Today, I had a chance to experience a unique church ministry that, in my opinion, a lot of churches can benefit from. The cry of my generation is for relevant, authentic relationships, and this ministry offers a great solution. It is called “Breaking Bread” and it gives you an opportunity to get to know random people in your church. I have two small children, so I typically do not get to attend fellowship events, as they are not “Kid Friendly” or do not provide childcare. When I first saw the add in the church bulletin, I quickly dismissed it, thinking It would be fun, but not for me. During the service, Pastor Jimmy Dennis paused and shared how important it was to build relationships, then stated “that is why we provide childcare,” My ears perked up.
Let me explain the process for any church leaders that may read this. A couple of Sundays before the event they insert a sign-up sheet into the bulletin, which has a list of several restaurants and a place to sign-up if you need childcare. They request that you list 3 of the restaurants that you enjoy most. They take the sheets, collate data, and make reservations at various restaurants. You return to the church the Sunday of the Breaking Bread event and they have an information sheet that tells you what restaurant to go to. The cool part about this ministry is that they have different staff members at each location, and you don’t know which staff member will be where. People naturally tend to gravitate toward the person who leads the ministry they are involved in, so this mixes it up and gets them to meet new people. As a former church leader I realize, it would take months to connect with this wide variety of people, and this was a highly effective way to help us, as newbies to this church, to develop relationships.
I have never heard of a church doing this, and this is effective. They provided FREE childcare, in the safe environment of the church, and let us build relationships with other adults. I give this ministry 4 stars, and will attend this event every chance I get. If I were to give this a hashtag, I would say #MinistryDoneRight.
