Bible Study Event Evangelism Holidays Missions Prayer Community Outreach Family Ministry Leadership Development Organizational Helps Publicity Devotionals Finances Local Ministry Personal Development Spiritual Development

Reader Poll

What resources do you need most as you lead Women’s Ministries Unlimited! in your church? Leadership training Bible studies Ideas for meetings Outreach ideas Ideas for ministering to a diversity of women View Results

 

Community Outreach

Are Precious In His Sight

Renee Duncan

"Red and yellow, black and white; All are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world."

My daughter, at the ripe young age of 8, loves singing this song. Yet she is recognizing that while Jesus may love the individual no matter what her color or ethnicity, other people do not. We see racial prejudice every day in the headlines of our newspapers: "White Supremacist Suspected in Beating Case," or "Anti?Semitism on General Rise in Local Town," and the list goes on.

Where are God's people in this struggle? Are we sitting in the pews watching the crowds go by, or are we trying to reach people of all ethnicities? We, as women of God, have a wonderful privilege to reach people of different cultures. God has already established in women compassion, nurturing, and love. We need to reach out like never before and experience the closeness God desires in the lives of His children.

We can do this in a number of ways:

1. Examine what you (or your Women's Ministries group) are doing to reach the different cultures in your area.
   
   
2. Explore the different cultures in your community, and discover their needs.
   
   
3. Discuss new avenues of ministry to reach different ethnicities for Christ, as well as forming friendships.
   
   
4. Pray for your new ministry.
   
   
5. Keep in mind that we are all equal, with similar experiences. The feelings of rejection and loneliness are familiar to us all. Christ created us all, desires to live in us all, died for us all, and loves us all equally.

Everyone involved can find benefits. We establish new friends, become aware of new cultures, receive a richness in spirit from each other, and possibly see a new soul enter God's kingdom. I have experienced joy when I meet and establish a friendship with a person from another culture. I have many happy memories of these friendships.

Open your horizons, expand your experience, stretch your boundaries, and reach out to touch other cultures with the love of the Lord. If you don't, many will go into eternity without hope. You will make a difference when you extend a hand to others.

Use various avenues to reach others in your area. Check the local newspaper for social gatherings of such groups as: African American, American and Native Indians, Asian, Caucasian, Cuban, Deaf, Haitian, Hispanic, Jewish, and others.

Organize a culture awareness day and/or week in your church. Contact people from various nationalities and ask them to set up a booth to explain their culture, and provide sample foods for guests to taste. Plan to have a craft meeting to allow an item from each culture to be highlighted.

Sponsor a dinner each month and choose a menu from a different culture. Ask each woman to share a recipe from her background. Seek out and interview women from different nationalities to better understand their way of life. Volunteer at a business which caters to people of different ethnicities. Get involved in your community and you will see the doors open for ministry to other cultures.