Here’s the key part of what he’s doing here…it’s not about him. Church, please do outreach in the name of Jesus but don’t make it all about you and your church/denomination/beliefs. It just can’t be considered relevant when it’s about you, it becomes relevant when it’s about the person you are reaching.

Now some would take that all the way to the edge and say don’t hand anything out, don’t let people know you’re from a church…just a selfless act. While I do think as individuals there should be those times, letting people know the source of your act of kindness, etc. doesn’t take away from the act as long as it’s the background and not the core of the effort. Go ahead and hand them a card (as long as it looks great and not cheesy) to let them know you’d like to see them again.

Of course if you’re doing this often enough, you won’t need a card, people will know you, your church and your God…it will be contagious and impossible not to talk about. Try it, I promise you will be blessed.

Not for a community in Pheonix, AZ.

For many people living at the Stone Oaks apartment complex church means block parties, poolside socials and Saturday morning breakfast. For this group church isn’t so much about the order of service, it’s about building relationships.

“As a society we relate well where we work and play but don’t relate very well where we live. We pull into our garages and never come out to get to know our neighbors. It’s a very segmented, very private world,” Louis says.

I love this idea not matter what your Sunday morning routine is. We used to know our neighbors, and then we moved our front porch to the backyard and called it a deck…we’ve disconnected with our neighbor. Hard to love your neighbor when you don’t even know their first name. Imagine if we as the Church embraced an idea like this…I’d bet that your invitation to church on Sunday would be met with much greater acceptance.

If I’m wrong, I’ll make you breakfast.

Go out, walk around your communities, show them community and sing your heart out. Let them know where you’re from but trust me, in a time where our neighborhoods are full of stranger and the only place people see people caroling is on TV, they’ll take notice by this simple, and fun, action.

Let’s look for the good in things, not the evil. “For that which the enemy made for evil, He will make for good.” Think of this, tonight, parents, who are normally too busy with work and whatnot, will set aside the night to walk down the street with their children…parents and children spending time laughing together that is very good. If you want to be relevant as a church you should find a way to share in that laughter.

Next year let’s find a way to turn Halloween into an opportunity for change, for salvation. I love what one of the churches we work with, Grand Rapids First, does at Halloween. They go out trick-or-treating…but instead of going door-to-door collecting the treats, they go door-to-door and give out treats. That’s relevant, and that gets people talking and compels them to check out that church that gave out the light bulbs on Halloween.