For churches our sense of community is a big deal. Core to our faith is how God through Jesus calls us his children. We believe people, whatever our background and history, because of Jesus can be now part of God’s family. In the church, we are brothers and sisters in Christ. There is therefore an expectation church will be a strong community. That is the hope, yet many find church a lonely place. It can be hard work to ‘break in’ to the church community. 

Connecting in community is hard work. We are more like Jesus when that hard work is done by those who already belong. For those who call Unley Park Baptist home this is something we keep emphasising: look out for people new to you, say ‘G’day’, connect people to find friends, help people get involved. We want to be a church community that works hard to help others belong.  

There are many ways we build community. It can be through growth groups, serving, or organised opportunities such as family picnics or soup lunches. Here is another opportunity we are going to give a crack: how about after church you take people out to lunch? Each term we will have an “Out To Lunch” Sunday. We are encouraging friends, growth groups, and families to organise lunch together after church and invite more people along. It can be however you like to do lunch. The essentials: it is a group lunch; people connect, and others are invited in. Why not invite people who are ‘new to you’, or could do with stronger connections? The kick-off ‘Out To Lunch’ Sunday will be Sunday, August 27. 

Enjoy, 

Jason 

Photo by Spencer Davis on Unsplash