Some Churches Don’t Care About Increasing Outreach to Their Community

OK here is a post from Church Relevance that begs the question: "Has anyone thought of using relationships." It seems to me that the methods highlighted in this survey are either event oriented (VBS, concerts, crusades) or passive in nature (tracts/magazines, tapes/dvd's, websites/blogs).

Do you consider any of these forms missional or relational?
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Ellison Research recently discovered that four out of ten pastors lack strong interest in increasing community outreach. At the same time, Ellison Research also learned what the 811 ministers who were surveyed are using to reach their communities.

In the last year,

• 70% use Vacation Bible School
• 59% use tracts or magazines
• 56% use events such as block parties or a Fall Festival
• 51% use musical events or concerts
• 50% use mailings or fliers
• 49% use nursing home or retirement center visits
• 42% use “invite a friend to church” days
• 40% use revivals or crusades
• 38% use evangelism training classes or groups
• 37% use door-to-door visitation within the community
• 31% use community service such as cleanup days
• 27% use online efforts such as blogs or web sites
• 26% use audio or visual products such as tapes or DVDs
• 20% use booths at community events such as the county fair

While some ministers may not be interested in increasing community outreach because they lack the resources to do so, it is still surprising that 40% of the ministers surveyed lack a strong interest.