Children's Evangelism

[Reuben]

Could we discuss the way that traditional projects for reaching out to un-churched families rarely seem to lead on to anything. Has anyone seen any good models? We have a large parent and toddlers group and lots of church families with young kids - but never the two meet. Many of the un-churched families openly talk about spiritual experiences but seem wary of more contact with the church. We are in a trendy middle class area (our neighbours really did live in a Yurt for two years). We looked at Messy Church (meeting once a month with families for a bible story craft and a meal - see fresh expressions) but it did not seem as "spiritual" as baby yoga or Reiki. I am also reading stuff on emerging church / deep church and want to do something that is accessible and creative but rooted in genuine tradition (not pastiche). What have your churches tried?

[Sally]

I know what you mean! I think there are a few different issues
1. Are the church families keen to reach out to the community or are they only happy to welcome people who come in?
2. Do the church families have non-church friends or are they effectively scared of mixing with those who don't think as they do.
We've had some little success with evangelistic home groups. When relationships are formed and there's trust almost anything's possible but without it almost nothing works.
It's an interesting exercise to get church families talking among themselves about out-there spiritual experiences, exploring how they link with biblical truth but being content to leave some things unanswered and not put into neat little boxes.
A prayer labyrinth for families in our church building was very popular with our church families (and it was wonderful to see parents and kids sharing a very tactile faith experience) That might work for the people you're wanting to reach. It was at night with different 'stations' each with a BIble verse and simple activity to do in your own time and reflect on or chat about. There were things like a washing bowl and suggestions about asking for cleansing through jesus, a DVD of part of The Passion above a board for writing 'Thank - you Jesus', forgiveness areas, surrender points - all Bible linked but with a focus on listening to and experiencing God.

[Reuben]

I think your questions are really helpful. I've been looking at things to do with the non-churched families, but perhaps I first need to talk more with the church families. They all seem so busy I don't know if they (especially the men) have much time for friends Christian or non! I guess they will only make the time for stuff they feel they own (rather then stuff imposed).
I can see us doing something like a labyrinth or stations with children, or with church families but I don't know we'd get non churched families in to do them yet (they perhaps need to get to know us a bit better first).
How did the home groups work? Did church people invite their friends? What did you do about baby sitting? Did you feed people into them from some other evangelistic event? How churchy did you make the groups - did you follow a bible narrative or was it more thematic / topical? Did you pray or sing?

[sheila anderson]

Hi
I'm not sure that it is the model that is important compared to the long term commitment needed by dedicated people in my situation. We've just submitted some info to the Hope organisation about the inter-church outreach work we've being doing. It looks great on paper but when you actually see the number of people from the 7 churches in the area who are interested in reaching out to non churched families it seems very disappointing.

I've found your comments very helpful.