1. Stuffed stockings. Take a cue from Open Air Ministries Philadelphia and partner with other local churches to distribute overflowing stockings to low-income families in your area.
Each year, Open Air invites elementary students the church normally reaches—as well as other families in nearby low-income neighborhoods—to attend Christmas stocking outreach. Last December, nearly 40 churches contributed 2,500 stockings stuffed with toys, candy and children’s Bibles, and volunteered at nine inner-city locations.
“The stocking outreach is a great foot in the door to the community,” says Joe Toy Jr., evangelist and Open Air’s founder. “It gives us a way to meet our neighbors and then discover what other needs they have so that our ministry can enter their homes and become part of their lives.”
Through the Christmas stocking outreach, Open Air has grown its ministry to elementary students, bulked attendance at area church plants and fostered relationships with several urban and suburban churches. Read more
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