Another story from our BE THE CHURCH SUNDAY on 09.28.08:

I didn’t blog anywhere but I wanted to say what it meant to me to outreach like that. I think I was reminded how simple and easy it is to do acts of kindness and to think of others. Too often we are in our own little world and forget to reach out.

It was also a great example for our two little girls of how to give. It was a blessing to participate in something w/ our whole family.

We will continue to pray for the seeds that were sown to be watered. We do our part and God will give the increase!

RH

This past Sunday we canceled church services to go out into the community to be the church by doing ordinary acts of kindness. This was the final week of our series - Beyond Sunday. Church is more than a Sunday service. Church is people loving people. Church is people sharing God’s love with people.

We had a great turnout too! Our act of kindness was simple: give out Krispy Kreme doughnuts to people serving in the workplace on Sunday. We gave out free doughnuts to fire stations, a police station, a hospital, real estate offices, stores and more.

Many people in our church had never done anything like this. Their experiences were extremely positive! Everyone that we gave doughnuts was not only thankful but really surprised. Some even asked, “Why are you doing this?” The response that they heard was something to the effect … “We’re just sharing God’s love in a practical way.”

It was really something to experience such a favorable response and so many smiles too!

Hello everyone,

As I reflect back on this past Sunday, I just want to say thank you to so many of you for an incredible day! It was really something to see so many people from our church go out into the community to do an act of kindness and share God’s love in a practical way!

It was great to come back to the theater afterwards and share so many positive stories with each other too! Imagine how many people we touched! It was a first for many of you too. And, it was really something for me to hear how much you enjoyed going out.

I was at the Tuesday group at Aqui tonight and Carminha, the owner, mentioned that the owner of the cigar store next to her was so excited to get the doughnuts. He came running over to Aqui to tell Carminha – and how nice it was for a church to do this. Carminha said, “I know … I got some too!”

One of the most awesome comments to me was that people in our church got to know each other even better too as they carpooled together – inflow/outflow!

My hope and prayer is that the Lord has planted a seed in our hearts about people all around us that God loves – and wants us to reach out to them in simple, loving, caring ways.

Thank you everyone! And, I want to say a special thanks to Krispy Kreme for giving us a great price and awesome service. And, thank you to Josh, Janna, Nate, Larry, Anne, Angelo, Teresa, Jamie and Trish for helping to organize the teams that morning too.

Please join me in praying for people that we touched with God’s love this past Sunday.

Warmly,

Dan

As a church, we want to be a community of people who continually go beyond the fours of a building and care for people in our neighborhoods in tangible ways. How can we make a difference in the lives of people living here in the upcounty area? How can we share the love of Christ with people in practical ways?

When it comes to reaching out to people in our community, we need to not only talk about it but demonstrate God’s unchanging love for all people. One way that we can do that is to serve people in practical ways and let people know that God loves them.

In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16

Doing ordinary acts of kindness is a practical way of doing that.

1. Start by asking God to sensitize your heart toward your neighbors and people. (to notice them, be aware of them).

2. Practice the “free attention giveaway.” Be unusually interested in someone. Focus on them and their story … or what’s going on with them. … little things … or simple things to say, do for them … don’t force … don’t preach … show interest … People naturally respond if genuinely, authentically interested in them.

People crave being noticed. Yet it’s the one thing most of us don’t get enough of.

3. Pray for people.

4. Get to know your neighbors by doing simple things for them. Dinner … cookies … holidays … simple service projects.

5. Practice being an active listener and learner of people.

6. Let people see and experience your heart not just your words. People won’t hear what you have to say until they kow that you genuinely care about them. Someone once said … “Let’s go out into our community and share the gospel of Jesus Christ with people and use words only when necessary …” Actions need to precede words …

7. Be ready to get a little deeper spiritually with people – at the right time. Spiritual curiosity is at its peak in our culture. We just need to engage people. The gospel of Christ is good news for everyone because it gives us hope for life now, not just an afterlife (John 10:10).

Starting with doing small things like acts of kindness is way to just let people know that God loves them.