| 1. |
Visit
at least once or twice to the aged and the poor and to share
their suffering and to tell them of their importance as children
of God. |
| 2. |
we
should encourage more intellectual approaches to education and
encourage more physicians and lawyers, etc. to graduate from St.
JOhn's. We need their input and families we help blend in with
our congregation. Where are your leaders? |
| 3. |
Neighborhood
Budget classes geared for women where staying at home is de
facto, and, where going to a lecture with child care provided is
a treat. Coupon clipping ensues. Larger hats start appearing
amongst the congregation, and, Watch Out! St Johns will have
grown into a program church all because we sought to actively
improve the lives of women. Men will gradually behave, dress
sharper and speak with less acerbic wit. |
| 4. |
prison
ministry |
| 5. |
The
church may be overextending itself in attempting to do too many
things. Are there enough members and enough need in the
community to support all these ministries? The Community Center,
North Central Caregivers and a Mother's Day Out program always
need our support. |
| 6. |
As our
society continues to decline the government will do less and
less of the work tearmed here as "outreach". We must
be prepaired to take up the slack. Expanding our services as
social services evaporate (and they'l know we are Christians by
our love). |
| 7. |
It's
not that one of these is better than another, they all have
merit. I think we need to identify what is an important outreach
program in terms of the needs of our particulat community. |
| 8. |
Maybe
we couldhave a Scout troop meet at St. John's o other nonprofit
groups... |
| 9. |
There
are groups of refugees (especially African) arriving our
community regularly and they are moving into North Austin. The
Episcopal Migration Ministries helps them relocate. Since we are
the closest Episcopal Church, I think we need to help them
become productive members of our community. There are many
refugee children who attend Cook Elementary and do not know how
to speak or read English. We need some ESL classes for the
entire family. |
| 10. |
We can
stretch ourselves to far, but the ideas above sound like good
ways to encourage parishioners to branch out in their efforts to
meet the needs of others. |
| 11. |
more is
better |
| 12. |
One of
the most effective ways St. Johns could reach out to our
community (geographic area) would be to provide an affordable
day care program for infants through 4 year olds. It would not
be easy, but would be possible. Providing a "senior
center" with activities and possibly "senior day
care" is not as interesting to me, but is a need for the
community. |
| 13. |
In
smaller churches, need to cover a few basic outreach programs ;
otherwise, volunteers are spread a little too thin, and not
doing very well on any program. For other outreach programs,
link with larger (sister) church providing many outreach
programs. |
| 14. |
Be
careful about undertaking too many programs. You'll burn out
your leadership. |
| 15. |
Programs
that deal with social outreach - ie crime, addiction, and single
parenting come to mind primarily. |
| 16. |
Many of
these programs are beyond our resources as an individual
congregation, but we can join with other churches in the area
(regardless of denomination) to reach out. I think we should
make our facilities available to groups at minimal or no charge
who are working with people facing a crises such as AA or NAMI.
The same goes for youth programs such as the scouts. |
| 17. |
Must
first consider what resources are available. |
| 18. |
I would
like to see St. John's new Parish center/classroom center used
frequently for community outreach events - such as classes,
bridgeclub, social events for elderly, etc. It could really help
to have a St. John's van that would be available to pick up and
drop off both seniors and children. |
