What sort of outreach ministries should a church have?
Every church has the opportunity to reach out to the lost in their area. What kind of outreach
ministries should a church have? First, no single congregation can provide every type of outreach
ministry. In His wisdom, God has uniquely gifted each congregation with those who excel in
particular types of outreach. We can categorize outreach ministries in two types —essential
outreach ministries and optional outreach ministries. There are a few types of outreach that every
church congregation should perform. These practices are essential. While the way they are
carried out will vary, Scripture is clear the church is to reach out in the following areas:
Direct evangelism: Church members should be involved in telling others about Jesus Christ (1
Peter 3:15-16).
World missions: Every church is called to reach out beyond its local community to make
disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20).
Outreach ministries to the poor and needy: Jesus said, “Then the righteous will answer him,
saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And
when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we
see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as
you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me’” (Matthew 25:37-40).
Ministry to the “least of these” must be part of every church’s outreach.
Outreach to children: In Luke 18:16-17, Jesus taught, “Let the children come to me, and do not
hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not
receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
Building on these essential areas of outreach, many other ministries could be developed.
Examples include the following:
Prison ministry: Outreach to the incarcerated and their family members.
Military ministry: Outreach to those who serve in the armed forces and their family members.
Disability ministry: While all churches are called to minister to those in physical need, serving
those affected by disability provides life-changing help to those often neglected by others.
Youth and young adult ministries: Teenagers and college-age students represent a strategic
ministry opportunity and in turn can serve as ministers and missionaries to others.
Senior adult ministries: All churches are called to care for their older members, yet there are
many components of this ministry that can be developed. In-home visitation, hospital visitation,
holiday outreach activities, and much more can benefit those who often feel isolated or alone.
Arts-related ministries: Many artists involved in music, painting, dance, etc., feel a special
connection with other artists that is often not found within the local church. Ministry in this area
can help artists grow spiritually and provide opportunity for the arts to flourish within the church.
Workplace outreach: Since most adults spend the majority of their weekday hours at work,
outreach in the marketplace offers connections to people the church might otherwise miss.
Regardless of the form outreach takes, all churches are called to verbally share the gospel, to
reach out beyond their congregation, and to serve those in need. The method may vary, but the
message is unchanging: Jesus Christ died for sinners, He rose again, and He lives today.
5 Most Common Types of Church Ministry
Now that we have a better idea that ministry is an action, let’s talk about the five types of
ministries churches have.
1. Worship
This is the most obvious type of ministry, where someone serves by worshiping God. This
service helps your church, too, with activities like leading worship and collecting prayers.
2. Outreach
Outreach ministry includes efforts to share the gospel with people outside of your church. These
actions look like serving in the community, hosting Bible study groups, and recruiting more
people to join your church.
3. Teaching
Teaching as a form of ministry is just what it sounds like! Whether in your church or your
community, it is an important act of ministry since it helps educate others about the Bible and
your religious teachings.
4. Guest services
Guest services ministry plays an important role in building your church’s community. These are
the people stationed around your church to answer questions and make people feel welcome.
They also help plan and execute welcome mixers after services and other social gatherings.
5. Children’s ministry
This ministry helps guide the children at your church and in your community. Actions in
children’s ministry include teaching Sunday school, planning outings for kids, and serving as a
youth group leader.
Tips to Improve Your Church Ministry and Keep Up with Trends
1. Offer hybrid opportunities
Hybrid church, with both virtual and in-person offerings, is a big trend these days. More and
more people are interested in being able to connect with their church virtually.
Offering hybrid opportunities for your church members to perform their ministry will help
improve your church ministry overall. For example, they can assist with virtual services or lead
an online discussion board to engage new online members.
While having in-person offerings is a great way to encourage people to come to the church, the
online option seems to be more popular with the younger generation. Millennials are more
comfortable committing to church when they can do it from home.
2. Have a youth ministry
A youth ministry does a lot for your church. In addition to providing meaningful connections to
the young people in your congregation, it also creates opportunities for more ministry in your
church. Youth ministries or youth groups often do a lot of outreach, too. It is said that doing
good in the community is the key to Gen Z. 69% of them are looking for churches that provide
them with such opportunities. Your church can encourage the youth group to take up community
service work. This will build up your church ministry with thoughtful, consistent action. You
will be able to involve and engage more young members in your church and have ardent
supporters for volunteering and fundraising work.
3. Find ways to encourage more involvement
Building a culture of involvement is the key to strengthening your ministry and stewarding more
action. Start with these actions –
Share opportunities to get involved in your church newsletters and through social media.
Provide incentives for volunteer activities like church swag and one-on-one time with
your church leaders.
Publicly thank those who have stepped up during your weekly service.
Send thank-you letters to ministry participants.
Encouraging more involvement starts with you!
4. Target interests
A great way to improve your church ministry is to understand what the members of your church
are interested in doing.
You can collect this information in a few ways –
An emailed survey to regular members.
Church connection cards.
A drop-down option on your donation form.
Once you have that information, you have a list of people interested in specific types of ministry
and can target your communications better. This is a more modern way to build up your
ministry!
5. Fundraise with a purpose
Fundraising to support your ministry means you have the resources necessary to support valuable
ministry work and the people doing it!
Donorbox MinistryMatters enables thousands of churches to fundraise for their ministries with
powerful tools to collect online tithes and offerings. You can set up as many different campaigns
as you’d like to support different areas of your ministry.
Here are some powerful Donorbox products and features that help churches boost giving –
Customizable recurring donation forms with UltraSwift™ Pay to make checkout 4x faster
via digital wallets and QuickDonate™ to make repeat donations easy.
Text-to-Give functionality so churchgoers can access your donation form by simply
sending a text from their smartphones.
Free customizable QR codes with each campaign to use at your church lobby or events to
redirect people to your giving page.
In-person fundraising at your church or events with the Donorbox Live™ Kiosk app that
turns iPads or Android tablets into a giving kiosk within a few minutes.
Crowdfunding campaigns to inspire more giving momentum for building campaigns.
Donorbox Peer-to-Peer to empower your top supporters and youth group to fundraise on
your behalf.
Donorbox Events that makes selling tickets online a breeze – with customizable event
pages and ticketing forms built to boost your church event revenue.
Tithing is a large part of worship and ministry, so it’s vital to have an efficient way to collect
donated funds to support your church! Check out how Abide Ministries embeds the Donorbox
recurring donation form on their website donation page to accept online tithes and offerings from
their supporters.
6. Include a call to ministry
Asking more people to partake in your church ministry sounds simple, but can be difficult to
execute. That’s where your call to ministry comes in. People are more likely to participate in the
church when they feel inspired to do so. This inspiration comes from your sermons that should
include a call to ministry – like a call to action – that encourages them to step up and participate
in your church to fulfill their spiritual duty.
7. Reignite your volunteer program
Church volunteering is down overall, so it’s especially important to put some more effort into
reimagining and reigniting your volunteer program. Using donor management can help you
rebuild your volunteer program with targeted, personalized outreach to your top supporters. With
Donorbox Donor Management, you can sort your supporters by a variety of filters so you know
exactly who you should reach out to.
Donors are automatically added when they donate through Donorbox, or you can manually add
offline donors and volunteers to track their involvement with your church. You can also add
communication notes to donor profiles on Donorbox (as shown below) that help keep track of
which kind of ministry they’re interested in.
8. Host fun community outreach
A big trend these days is that people are looking for unique experiences. Finding a community
outreach opportunity that’s unique and fun is a great way to get people who otherwise wouldn’t
participate in your ministry to roll up their sleeves and get started. And once they get started,
they’re more likely to come back again! Think about unique issues in your area and come up
with an experience-based outreach day that can attract a wide variety of churchgoers.
9. Have friends and family day
Bringing more people into the church is an important act of ministry. It also helps increase
attendance and grow your church. Ask your church members to bring a friend, colleague,
neighbor, or family member to a special service. Connecting with these new people improves
your church ministry while sticking with the modern trend of churches being as welcoming to
the community as possible. Pro tip: Ask visitors to fill out a connection card or sign a guest
book so you can keep in touch and encourage them to return on their own.
