So it’s been a long week, and I’ve been somewhat preoccupied by Cub Scout matters, especially getting started for the new year and trying to recruit new boys when the younger grades at school are now extremely small, so that we need a substantial portion of the kids to participate in order to manage, rather than being able to limp along with a small fraction of each class. Thursday we had a leader meeting and Friday we — my husband and one of the other leaders, and my two younger boys — toured the classrooms touting Cub Scouts, followed by a parent meeting . . . to which no parents came. There’s a big Sign Up event next Thursday, and, on top of that, we flat-out gave each boy who raised his hand an information folder with a couple flyers and the registration form, so we’ll see, but in the meantime, I keep checking my e-mail for parent inquiries, with a bit total of 0 replies so far.
And then yesterday was the first CFM meeting. Christian Family Movement is a small group-type organization which has evolved at my parish into the primary way in which people become connected into the parish, meeting in groups of about 20 members, rotating homes, once a month, with various family and couple social and service activities. But each meeting starts with a discussion based on scripture readings and other reflections, and yesterday we ended up talking about reaching out to the community in an era in which, within recent memory, our own parish has shrunk considerably, whether due to local demographics or broader social trends or some of both. Certainly we all had the impression that even within CFM, the younger couples were proportionately fewer than in the past, and the older couples have multiple times expressed their disappointment that their grown children didn’t stay faithful.
So I was thinking afterwards: what could a church do to reach out to the local community? Not in terms of social services (we do the usual PADS rotating homeless shelter, and collect for a food pantry, and sponsor a giving tree, and take meals on wheels delivery shifts and the like), but in terms of social connections. Because, yes, there are multiple reasons that the pews are emptier, but part of it is surely remedied by reaching out and putting the church on our neighbors’ radar.
Something like:
Using the church lawn, or maybe the park one block over, to host a community concert, a la Ravinia, by the choir and the (contemporary music) teen choir.
Hosting a Euchre night.
Hosting some kind of Christmas event (but what, exactly?).
So, readers, please share: what does your church do to interact with the local community?
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In