As a denominational worker, I sat through countless trainings where visitation was considered a thing of the past as an outreach tool. The truth is, when a church is not held hostage by trends and theological debate, it has the freedom to equip its people to serve in ways that work in their community.
Contemporary views on church outreach lead to a crucial question: What does evangelism look like in 2025? Furthermore, are we limited to technology as the only means of engaging our neighbors? And what about the churches that continue to practice traditional ways of outreach? Practice may not lead to perfection, but it can produce effective results. This has become clear to me in recent days.
Derek Crawford
A little over four months ago, my wife was offered her dream job coaching at a Division 1 university in Charleston, S.C. It is a wonderful school with a rich heritage, committed to its students and staff. The field where they play is 300 yards from the ocean. It is perfect fit for my wife and our family.
However, we were living in Southern Oklahoma, where I was in a healthy ministry position and she was coaching at a nationally ranked college. Things were good and easy. After the call and a visit to the coast, we were convinced — and still are — that God led our family on a new journey to South Carolina.
Despite what many people will tell you, a cross-country move is still a major ordeal for an established family with three boys. Not only did we leave family, friends and our home for the past 13 years, we also relocated to a foreign land for rural Oklahomans. And for the first time in a looooooooong time, we were looking for a new church.
“For the first time in a looooooooong time, we were looking for a new church.”
If you never have been to the Charleston area, you might be surprised to learn it is growing at an extremely high rate. Traffic is off the charts, housing additions are springing up everywhere, and there are many churches to choose from.
We visited several churches in our area. We visited one church where the pastor made it clear from the pulpit that all these “new” people are making it hard for “long-timers” to get around town. The lukewarm reception we received at the door turned cold as the sermon concluded. We quickly marked this congregation off the list.
We visited a few other churches that placed significant emphasis on homeschooling. No offense to my homeschooling friends, but my wife and I both have served in education and vocational ministry; we like to invest in local schools.
After several weeks, I was beginning to get discouraged. I had been the director of missions of a healthy, active Baptist association. Furthermore, we were members of a wonderful church. My boys were beginning to miss Wednesday night church. We had not found a church that fit.
It was about this time that I was working in the front yard of our new home. I was breaking down some boxes for trash collection when a woman walking down the street asked if we were new to the neighborhood. I said yes, and she didn’t skip a beat, “If you don’t have a church yet, you should come visit my church. You’ll love it.” She told me which church, gave me directions and service times.
We visited the following Sunday and loved it. However, it wasn’t until a few days later that confirmation came to the front door.
A deacon from the church stopped by our home, thanked us for visiting and asked if we had any questions. As he was leaving, he gave my wife a jar of cookie ingredients we could easily mix to make homemade cookies, then said: “Welcome to our town. Our church would love to have you be a part of what God is doing in our congregation.”
“The cookie jar was a life raft in the middle of a stormy season.”
Many readers will think I am overplaying this event. But for six weeks, our family had experienced a massive move. This was six weeks of fast-food meals, six weeks of living out of a suitcase. The deacon walked into a house surrounded by boxes; it was a mess. Despite the chaos, he met us in the storm, and the cookie jar was a life raft in the middle of a stormy season. Those cookies were the first home-cooked thing my boys had in ages, and they were manna from heaven.
This gesture was the icing on the cake (or cookie) as we found a church that genuinely cares about us and the community.
Let me explain a bit further.
Mrs. Pat leads the Cookie Jar Ministry at Summerville Baptist Church. The ministry has been going 30 years, and Mrs. Pat has led it for the last two decades. She is in her 80s, serving the Lord as best she can and, in the process, reaching people with the love of Jesus Christ. She leads a crew of several members who meet once a quarter and make a couple of dozen jars. All in, the process takes about an hour and a half. But as the team works, two things happen: glorious fellowship and kingdom work.
This ministry stems from a culture fostered by the leadership at Summerville Church. The congregation makes a conscious effort to engage its community through a process the pastoral team describes as a “covenantal love.” After all, the love of Jesus meets us where we are. Thus, our responsibility as followers of Jesus is to do the same to our neighbors.
This philosophy fosters beautiful ministries like Cookie Jars, Moving Ministry, Singles Engagement and many others. This encourages church members to use their passions at any stage of life to serve others.
Summerville Baptist Church should serve as an encouragement to churches everywhere. There is peer pressure among churches to try the next trendy gimmick to reach people. Old-fashioned practices also can be viewed with contempt as being out of touch. However, there is an argument to be made that when an act of service is done in the name of Jesus, God blesses the act for God’s glory. We simply need to be faithful to use the gifts God gives us.
When you are in the trenches of church ministry, it is easy to be drawn into the theological battles of the day. Calvinism, denominational politics and human rights are among many worthy topics churches navigate as they seek to be faithful to God’s call and cooperate with other congregations. However, if we are not careful, controversial issues can capture our hearts and blind us to the basic building blocks of serving Jesus.
Homemade cookies might give us a fresh vision. It may not be flashy, but meeting people where they are still works. Mrs. Pat and her team open the doors for deacons, Sunday school workers, children and youth workers to connect with families. This is a practical picture of faithful service in action.
Derek Crawford is a former director of missions and pastor in Oklahoma who currently serves as an educator in South Carolina.