Every pastor hopes their church will impact their local community—but even the best ministries and programs have limitations. Often, pastors must rely on the help and leadership of their congregants to invest in their church’s neighborhood. Recently, Barna researchers studied the impact of lay-led initiatives in local communities and what happens when practicing Christians gather together to do good in their neighborhoods. These findings and many more are featured in the Better Togetherstudy, the third in a series of reports from Barna’s partnership with Lutheran Hour Ministries.

The power of lay leaders and individual Christians is still felt even in the unique circumstances of 2020: As churches have joined the world in practicing self-isolation, there are still myriad ways that followers of Christ have continued to be a welcome influence in their communities. But are pastors equipping them?

In this article, an adaptation from Better Together, we’ll take a look at how churches support congregants to serve neighborhood needs. You can order Better Togethertoday—advanced copies are now available for purchase.  

“I want to encourage church leaders to begin to measure the outcomes and look at what it would mean to reorient how we evaluate church leadership and pastors, not just by how well they lead the members who are already part of our church, but how well they help us to serve our communities.” –Glenn Barth, Good Cities

How Churches Nurture & Release People to Do Good Though pastors’ top ministry priorities—worship (29%) and teaching (27%)—center around Sunday services, lay-led initiatives mesh well with many of their stated aims. It’s not hard to see how congregants’ involvement in groups that act in and impact their neighborhoods could provide opportunities for effective outreach and evangelism, relationship building and, of course, community engagement, all ranked among pastors’ priorities.