team loves being together.

There is unity.

And the atmosphere is FUN.

They might get to the high school at 5:45am, set up, run 3 services, and tear down by 2pm. But down to the last drop, there are smiles and joy across ALL realms.

A church with THAT type of culture already IS outreach. When your church body values PEOPLE and pays attention to their details and goes out of its way to make someones' day brighter… when you make yourself available to someone even when you are bogged down with things to “do”…when a person matters more than the production…

THAT is when outreach is WHO you are rather than a department in your church.

I cannot wait to see how God takes this team and the “Crazy Love” that they live out every day and extends its reach even farther into the community and hard places.

To any church or team looking to “begin” outreach…let this be a shining example that the art of loving people is the foundation you must begin with.

An outreach department must merely be a subordinate and supporting piece to the already living and breathing CULTURE of loving people.

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