"We've Never Done It That Way Before!"

By Joel Franks

How many times have you heard someone utter that phrase? Sometimes, I’ve wondered if it is not our denominational motto. Truthfully, whether you consider yourself a traditionalist, a progressive, or anything else, you must battle that thought. When it comes to outreach, we must all overcome the idea that something we have never done is something we must never do.

For our church plant in Athens, Alabama, it is essential to make outreach a priority. When you start with six people, you must reach out, or you never have a church! As a result, we have done many things to promote the name “Cultivate Church” to the people of Athens. We have had some original ideas, borrowed some ideas, and ditched some ideas, but we are constantly looking for ways to build relationships in the community. Most of these are things we have never done.

Most everything we do to reach out involves the church giving to the community. This is different from what most unchurched people expect. Because of church scandals and televangelists, many people expect the church to take rather than give. So, when the church offers a free oil change to single moms, widows, and the wives of deployed military members, the community takes note. When the church delivers a free lunch to everyone at a business, the employees pay attention. When the church hosts a community carnival to give children a great time (and some candy), they begin to see we care about the people around us.

This really is the key. We must care about and for the people in our communities. Jesus commanded us to love our neighbors as ourselves. All of us agree with this commanding principle, yet somehow, we often limit its practice. We share meals with our neighbors in the pews. But this does nothing to show love to the neighbor who doesn’t attend church. Too many Free Will Baptists think outreach is a fellowship with church friends that we invite non-attenders to join. But in our experience, true outreach provides nothing to us save tired bodies and the satisfaction of knowing we obeyed God by loving our neighbors.

We also have learned we cannot be afraid to try something just because we haven’t done it before. Our resources are limited, as they are in most of our churches. But we cannot be afraid to use them to do what God has called us to do—go and make disciples.

Sometimes, we fail to make the connections we desire. Some outreach ideas were unsuccessful. To be honest, they stunk! But that has not discouraged us from obeying the Lord who commanded us to make disciples. We cannot make disciples without building relationships. When something doesn’t work, we mark it off the list and don’t do it anymore. But we don’t give up, and we don’t allow our failures to prevent us from taking a risk to try to make a difference in the future.

This becomes the culture of the church. Granted, it is easier to create that culture in a brand-new church. But as we push our churches to make disciples, and as they see people coming to Jesus, the excitement becomes contagious, and the culture of the church changes. Then, the body begins to initiate discipleship opportunities. The church begins to think creatively about how to reach their neighbors.

We have seen this first-hand recently. We have struggled to reach out to teens in creative ways, but we reached a family with two teens still at home through a providential encounter at the gas station. After a few months of hearing us teach about making disciples, one of the girls, 15-year-old Kenzie, came to us with her own idea for an event for teen girls. A student-led Friday night Q&A is something we would not have attempted. But our ladies look forward to ministering to those young people in a few weeks, and because Kenzie is reaching out, several have promised to come already. We’ve never done it that way before! But what a great blessing when something different results in the church doing what it is called to do.

About the Writer: Joel Franks is planting Cultivate FWB Church in Athens, Alabama, as a joint project with North American Ministries and the Alabama State Mission Board. Learn more: www.fwbnam.com.