Inviting non-Christian Residents to events

If it is done in the right way, this can be a great way of building your residents into a living and active community. Not all of these will be appropriate for your residents. Before welcoming residents into a particular church ministry or activity, consider carefully whether it may present unnecessary stumbling blocks.  

You may want to consider looking some examples include:

• ‍Sport - Church Football team – You may have an existing team or you could start one. The Good Shepherd Mission, a church in Bethnal Green, East London, started a church football team three years ago with the specific aim of reaching out to marginalized men. The team consists of homeless people, alcoholics, drug addicts, unemployed people and ordinary members of the congregation. They started by going to the local projects that were working with vulnerable men and welcomed anyone who wanted to play. On Wednesday mornings the group plays football, does fitness and skills training which is followed by a hot lunch and a bible study. They also have scheduled friendly matches against other local teams – in December 2011 they took on a team of bankers in Canary Wharf! Ryan Lynch, one of the leaders of the group said, ‘people are really being affected by the Gospel and we’ve had a number of guys now make a profession of faith… Football is a great tool to reach out in the local community.” This is of course, not limited to football; it can work for pretty much any team sport.  
• ‍Foodbanks – The Trussell Trust have seen a huge increase in demand since the recession. They gave out 1.6million food parcels in 2018-19. So if your church doesn’t already have a Foodbank and there isn’t one locally, then the community probably needs one. Not only is this a great way of reaching out into the community, it is also a very obvious way that your residents can give a little back – something residents often ask for opportunities to do. To find out more about Foodbanks go to http://www.trusselltrust.org/  
• ‍Mid-week bible study – This is an obvious but very effective means of introducing people to Jesus. At the GrowTH church night shelter in Tower Hamlets a weekly bible study for guests and ex-guests was started after a Christianity Explored course proved very popular in the shelter. The team chose not to provide food  (and there happens to be lots of free food available to the homeless in Tower Hamlets) so attendees were coming solely for the bible study). Seb Rumsby, the shelter coordinator said, “We have a regular group that are meeting and studying God’s word together. One of the group has now become a Christian and the whole atmosphere in the shelter has changed for the better.” See more ideas about format below. ‍
• Painting and decorating – Green Pastures partners The Lighthouse in Rotherham have now been running a successful social enterprise project in painting, decorating and construction. This enterprise is part of their rehabilitation programme for alcoholics and drug addicts. So far, they have seen great success with a number of guys not only overcoming their  alcohol addictions but also finding Jesus. Patrick, a former alcoholic who now works full time for the Lighthouse said, “A few years ago I had no sense of purpose, no reason to get up, I didn’t know any other way…I am shocked at what I do now. I am on site looking after two lads who are training at college one day a week... Me!”  
• ‍Cleaning and maintaining church buildings – More than simply paying residents to maintain church buildings, a great way of discipling residents is to have a mature believer work alongside them. This model can work well when you have a building manager or church manager who has a specific heart for marginalized people. This is the case at St. Barnabas Church in North Finchley, where the building manager Dave Harvey has a heart for disadvantaged men. Over the last 5 years, Dave has taken on apprentices, many of whom were formerly homeless with alcohol issues, and trained them in maintenance whilst teaching them about Jesus. Three or four have now become Christians and are becoming part of the church. ‍
• Volunteering at Night shelters – A model inviting formerly homeless people to volunteer at night shelters has been used in almost all the church night shelters in London. Residents who have a past experience of homelessness often make the best volunteers. This is the same for soup runs. An example of a church run night shelter is  www.thisisgrowth.org ‍
• Hospitality – A disproportionate number of homeless people are chefs. If not chefs, many have worked as kitchen porters or in catering due to the often casual nature of that work. This means offering residents roles in catering or hospitality may well give them a chance to really shine. Alpha courses often require large catering efforts, so this could be a way of getting your residents in churches, hearing a gospel message and doing something (cooking) they may be passionate about. ‍
• Wider church link up - think about how you can integrate your ministry to the homeless with the wider life of the church, for the benefit of all. For example - if Sunday School teachers are not part of the homeless ministry, how do the two communicate to allow helpful connections between them?