31 Days of Outreach – Day 3
If you’re a young Mom you know the stage well when you have littles clinging to your knees and slobbering on your shoulder. You wouldn’t trade it for the world yet you feel limited when it comes to outreach and serving your community. You hear your preacher talking about the upcoming outreach event at church and your first thought is, “I hope there’s childcare because there’s no way I can do that otherwise.”
There might be a temptation to think we have our hands tied for a period of time when our children are small. We can’t minister or serve with kids in tow. But in actuality young Moms have an incredible chance to share their faith out loud. Christian young Moms have an incredibly unique platform. Don’t swallow the lie that you are limited in your ability to share Christ and serve others because you have small children.
So how in the world do I get involved in outreach when I have a napping baby, a temper-tantrum- throwing toddler and a preschooler? I can’t set that aside to go tell someone about Jesus especially since I just yelled at my kid for spilling the cheerios for the 1000th time today.
That’s the beauty of outreach. You don’t “put it on” for a set time period. You don’t set aside your kids to go “minister” to others. It’s in your heart and an attitude focus you start your day with.
So when you take your kids to the park for that quick sanity break and you’re swinging your toddler be aware of the other Mom who is at the bottom of the slide ready to catch her child. Also notice the other Mom swinging her baby.
That’s where outreach starts. When we have the eyes to see other people around us.
And then ask God for opportunities for conversation to start. Not every conversation will get to the deep and spiritual – because as soon as you casually mention something about God the kids will start throwing rocks at each other or the baby will have a stink bomb blow out like never before and you quickly get diverted. For real. It happens. But keep doing what you’re doing because you know eventually there will be open doors for more conversations because you trust God will do this.
With these thoughts in mind a friend and I started a community playgroup that God used to draw women back into community with his people. This wasn’t a church playgroup but a community playgroup. Our purpose was to gather Moms with kids every other Tuesday for a morning of fun and play. We started this playgroup with the purpose and intent of outreach. We wanted to have opportunities to share Christ with others. Moms in general have a connection – our kids go through similar ages and stages and we just get each other. So it’s a beautiful platform to use to share Jesus with others.
Starting a community playgroup is easy and cheap. It will grow and you will see God work as you pray and seek Him to guide you.
Check back tomorrow for specific, practical ideas for starting a Community Playgroup.
Leave a Reply