Aiming Hearts
Krista Petty

LifeBridge Christian Church in Longmont, Colorado, has a long history of community involvement. As an externally focused church, we have over 40 community agency partnerships, and thousands of members serve in the community throughout the year. Serving outside the walls of the church is a core value reflected throughout every ministry of the church. But what happened when our church of over 3,000 became a multi-site church? With two new worship sites 20 miles from the main campus, we find ourselves back to basics developing externally focused ministries in two new communities.

New Challenges, New Opportunities
Our newest multi-site church, called LifeBridge @ Johnstown, is welcoming many new people. We're in a different county, school district, and social service network, and have a different hospital, police and fire departments from our Longmont main campus. We are at the infancy stage in most of these community relationships. It feels like we're learning to walk all over again!

As a community involvement leader equipping new people in a new church to serve the community, I've learned three valuable lessons in 10 short weeks!

1. Start right away.
Launch with serving before there is a service. Prior to the new multi-site worship service, a small group of volunteer leaders served together in the community. Our Johnstown host pastor, Steve McCarthy, made a few phone calls to the local Chamber of Commerce, and we were able to serve at the annual town summer barbecue. Several months before our worship launched, volunteers got to know one another and know the community. We were also able to build initial relationships with community leaders. In September, when we launched the first official service, the hearts of leaders were already aimed at serving in the community, making it a part of our DNA from the start.

2. Recognize there are various stages in volunteering.
Eric Swanson, co-author of The Externally Focused Church , notes that people have different levels of engagement in serving others, especially in community work. According to Swanson, there is value in both frequency and depth of engagement. Leaders of volunteers should move people into serving more often and in ways that are more meaningful. "People first give money and things. Next, they give time to projects. Finally, you want people to serve people," says Swanson.

With that in mind, our young church started by giving donations and time to special projects. In a partnership with social services, LifeBridge @ Johnstown adopted 40 foster kids to buy gifts for this Christmas. While giving money was a valuable starting place, it was not the final resting place. We also asked church attendees to participate in one of four community service projects in December. Again, we sought to build partnerships with what was already happening in the community, rather than create something ourselves. For most of our projects, the church partnered with the local parks and recreation department to help with kids' crafts, games, and a chili supper at an annual holiday parade and festival.

3. Take aim and don't underestimate!
This has been the hardest lesson for me personally. I've been pleasantly surprised that 60 percent of LifeBridge @ Johnstown attendees were engaged in a service project during December. But my biggest surprise is the capacity for this new church to give. I admit that I was very nervous about accepting those 40 foster care angels for adoption by our church. (I even thought about giving 15 back!) Our average attendance, while good for the size of our small town, had been less than 200. Added to my anxiety was the fact that we only had two weekends to accomplish this, and one of them was during the Thanksgiving holiday, when a lot of regular attendees travel.

While meeting with a friend who works in social services, he shared with me two rescue stories. The first story was about a family living in a small shed. Their toilet was a bucket in the corner. It was hard for me to believe this was happening in our community. The second story was about two older children who had been missing school. Social services went to their home to find out why. When they got to the door, they could smell the methamphetamine lab inside. As the parents were arrested, a social worker and the two children prepared to go to foster care. Instead of crying that his parents were being handcuffed, one of the children elbowed the counselor and with great sadness asked, "What took you so long?" Both stories fueled my personal mission to see that these kids and all 40 angels would have a gift for Christmas—even if I had to do it myself!

But God doesn't intend for us to go it alone. His desire is for us to bring people with us on the journey. The weekend of our foster care angel launch, I was asked to give a devotion during the worship service. That's not something I'm comfortable with or very capable of doing. So I prepared a safe, short talk about the value of serving the community, letting your light shine, and making a difference. Moments before I was to speak, I realized that the people in our church needed their hearts aimed directly to a need God cares so much about. God loves and cares for orphans. I knew, however, that I would have a very hard time retelling those rescue stories. (My family times how long I can last without crying while watching Extreme Home Makeover !) I shared the stories with shaking hands, microphone, and voice.

Not saying anything about the foster care gift program, I simply told the little crowd of 75 worshippers three rescue stories: two from my friend in social services and one from Romans 5:7-8. "Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Thirty-nine foster angels were taken that very first day! Only one angel was left for my family to claim. As people took angels after the service, I told them more stories. I was even able to share with a few that there may be mentoring opportunities coming soon with children in social services. Through those conversations, I hope to build a foundation to move people into the next stage in serving: person to person.

I'm embarrassed that I almost gave 15 angels back for someone else to handle and that I almost talked myself out of sharing the rescue stories because of my own insecurities. While there are still many lessons our new church is sure to learn about serving our community, the most important lesson to date is to never underestimate what God will do when you aim—even in a small church in a small town.

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!" ( Ephesians 3:20-21).

Krista Petty is a coach for Externally Focused Churches and writer for a variety of Christian organizations and publications. She is a volunteer on the LifeBridge Christian Church community involvement team, leading the church's efforts at the Johnstown, Colorado, multi-site. You can e-mail responses to this article to the author at krista_petty@msn.com .

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