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Partnerships and Outreach Mechanisms. Christian education inside and outside of the church. What are we doing now?. What is working for you in the area of youth and family ministry? What is working for you when it comes to evangelism?
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Partnerships and Outreach Mechanisms Christian education inside and outside of the church
What are we doing now? • What is working for you in the area of youth and family ministry? • What is working for you when it comes to evangelism? • How does your church desire to be known in your community? • What activities are you doing to match that desire? • If you were going to ask a parishioner, what is the point of outreach in the context of your congregation? • Are we looking to merely spread the Gospel? • Are we looking to grow in number? • Are we trying to shoot both of those targets at the same time?
What did you come up with? • Unique ways Faith is known in the community. • VBS • Preschool • Home Owners Association • Community parents of kids with special needs • Partnership with IU20 • First Responders’ picnic • Trunk or Treat • Polling Place
New things we are trying… • German Dinner for the community – Doubles for a Youth Fundraiser • Post Card Mailer – Thrivent grants can cover this. • Include non-member preschool families in the picture directory – half of our families want to be included, and this might be a gateway for them to belong, and grow a relationship with them. • Dates with Dad – Breakfasts that offer an opportunity for kids and dads to spend some time together with a short devotion. • Every event has information and an invitation to the next event because “Faith is a place where families grow.”
Lutheran Education Statistics Information taken from data submitted to the LCMS in 2018 - 2019
1950 Schools reported their statistics • 61% (1188) have less than 100 students enrolled. • 39% (762) are greater than 100 • 18% (356) are greater than 200 • 2% (31) are greater than 500
We had a total of 201,307 Students enrolled. • 48% (96,872) are Early Childhood • 43% (86,208) are K-8 Students • 9% (18,317) are 9-12
Of those students, 179,833 gave us church membership information. • 33% are LCMS Lutherans (57,615) • 3% are other ‘Lutheran’ (5,631) • 65% (116,287) are either Non-Lutheran or non-churched (25% or 44,174 are non-churched).
What does this mean? • Most of our schools are less than 100 students. • Most of those schools are early childhood centers or preschools. • Most of the students in those schools are non-Lutheran or non-Churched. • Given the size of the school, and the steady stream of good news from our Synod regarding congregational size and resources, there might also be concerns with finance, accreditation, and staffing.
How about our beloved government? • President Obama in 2013’s State of the Union address urged expansion of education programs to include early childhood education or universal pre-kindergarten. • This is an initiative that has been widely supported all over the world, by many different groups including the United Nations, and even in our own church body. • But there is a lot of speculation over what this means for private pre-k education moving forward. There is tension over funding, and differing approaches for implementation. • There are also differences of opinion over how to correctly interpret the data that identifies universal pre-k as a good thing.
What can we do? • Instead of waiting for the state to figure out what it is going to do and how it is going to be done, we have an opportunity to continue to educate young people in our community. • Why not work to build relationships with Elementary schools, families, and kids in the neighborhoods that surround our churches? • This has always seemed like a great idea, that is too daunting for a small congregation or a church with limited resources.
A New Opportunity (At least to us) • Child Evangelism Fellowship • 6 weeks outside of planning • We are running the program with 7 people • We partner with Child Evangelism Fellowship for administration • They help and guide through the background check process. • They help facilitate the relationship with a local Elementary School. • They help with administrative tasks & cover us with insurance. • They give us latitude to present the material and be confessional Lutherans with their material. • After the 6 weeks, your volunteers are done until they want to do it again. • You’ve built relationships with people in your community that can grow, with a 2/3 chance that you’ve introduced non-churched or at least non Lutheran kids to the Gospel.
