Why is Outreach so Important?

Why is Outreach Important?

Outreach is important to our church because it is important to God and that makes it important to every Christian for the following reasons:
• Outreach was commanded by Christ. Before His ascension, Jesus told the disciples that their impact on the world should start in their city and expand its influence into the entire world (Matthew 28.19; Acts 1:8; 2 Peter 3:9).
• Outreach is necessary for growth. Worship, discipleship, and serving are important, but if you never progress to the next stage of maturity by being involved in outreach, you will be spiritually lacking and incomplete. In life, organisms that cannot reproduce themselves are generally considered immature, unnatural, unhealthy, or damaged. If one is truly walking with God in discipleship, worship, and service, then outreach will be a natural result. All living things have the ability to produce offspring like themselves. A living church is reproducing, while a dying church has no heart or burden for the lost in their community, state, nation and world (Matthew 9:9-12).
• Outreach both glorifies and pleases God. The Bible tells us that doing God’s work is like a tree bearing a lot of fruit. Jesus told us that God is glorified when we bear fruit by reaching out to others (John 15:8; 1 Timothy 2:3–4).
• Outreach models the life of Christ in meeting needs. Jesus taught us that serving others is the same as serving Christ himself (Matthew 25:31–46).
• Outreach is needed for the survival of Christ’s church. Outreach is to a church what birth is to humanity. Without the reproduction of faith the body of Christ would cease to exist (Luke 15:7).
• Outreach is necessary to reach the world. Of the six billion people in our world, two billion live in unreached people groups with no access to the good news about Christ. Two-thirds of the world’s population are lost without Christ and will not know Him unless Christians fulfill their obligation to go, tell and send (Matthew 28.19; Romans 10:14).
• Outreach results in God’s blessing and favor on your life. The Bible is very clear that God intends to bless those whose hearts are focused on reaching out to lost and hurting people. God clearly affirms those who share His passion and heart for reaching out to those who do not know Him (Genesis 12:1–3; Luke 6:38).
• Outreach requires synergy. Loving our community and world will require individual and organizational cooperation. It calls each of us to set aside our individual preferences and combine our time, talents, and treasures (Ecclesiastes 4:9).