our "outreach" STORY

A friend of mine here in our city messaged me on facebook last week and asked how Grace Community does outreach. In previous churches I would have a program answer for the guy like Evangelism Explosion, FAITH, Door to Door Visitation, but here at GCC we really do not have a program or a system for outreach. Outreach is just part of who we are. From day one of our existence we took what Jesus said in Matthew 28:18-20 literally and started a church that would be focused on those who needed Jesus in our city. When it comes to the rest of our outreach system God gets the rest of the credit. Here is our basic plan of outreach, also known as evangelism.

1. We are a part of the community of faith called Grace Community and God has made us new through salvation and He keeps working in our lives. As we live our lives we tell our story to the people we meet in our community. We love what God is doing at GCC so naturally we invite others to check it out.
2. People get invited to GCC and they come check it out. God works in their lives and they discover what it means to follow Christ. We give them freedom to belong, question, search, serve, doubt, laugh, love, heal, and discover. People are never asked to "have it all together" in order to be a part of this family. For many, God changes their life and they tell other people their story and invite them to come and check out GCC.
3. For many people...they become followers of Christ. God does that, not us. God gets the credit, not us. This is the story of God being carried out here in our city.
   

That is it. There you have it. I guess you can call it STORY outreach because people just keep telling their story of encountering God and discovering Jesus. Many people want to know if we reach people because of a style of service, kids ministry, music, student ministry, teaching, community group...they want us to pinpoint what is the reason people decide to come visit and then reach out to others. The answer can only be credited to God giving people a new story to talk about, a new story to embrace, and new story to begin through Christ. Our "method" of outreach will only work as God keeps giving people a new story and those same people keep talking about it. When that stops and if that stops we should close the doors of GCC, release the staff to find other jobs, and tell people to find where God is working and join that movement. For about 2,000 of us who call Grace Community our spiritual family here in Clarksville this is our story...

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.

We hope you experience that story for yourself. God's story can't be stopped.