Hidden danger: Events can drain and exhaust church resources…staff, volunteers, monies, communication, etc. It’s hard to do any of these through an event-oriented focus. Borrowing from one church’s verbiage around discipleship, becoming a disciple is an ongoing lifestyle of obedience “to winning the lost, building up believers and equipping others to do the same.”
Hidden danger: Outreach events can interfere with a discipleship cultureīecoming more like Jesus cannot be accomplished merely through outreach events. Through participation in these venues, volunteers often rationalize that they are missional because they have participated in multiple events. The danger here is that unless the event is handled correctly, volunteers immediately start asking “When’s our next event?” It can then become challenging to get community groups, families and individuals to pursue a missional lifestyle on their own because they can simply wait until the church plans the “next big thing.” The question “How can we reach our community?” is often answered by “Let’s have a community outreach event.” They realize they are not engaged in reaching their community and they want to make a change. I have seen many churches make this mistake. Hidden danger: Outreach events are often equated to a false sense of missional identity Instead of events being about the mission/vision of the church or the completion of the Great Commission in the local community, events can quickly become about the interests of individuals. The more outreach events a church puts on, the more folks will come forward to request that their project is promoted through the church body. “The church had a Back to School outreach event…why can’t we put on an event for ‘X’?” Hidden danger: Outreach events can create a consumer culture What goal do we have? More often, volunteers will not serve at an outreach event unless they have a clear vision behind the why question. However, the problem is that we often do big events and don’t ask why we’re doing this.
“Let’s provide bags of groceries for 100 families!” “Let’s put on the biggest and best Christmas drama ever!” Hidden danger: Outreach events become an “end unto themselves” With so many events and resources being utilized, do churches experience an appropriate return on investment? Are more unchurched folks loving God and others as a result? Both research and my experience suggest “no.” Here are several hidden dangers of outreach events:
Nearly every church I know, regardless of size, has community outreach events throughout the year-an Easter egg hunt on the church’s front lawn, a great day of service for area non-profits, a block party for the community, a back-to-school bash and so on.