The Church as Good Neighbor
There has been a lot of discussion going on about whether religion should be part of public life. This kind of theoretical discussion can be thrown around on national television shows. But anyone who lives in a community in any town in this country knows that the church is as vital a part of any community as the town hall, the library or the local swimming pool.
Whether you have religious convictions or not, the role of the church in community life is impossible to ignore. Most churches have as part of their core reason for being that they will reach out to the community in a wide variety of ways to help the needy and provide comfort to those in need of help in the community in which they reside.
Since this country was founded, the church has been a gathering place where important public factions take place. Just take a walk around Boston where the nation was born and you will notice that many of the important public landmarks that were part of the start of this country were churches. To a church, participating in community service is just as natural as a policeman helping a lost child get home. It just is part of who they are what they do.
If you have a community service project in mind, it is never a bad place to start to go to the church and meet with their administrative board. The church knows that if you improve the community, you make people feel more part of the lives of others. And people who want to be involved in the lives of others get out and go to church. So it just makes good sense for your local church, temple or synagogue to be a vital part of any community service project that can make your town a better place to live.
It is important to understand the role the church can play in any community service project in town. The church is probably not the place to go to get massive funding for a huge public works project. But don’t count the church out as a funding resource because within the church there may be many influential and wealthy citizens who might be ready to kick in their fair share to make the town a better place to live.
The church, if it is a vital and living religious body, has at its disposal a strong community of enthusiastic members and the ability to mobilize those members to get out and make a difference in the community. The pastor or priest of the local church has the pulse of his or her congregation and he or she knows how to get them moving on an exciting project and, by the way, how to turn them against one just as fast.
So when you go to the local church to discuss that community service project, think of what means the most to that religious institution. They are not motivated by property values, marketing statistics or traffic the project might generate. A church is interested in the people who might be touched and if the project gives them the ability to make a positive impact on the community. That kind of influence will help people feel open to coming to church again and that is what makes churches grow.
So we should look at churches as places that have a tremendous value to any community service project we might need to get started. As people motivators, they cannot be beat. Church members are joiners and doers and they as a rule can be trusted with money, equipment and responsibility. Churches have small communities such as the youth group, the ladies circle or the men’s fellowship that by themselves can take on a community service project and make it a success. So if you have plans to start a project that is going to make a positive mark on your community, remember a church can always be counted on to be a good neighbor.
PPPPP 679
|
|
|
|
Young Hands Making a Difference What is the more important goal of any kid? Well if you are a kid ...
read more
A Different Kind of Christmas Each year as Christmas season begins to go into full gear, we hear the complaint ...
read more
A Rich Retirement Whether it is you who is approaching those golden years we call retirement or one of your ...
read more
Can Mandatory Community Service Work? Lots of organizations coordinate youth community service work. And you would be hard pressed to ...
read more
Children Reaching Children War is a terrible thing. And the war we are trying to get through right now sure ...
read more
Coming Together There is something about community service that causes a sense of coming together that really is not possible ...
read more
Community Service is a Family Affair Sometimes we think our kids never listen to us. This can be a particularly ...
read more
Frats are not all like “Animal House” When you think of a college fraternity, the traditional image of a hard ...
read more
Getting the Government out of Community Service We live in a time when we tend to look to the government ...
read more
Helping Hands Around the World When we think of community service, we almost always think in terms of our local ...
read more
How the Rich Really Get Richer Somehow we have a fascination and sometimes a disgust toward the wealthiest people in ...
read more
It Takes a Village A few years ago a book came out called “It Takes a Village” that created a ...
read more
Jerry’s Kids Forty one years. That is quite a long time. And that is how long Jerry Lewis has been ...
read more
Merchants Reach Out Sometimes we see some tremendous acts of community service that one of the really big businesses in ...
read more
Real Patriotism Patriotism is a word that has gotten a lot of use in the last few years as more ...
read more
Taking the Hell out of Hell’s Angels. If you have bikers in your community, you can relate to that sense ...
read more
Teens on a Mission from God One of the many great lines from the classic movie The Blues Brothers was ...
read more
The Church as Good Neighbor There has been a lot of discussion going on about whether religion should be part ...
read more
The Evidence of Eagles Most of us at some point or another have met a young man who proudly includes ...
read more
The Good Lawyers When you think of a lawyer, sometimes we get an image of high powered men in flashy ...
read more
The Greatest Generation Not long ago, Tom Brokaw, a well known newsman and author wrote a book about the heroic ...
read more
The Miracle of Habitat for Humanity There may be no more recognizable organization name that comes to mind when we ...
read more
The Power of Working Together All around the country, community service is powered by such a wide variety of organizations ...
read more
Those Men on Tiny Motorcycles and the Funny Hats On the children’s cartoon, The Flintstones, Fred and Barney belong to ...
read more
What’s in it for Them? Have you noticed how many of the really big businesses in every community always seem ...
read more
What You Can Do for Your Country At one time the method for keeping the armed forces supplied with young ...
read more
|
|
Disclaimer
The Publisher has strived to be as accurate and complete as possible in the creation of this website, notwithstanding the fact that he does not warrant or represent at any time that the contents within are accurate due to the rapidly changing nature of the Internet.
This site is a common sense guide to The Church as Good Neighbor. In practical advice websites, like anything else in life, there are no guarantees of income made. Readers are cautioned to reply on their own judgment about their individual circumstances to act accordingly.
This site is not intended for use as a source of legal, business, accounting or financial advice. All readers are advised to seek services of competent professionals in legal, business, accounting, and finance field.
Any perceived slights of specific people or organizations are unintentional.
|
|
Young Hands Making a Difference
A Different Kind of Christmas
A Rich Retirement
Can Mandatory Community Service Work?
Children Reaching Children
Coming Together
Community Service is a Family Affair
Frats are not all like “Animal House”
Getting the Government out of Community Service
Helping Hands Around the World
How the Rich Really Get Richer
It Takes a Village
Jerry’s Kids
Merchants Reach Out
Real Patriotism
Taking the Hell out of Hell’s Angels
Teens on a Mission from God
The Church as Good Neighbor
The Evidence of Eagles
The Good Lawyers
The Greatest Generation
The Miracle of Habitat for Humanity
The Power of Working Together
Those Men on Tiny Motorcycles and the Funny Hats
What’s in it for Them?
What You Can Do for Your Country
| 