Beyond the Red Doors: Community Ministry in 2025
By MAT Community Engagement Convenor: Fr. Dave Mowers
Note: This article was not sponsored by Pepperidge Farm in any way, but we apologize if it makes you hungry.
We bought $900 worth of snacks.
When I handed the check over to the school district receptionist on behalf of Trinity Church Baraboo, she looked at it and said, "Wow, that's a lot of money. What's it for again?"
"Goldfish crackers," I said.
Outreach looks different now in 21st century.
Less loaves and fishes, more individually packaged crackers.
One of our members works as a 7th grade English/Language Arts teacher in the local middle school. As her students prepared for Forward Exams in spring 2023, some of her colleagues mentioned that in other school districts, snacks were provided for middle school students on testing days—because students do better on exams when they’re not hungry. But there wasn’t any funding for these snacks in our district, and the teachers were complaining to each other. "It's too bad that no one cares about this enough to do something about it."
Our member said, "…Wanna bet?"
I got in touch with the district food service director, figured out how much giving each middle school kid a snack every day that week would cost, and then—with our vestry’s blessing—we invited folks to contribute specifically toward that need. Some of our parishioners felt the school district already gets enough in tax money, but were fine if others felt moved to help.
I share that story because I think the most important aspect of engaging our communities in ministry is listening carefully when community members tell you what's needed. In our city—like so many of our cities and towns across Wisconsin—many of our social institutions are dysfunctional. People's tangible needs are growing more dire, and our collective ability to meet those needs is also declining.
So what's not working, and how can churches help fill part of the gap? What are your members who work in helping fields telling you?
If you don't know what's not working, ask people. Take a couple of folks and go meet your mayor. Ask them what your city needs that a church your size (no matter how large or small) could help with. Ask your fire chief if their department has needs a community group could fundraise for. If you're in a city with organized groups of marginalized people, go talk to leaders in those groups—think NAACP local chapter, LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, or community organizing networks like ESTHER or Common Ground. People are always interested in talking to you about what's not working, especially if you're genuinely listening, assessing, and figuring out how your congregation can do something meaningful to help.
Even if something meaningful looks like dropping $900 on Pepperidge Farm products.
