Your Community is Waiting for You

Whitney Hopler

Needs surround you in your community - families are falling apart, people are losing jobs and lacking education, citizens are suffering the violent blows of crime. Government agencies do what they can to help, but churches have the power to make the most significant impact for change. Your neighbors need the hope that only Christ can bring, because only He can truly transform their lives.

It's great to pray for people, but God also wants you to serve them. He wants you to go outside your church's walls to bring your neighbors the hope that only He can offer.

Here are some ways your church can become the answer to some of your community's needs:

Adapted from It Takes a Church to Raise a Village, copyright 2001 by Dr. Marva L. Mitchell. Published by Treasure House, an imprint of Destiny Image Publishers, Inc., Shippensburg, Pa., www.destinyimage.com, 1-800-722-6774.

Dr. Marva Mitchell is the pastor and cofounder of Revival Center Ministries International. She pastored with her husband for 20 years before he passed away. They co-founded Project Impact Dayton, an agency that works with children and their families. She also founded Love School, a Saturday program for inner city children. She oversees a fellowship of churches called God's WILL, and teaches church agency development across the nation.

Do you think your church is doing enough to serve people in your local community? What are some of the ways your church is doing well at this, and how can your church improve in this area? Why do you think it's important to constantly be looking outward as a congregation, rather than inward? Visit Crosswalk's forums to discuss this topic by clicking on the link below.

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