Several years ago, encouraged by a fellow minister, I subscribed to Outreach Magazine. Basically it seeks to be what the title says: it wants to help churches figure out ways to reach their communities for Christ. For that it should be commended.
Eventually, though, I let me subscription drop, but they continue to send it to me. I just don't get a lot out of it. Over time I've figure out that they have two target audiences: 1)the large church which can afford the time, money, and staff to try many different things and 2)the hipster church plant targeted towards 30-somethings that has nothing to lose (sidenote...every person they picture looks like he just stepped out of a Aeropostale ad, even though some run into their 50s). For churches like the one I work with, older churches that have been in decline for a number of years (that is, most churches in the United States), it has very little to say. Yes, once in awhile it will have an interesting idea or an example of what another church did, but even most of their ideas run gimmicky. This month gave snippets about a guy who came back to church because the church next door had a fireworks display, back-to-school giveaways for teachers and kids in poor communities, and a church that formed a running club. Oh, and of course there were the numerous advertisements for seminary educations for the real world, books that would Change Your Ministry Forever, software programs to get your administration running smoothly, God's word coming alive through the Action Bible, and Inspiring and Powerful Guest Speakers who will entertain your audience. Not exactly the same stuff as members sharing the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ or about the powerful Holy Spirit of God.
This month is also their Small Church annual (?) issue, in which they give words of advice from their expert writers (most of whom work at megachurches) that comfort us poor benighted souls stuck with small churches. "Do we measure ourselves as healthy?" "Are our metrics beyond a numbers obsessions?" "Do we celebrate our creativity and involvement and innovation?" Blah blah blah. Heard it before, probably in last years' issue. Basically they don't have anything to say beyond just "hang in there, God loves you too!" I guess they need something to contrast with their annual Megachurch issue where they (no, really) list the largest and fastest growing congregations in the country and profile many of the hipster pastors who lead them. But in this month's issue what was most telling was their section giving small church profiles. Quickly I noticed a trend: in the nine churches profiled, EIGHT were planted within the last five years. The ninth has been around since 1943, has grown to five different sites in San Diego, and runs 225 people...far more than the national church average, and probably placing it in the top 20% of churches...not exactly small by most church standards.
If there is a real benefit to this magazine, it's that it makes me realize how much I love little churches like the one I am blessed to work with. We may not be hip, and we certainly do have our problems, but we do have an existence that is a little bit longer than last week. I desperately want it to grow, but I'd better look elsewhere for ideas on how to do this. I'm sure there are a lot of people who get a lot out of Outreach. But for me, I'd wish they'd change their name to Megachurch Gimmicks and Church Planting Catalogue. Might not get quite the publication numbers, but at least the title would be a bit more honest.
