CEB Blog - Back to School Events: Create or Participate?

Back to School Events: Create or Participate?

As anyone involved in family ministry knows, the back-to-school season is one of the busiest times of the year. The activities of summer are not quite over, yet preparations for the coming school year have begun. There is a flood of orientations, supply giveaways and end-of-summer hurrahs. With these come all manner of ideas and invitations for what your church can be doing to reach out to the community. At some point leading up to or during the back-to-school season, you may be approached with some variation of a well-intended church member saying, I saw this event going on in the community, and I think our church should do one too! While our initial instincts may be to green light any idea for excited church activity and community engagement, these observations should cause us to pause and ask—Is it wise to create a new event when a similar event is already occurring in the community?  

The resources it takes to create something are exponentially greater than the resources necessary to participate in something already ongoing. If we are going to ask our church to create an event when there are opportunities to participate in something similar in the community event instead, good stewardship compels us to have a strong reason for doing so. What makes for a good reason to create rather than just participate? To answer this, we need to know the purpose of the event we are trying to create in the first place. 

Whether we are planning to give away school supplies or have some end-of-summer fun, the primary purpose of all our community outreach is evangelistic in nature. While we minister, serve, fellowship and give, we do so under the direction of the Great Commission—to go and make disciples for Jesus Christ. Yet, if our purpose is to be evangelistic, is there any reason that we cannot be evangelistic by participating in an event already organized by the community? 

One reason may be that the community event limits or does not have opportunity for personal interaction. Some supply drives are like this, with a general collection and disbursement without any connection between the ones that are giving and the ones that are receiving. While we ought never to give merely for the sake of being seen (Matthew 6:1-4), your church may consider its resources more wisely spent by doing the work of collecting supplies and distributing them in a personal way so that relationships can be formed and opportunities for ongoing ministry can be created. 

Another reason your church may opt to create its own event is that the nature of the other community event, the activities that will be occurring or the sponsors of the other event may give the church good reason to refuse to participate. In all that we do as Christians, we operate as ambassadors of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God. Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8 both keenly depict the tension between the liberty we have in Christ and the obligation we have to do all for His glory. Through godly, Bible-centered, Spirit-led leadership, a church must deftly navigate the tricky waters of its culture, remaining true to Christ’s description of it—being in the world, but not of the world. 

In some communities, there is not another event or activity like what your church has in mind. Occasionally, you will identify gaps that no one else has filled, yet the Lord has blessed your church with the capability of doing so. Realizing a need that has been neglected and mobilizing the resources God has given you to meet that need is one of the purest expressions of godly love there is (1 John 3:16, 17). We should not let an opportunity like this pass us by. 

However, if we give an honest evaluation, we may find that the reason we want to create our own event rather than participate in one in the community is our own comfort. When we make our own event, we set the agenda, make the rules, operate on our schedule and tend to serve an environment that is comfortable and familiar to us. If we are not careful, we can become self-contained monasteries. Instead of taking the gospel to the world, our message to the lost becomes, “We have good news for you, but only if you will come to us and listen.” 

There is a substantial cost when we choose to create rather than participate. It is a price paid in time, labor, money and emotional investment. Sometimes that price is absolutely worth paying. However, if we are not committed to self-examination and wise stewardship, we may just find it is a price we pay at the expense of our gospel purpose.

T. J. Blankinship graduated from Emmaus Baptist College with a Bachelors in Theology and a Bachelors in Elementary Education. While pursuing his degrees and following his graduation, and T. J. served as youth pastor at Riverview Heights Missionary Baptist Church for nine years, during which he was ordained. In 2021, he moved to Flint, MI where he presently serves as pastor of Friendship Missionary Baptist Church. He is blessed to serve the Lord alongside his wonderful wife Leah and (soon to be joined by) his daughter Aletheia.