New Ideas for Our Black Church Outreach.

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(ThyBlackMan.com) The recent political climate in the U.S. has become absolutely polarizing, on issues ranging from immigration to gun control to women’s health. A huge factor in these fierce political debates is the candidate’s’ use of religion to fuel their arguments. For African Americans, this along with how the candidates handle the issues of social/racial injustices are important for the upcoming political races of 2016. Whether or not they agree with their points, many voters have been turned off by politicians bringing their theological doctrines to the debates. For Black Millennials especially, trusting a politician who preaches can be a little out of their wheelhouse, and the recent political climate has soured many young African Americans on the concept of organized religion altogether. How is the church going to win back the hearts of the younger generation? How can they compete with the emergence of black pride again? Below are some recent trends in church outreach for the upcoming year.

Get Out in the Community

Knowing and serving the community is the top way to initiate an outreach mission for the church. People in general respond to actions far more than they respond to words, and serving our community is the best way to spread the word and show the public what RNS-BLACK-CHURCH c makes your church unique. The public can frequently view the church as a place that constantly seeks funding, tithing and donations. Rather than viewing the church in this light, public service will show the world that the church truly serves the community, rather than merely asks things of it.

A Ministry Through Sports

One of the best ways to bring people together is through sports. Basketball, football and softball games are always hallmarks for black churches. During the semifinals of any sports competition, you can find individuals enjoying each other’s company who otherwise wouldn’t give each other the time of day. Sports will always foster a bonds between individuals that makes them feel like they are part of something greater. Our black Church is supposed to do that, too. Many high school or community sports teams enlist a chaplain. Get your church involved and see if your pastor or an elder can participate in the community in that capacity. A growing familiarity within the community will lead to an increased congregation in your church.

Social Media

These days, there is no denying the huge impact social media has on our daily lives. For the twitter landscape, black twitter dominates the social media platform. While almost everyone engages with social media in some capacity, the 16 to 35 year old portion of the population thrives on it. A recent viral trend is sharing photos of clever or funny church signs. Opting for humorous and positive messages rather than gloomy ones is a surefire way to get black Millennials to take note, and is great for exposure. Look to the way international on twitter as a great example of positive messages being shared through social media and embracing a wide audience.

Serve Your Community Breakfast

Team up with your local YMCA or neighborhood park to hold a community breakfast once a month. Our black community reels off of these things so supporting local organizations that already support the community is an excellent way to reach a large, diverse and new group of people. Inserting your church’s presence into a community’s regular lives will create a positive connection to you and the local population. The more they see members of your congregation out serving the community, the more likely they will be to remember you and want to join your organization. Spreading your message through actions will attract the most followers.

Shoes and Supplies Drives

You don’t have to wait until Christmas to organize an event to support the needy. Our children sometimes go to school without the proper clothing and without the necessary supplies every day. It is a sad truth, but on that can easily be fixed. Holding a community drive for shoes at your church is great in theory, but sending representatives of your congregation to a local gymnasium or to one of the schools is an even better way to get the community to turn out and help. Remember a shoe is only helpful if it fits, so implement a system by which you communicate what sizes the children need. Also,we must teach them shoes are just shoes, no matter if they are Air Jordan’s or new balance.

Assimilating New Congregants

So, your outreach methods to your fellow black communities have worked, and now you have new faces popping up every week. Your work is done, right? Actually, now is not the time to relax and pat yourself on the back the next, very important step is to work on making your new folks feel at home. This is the time to form a welcome committee at your church, whose job is to meet and greet the newcomers and introduce them to other members of the congregation. At any black church, how you are welcomed determines how often you will visit or if you will join the church. So, this is a great way to facilitate connections between members of the community and members of the congregations. You can even establish ambassadors within certain age groups, so your new guests will be able to instantly meet peers with whom they will feel comfortable.

Forms of outreach are truly limitless. Use social media to your advantage. What may seem like something that is keeping our black Millennials glued to their phones and closed to interactions around them can actually be used to your advantage. Forging a deeper connection with our black community and getting the word out to a wider audience will help your congregation grow and thrive. With a little tailored effort, the younger generation will gladly embrace your congregation.

Music Editor; Brad Washington

Also connect with this brother through Twitter; http://twitter.com/theGURO15.

jdgwisd says:

May 20, 2016 at 7:10 am

Hello Mr. Anthony;

I have to support your position on this issue. When asked by a “passa” to defend a position that another brought up, that the religious communities have failed in their stated goal of “Doing God’s work,” I stated some of the things Mr. Washington outlined in his essay, especially as it relates to providing shoes to the community. Black Folks use the cover of religion to cover the holes in their souls that their communities have torn. In that zeal they ignore the painful ugliness that this “addiction” has caused, and instead forcus on the “high” they get from the church community in which they are members of. True worship of God requires one to study and look within oneself for unceasing spiritual examination. This is one reason black folks have lost their way. The one institution that in our society we have a full stake in, in our disconnect from God we mess that up.

Marque Anthony says:

May 19, 2016 at 3:30 pm

First we have to get our colors right.
It amazes me how many of you are still brainwashed to call yourselves BLACK. Black is the color of your car tires, not your skin. The white oppressive slave trader called you black and himself white to set up a contrast and to attach negative images and denotations to you based on a lie about color. Look up BLACK in the dictionary.

Research even shows that blacks are perceived by other groups as very different from African Americans. But we still keep calling ourselves what someone else defined us as, what we are not and what has a negative dictionary denotation in society. WAKE UP. LOOK AT THE REAL COLOR OF YOUR SKIN. YOU ARE NOT BLACK. You are an African American. The lie of calling us black and defining us by color (the wrong color) has been in place so long that our people accept it as truth – but it’s not. Know your colors.

Native Americans do not allow others to call them red men. Asians do not accept being called yellow men. Hispanics do not answer to “what’s up brown man”. And Caucasians are not white, notebook paper is white. Wake up and see the plan where white racist supremacists plotted to redefine our people from Africa. STOP CALLING YOURSELF SOMETHING THAT YOU ARE NOT!
AFRICAN AMERICANS ARE NOT BLACK.

Black is the color of your car tires, not your skin author. Being called “black” is a lie and it should be offensive. Haitians, Jamaicans and even Africans do not accept being called “black”, Why do you think that is? They are identified by tribes, klans, geographic areas and their respective countries. By using the very term black to describe us, we are doing the following:

1. Using a term white oppressors and slave masters gave us.

2. Letting someone else define us other than our own people.

3. Calling ourselves something we are not.

4. Buying into thee lie and the negative denotation. Check the dictionary.

5. Being set apart in a way that no other ethnic group allows. Native Americans are not called Red Man. Asians are not called Yellow Man. Hispanics are not called Brown Man. They do not and will not accept being defined by color and by some other race or ethnic group at that.

6. Ignoring our actual color (brown) which means brainwashing has worked. Any time someone can get an entire race, ethnic group or culture to ignore what they are and call themselves what they factually are not, THEY HAVE BEEN INDOCTRINATED, ASSIMILATED AND BRAINWASHED.

7. Playing right into the oppressor’s profiles and stereotypes. Did you know studies show there is a different perception of black people than there is of African Americans? Words create perceptions and perceptions create actions towards us.

WAKE UP. You know your colors. And even though others around the world equated our ancestors with the color of the soil in Africa or the meaning of negro/negroid, that does not change the fact that WE ARE BROWN – NOT BLACK.

If you look in the dictionary or send an email to brainstormonline@yahoo.com, I will send you the research. Facts are facts and YOU ARE BROWN, NOT BLACK. When you receive the revelation of wy they keep calling African Americans “black” and Caucasian people “white”, you may just wake up!

STOP LETTING OTHER GROUPS DEFINE YOU WITH AN OBVIOUS LIE that we have heard and accepted so much that we believe it’s true and forget our colors. The de-programming has to take root or African Americans will forever be defined, limited and oppressed by those who get us to accept a lie.

Marque Anthony says:

May 19, 2016 at 3:20 pm

The church as a whole and in particular the African American church (not black) has lost its impact. It has become much like the world with jets, materialism and choir concerts. Religion has set in and infected the church that Christ created. Sadly too many of our people cannot tell the difference because they will not study to show themselves approved nor expose the errors and deceptions or false teachings in the church today.

There are at least two churches on every major street in our communities yet divorce rates are high in the church. Homelessness is high. Poverty is high. Infidelity is high. Children born out of wedlock are at an all time high. And yet all these churches but little to no impact.

The church Christ founded had power, the power to change lives and transform minds. The church on today is more of a joke, focused on itself and promoting the pastor, collecting money and charging members for everything. THAT IS NOT THE CHURCH CHRIST CREATED. It is the “another gospel” Christ warned us about. It has a form of godliness but denies the power thereof.

So many of our people are infatuated with materialistic pulpit pimps like Creflo Dollar or pedophiles who should be in jail like Eddie Long. The blind are leading the blind and all will fall into the ditch together. If you say I am judging, know that God has both judged and exposed these fakes so I simply relay His message.