At our team meeting the other day, Mike challenged us with a thought about our outreach philosophy. He framed the idea like this:
Do we reach out to the community for them to give something in return (come to Hope), or do we reach out to the community simply to bless them, expecting nothing in return?
What a shift in thinking. I can honestly say that almost every outreach I have ever done always had at least a bit of “come to _______” (whatever church I was working with). For our Thanksgiving outreach this year, we have decided to put the blessings in the hands of our people.
We will be giving each family at Hope a grocery gift card to then pass along to another family in need. We are asking nothing in return. We only ask that the families at Hope pass the card along and share God’s love and provision in a very practical way.
What a paradigm shift. I like it.
