Moose Meat and Winter Coats.

As well as being Director of Student Ministries, I also serve as Deacon of Outreach on our Ministry Team.

This morning, I’ve been thinking about outreach ministries as a whole. Once again, my mind has wandered back to my years in Alaska. We had a couple of very unique outreach ministries that had a great impact on our local community.

First, was our Moose Recovery Program, run in cooperation with our Men’s Ministry.

Moose Meat

Our church worked with local law enforcement to make sure that meat from large road-kill animals was not wasted. I realise that this may sound distasteful to some, who are not accustom to the process.

I assure you that one dead moose can put meat on a families table all winter!

Day or night, our men would receive a call from a State Trooper giving the location that the animal was killed. The men would meet the Trooper, harvest the meat, package it and place it in a freezer located in the church basement.

In the coming weeks, people in our local community who might be struggling financially, knew that they could stop by our church and put meat on their table that night.

The second outward focused ministry was started by two mothers in the church. They had an incredible impact on our local community with a ministry titled Coats4Community.

Winter Coats

It was quite simple really. There was a bin by our church office, where people could drop off coats, snow pants, hats, gloves, etc. If someone came by the church and needed some winter gear, they were free to take a couple of items from the bin.

When the bin was full, the items were taken to a storage unit. Then, at the beginning of winter, our church hosted a Winter Gear Giveaway. Our auditorium would be covered in outdoor clothing items!

Many people were warmer during those winter months, because two mothers had a desire to positively impact our community. Furthermore, our church had a desire to support their efforts.

Join the Conversation, Leave Your Thoughts

How has your church reached local community? What outreach ideas can you share?