What are Outreach Ministries?

Outreach ministries play a vital role in connecting the church’s mission to the community. Outreach is often connected to improving earthly lives, especially for those struggling financially, facing tragedy, or experiencing external adversity. These are important good works that Christians should engage in.

However, for the local church, outreach isn’t just about improving lives—it’s ultimately about saving lives, particularly eternal lives. Outreach ministries are about eternally saving lives. Outreach serves as the transport, bringing people to life-saving evangelism through Jesus Christ. For Christians, the Gospel should be the initiator and the end goal of our outreach efforts.

Over the next week, I’d like to cover a few important facets of this word, outreach, within a series of posts.

• Today, I’ll provide a simple definition of outreach to guide you as you navigate the seemingly never-ending opportunities to volunteer and serve others.
• Throughout the week, I hope to explore some Biblical evidence showing that Jesus actively engaged in outreach ministry.
• Finally, I’d like to close the series with a metaphor: viewing the church as a lifeboat of survivors. This imagery can help us remember and apply our role in outreach ministries—bringing in other survivors who are still lost at sea!

Let’s start our defining journey.

Defining “Outreach” According to Dictionaries

Dictionary.com (or the Random House Unabridged Dictionary) defines outreach as follows:

“An act or instance of reaching out, length or extent of reach” or, as is pertinent to our discussion today, “the act of extending services, benefits, etc., to a wider section of the population, as in community work.”

The Oxford Dictionary provides a more in-depth definition, in my opinion:

Outreach is “the extent or length of reaching out: the loving outreach of God to the world.” Defined further as “an organization’s involvement with or influence in the community, especially in the context of religion or social welfare.”

The connection to God impressed me. It proves that Oxford has done its homework. They continue by offering this relevant example: “the growth of evangelistic outreach.”

Now we’re getting somewhere!

Biblical and Historical Perspective on Outreach Ministries

The Church has been at the forefront of outreach ministries for millennia. Oxford seemingly finds a unique balance between our cultural understanding of outreach and its historical foundation. If you’re a Christian, you may be concerned that these definitions are rooted in a secular context. If so, hold on—we’re almost there.

Remember, we’re trying to define (and hopefully pursue) outreach ministry. As followers of Christ, we should make a concerted effort to perform acts of outreach (perhaps even as defined by Dictionary.com), but with a further end goal. We aim to move past meeting physical needs, engaging in conversations to share the Gospel and becoming ministers of outreach.

Outreach as a Conduit for Evangelism

Throughout the centuries, outreach has been one of the most valuable conduits for spreading the Gospel message. We, the Church, extend services, benefits, resources, time, and prayer with the intent of bringing people to Jesus through outreach ministries.

Join the Conversation, Leave Your Thoughts

• How is your local church currently pursuing outreach ministry?
• In your local community, how is your family or household offering outreach to neighbours?
• How would you define outreach in your own words?