Church and Community Orientation

by Dr. Rubye J, Johnson
(Sumter, SC)

When our pastor was relatively new to our church and therefore, to our community, we had a great idea to help orient them to the area. They were anxious to meet people and get to know the community.

Year One: Introduce Your Pastor to the Community

First, we arranged for introductions to civic leaders, clergy, institution heads, and governmental entities through scheduled visits and tours we arranged.

Later in the year, several of the leaders of the organizations we visited were invited to our church for various purposes. For example, the Mayor presented a key to the city to the pastor on one occasion.

Year Two: Supporting Your Pastor's Ministry Passions

In the second year we focused on two key passions of our pastor: Missions and Ministry Service.

The Missionary Society invited the pastor and her spouse to a very good movie and dinner party. That event was fun and fulfilling, but more important was our church was in step with the pastor in his love for World Missions!

Also in year two our children and youth hosted a Pastor Appreciation event. The program was a talent show featuring various teens and children. Biblical trivia was keyed to the theme "DEDICATED TO THE ONE I LOVE". (You can use other themes in future years but that it featured our children and teens was the key to great response we had.)