15 Ways You Can Be Hope For Your City
So much effort is being made by churches to deliver online or onsite services for the already convinced that it makes me wonder, “does your city know you even exist?”. The church has an amazing opportunity to be a voice of hope in the midst despair. A voice of peace in the midst of chaos. A voice of credible faith in the midst of fear. However, to be that voice, you need to get outside of your church and actually speak to your city. Here are 15 ways to do that:
Convoy of Hope: Line up 10-15 cars all decorated with encouraging messages and drive around your community spreading joy and hope to neighbourhoods and businesses. Extra points for a motorcycle ride through your whole county.
Chalk Your Block: Decorate your church property and congregation property with encouraging messages of hope.
Good News __(your city name) Series: Do a simple good news video on YouTube (or a series) in which you highlight good news and good people (Christian or non-Christian) in your community. You can even do a few give-aways. Check out a sample here. Sponsor these videos on social media and target your community.
Grocery Bags: Pack 10-20 grocery bags per week and deliver them to needy families. You can have a request form on your web site and you can use this to guide you.
Weekly Meals: If you have a church kitchen, you are allowed to provide meals for the community, just contact your MLA. Set out to feed 75-100 people once a month and provide a free community meal. Have a sign-up form for attendees. Invite some special guests to provide some entertainment.
Community Movie Night: Do a drive in movie night. Check out all the details here.
The Big Spend: Join hundreds of other churches across the nation to help small businesses on July 25. Check out the details here.
Weekly Giveaways: Buy local business gift cards or gas cards and do weekly draws for them. Use social media to highlight local businesses and raise awareness.
Zoom Interview Key Community Leaders / Contributors: Use zoom to do brief interviews of community leaders/contributors and then feature them on your social media or in your services. Thank them for their services and have them encourage your church.
Thank You Parties: Organize drive-by thank you parties for Police, Fire, EMS, and hospital workers. Make up signs, bring some Tim Hortons and honk and clap your appreciate.
Messages of Hope: Use yard signs or rent a mobile sign or billboard to display a message of hope to your community. Thank front line workers or simply say “There Is Hope for (city name)” and then put your website there.
Social Media Messages: Sponsor videos and messages through your social media channels that simply offer encouragement and hope to your community. Target your community specifically and just spread a positive vibe. For more help on advertising through social media click here.
Community Clean Up: Get a few people together and pick a neighbourhood, park or area and clean it up.
Mental Health and Relationship Workshops: Offer mental health and relationship workshops online or in person to help with the growing demand from the pandemic. Brett Ullman has great and practical resources.
One Day Kids Camps: Take advantage of the new guidelines and offer a 3 hour day camp for kids on a Saturday so parents can have a break. Do a few of these throughout the year.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Whenever you do any of these things, take pictures and post them all over social media with the hashtags: #hope, #for__(city name)__, #hopefor__(city name) and make them public. Let people know that there is hope.
I would encourage you to do one of these activities for every two weekend services you execute for the next 12 months (2 per month). If you don’t have the budget for these, ask people in your congregation to support one of these outreaches. I believe that your voice is a lot louder and more needed in your community than you might think it is.
Jeremiah works as an Effectiveness Coach with the ABNWT District of the PAOC. He is a passionate and creative leader who believes that the church is the hope of the world. He uses collaboration, innovation, and inspiration to challenge churches and their leadership to engage in the only mission Jesus ever sent his church on: making disciples.