Shortly after the tragic incidents in Ferguson and North Charleston, Seacoast Church launched a North Charleston campus, and USA Today reported that community was one of the seven deadliest in the country. Church leaders determined to make the community a better, safer place because of their presence.
“That was kind of the catalyst, and God leaning on our senior pastor's heart that we needed to do something about that,” said Glenn Wood, Seacoast Church’s business administrator.
So Seacoast donated 25 body cameras to the North Charleston Police Department to help them preserve the peace. “And we continue to look for ways to partner with the community,” Glenn said.
Homeless Jesus Christmas Pageant
For years, Willow Creek Community Church volunteer, Vic Villanueva, would bring the Christmas message to a local homeless shelter in Elgin, Illinois. After a couple of years, he began to let his homeless friends bring the message to him.
Armed with costumes, towels, robes, and other items that he can sneak out of his basement without his wife noticing, his December serving time turns into a Christmas Pageant. Rather than bringing in his own troupe of performers, however, the homeless guests are the actors and actresses.
'A baby from a homeless family is probably the most authentic actor that we could ever get to play baby Jesus.'
Villanueva equips them to act out the Christmas story for other guests that are too shy to participate, the homeless center staff, and volunteers. He remarks, “It is not uncommon for Mary or Joseph to be in their fifties, and maybe even missing a few teeth, but it always brings pride and joy for them to play those roles. With many of them coming from some pretty tough backgrounds, it is almost as if they finally get a chance to do what they missed out on as children. Sadly, there is occasionally a live newborn among the homeless to be the Christ child. A baby from a homeless family, however, is probably the most authentic actor that we could ever get to play baby Jesus.”
It’s All Church Music
Worship music can be foreign enough to many people’s playlists, so why not meet them in the format where they are already comfortable?
According to Peter Yock, music pastor at Creek Road Presbyterian Church in Brisbane, Australia, “Most young people are using Spotify to listen to music. We decided we needed to get on the Spotify action because that’s where the people in our city already live.”
Spotify and other music streaming services are increasingly useful in church settings. Playlists can be embedded on church websites or emailed, allowing attendees, even worship team members, to familiarize themselves with the music before the worship gathering or to revisit the music afterwards.
It has also proven useful for those considering a church visit. “Music is something people consider when they’re choosing a church,” notes Yock. “They want to know what the ‘musical vibe’ of the church is and what kind of songs they sing. Many people will visit the church’s website first. We just wanted to try and show them what we’re like – and also to point them to Jesus.”
Picture That
Sometimes church announcements are boring and some feel they shouldn’t even be part of the worship service. Others have learned the value of giving announcements 24/7 through the use of social media.
One use is Instagram. The name is described as a portmanteau of "instant camera" and "telegram.” It is based on the theory that one picture, or even the allowable 15 second video, is worth a whole bunch of words. Statistics suggest that people engage with pictures on social media much more than they do text.
Todd Porter of The River Church in Liberty Township, Ohio, started using Instagram “because we wanted to connect with people where they were at during the week with social media. It gives us the ability to communicate upcoming church events, showcase events that happened, give inspirational quotes, share Bible verse, use quotes from Sunday morning talks or verses used, give people our Sunday morning music list to get them ready for Sunday's worship music, and many other applications.”
Porter expressed that any church that is not fully engaged in social media is missing a huge opportunity to impact lives. “We want people in our church to be living out the Gospel every day, not just on Sunday. We feel this helps us to help them in their growing relationship with Jesus.”
