COWETA—Church outreach events are a great way for church members to get to know their community and invite more people to church. Coweta, First wanted to host a community outreach event in a different way: serve the community without promoting the church.

“Our goal wasn’t to promote the church; we just wanted to help the community,” said Blake Taylor, associate pastor of worship and missions at Coweta, First. “We wanted to bridge the gap between the community and local, Christian businesses.”

“One Week, One Mission,” as it became known, was a week of community outreach events from July 20-25. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Coweta, First, fed officers, public officials and first responders in partnership with local businesses. On Tuesday, the church hosted a block party for a nearby neighborhood of 55 houses. Then, on Thursday, they hosted a block party for the whole Coweta community. To conclude the week, on Saturday a live outdoor worship concert was held at Coweta, First’s parking lot.

A volunteer group of 50 people made this event possible and only talked about Coweta, First, if they were specifically asked about it. This allowed Coweta, First, to highlight local businesses they partnered with to make the event possible rather than the church itself.

“God has placed all of the pieces down in front of us,” Taylor said. “It was up to us to put the pieces together into a beautiful picture.”

Planning for this began early in the year. Taylor said that Coweta felt a call to reconnect with its local community, entirely focused on asking God to reveal opportunities to plug into it. The first sign God was at work was giving Coweta, First the chance to reallocate funds from a trip to the week-long mission event. From there, pieces started falling into place. The church started to meet various business owners in the community who were Christian.

“When pastor Blake originally shared the vision that didn’t include ‘promoting Coweta, First’ it was contrary to everything I had seen in our Baptist Zion,” said Vern Charette, senior pastor at Coweta, First. “The primary ‘win’ was not in promoting our church but the Kingdom and our effort to touch the community with the love of God. Because of that, God honored it and our sister churches benefited as well. I am grateful.”

Once everything had been organized, Taylor asked the volunteers something bold: don’t worry about the results, only the service. He didn’t want this event to be focused on growing Coweta, First. Rather, Taylor wanted the “One Week, One Mission” to be entirely community focused. With that weight off their shoulders, the church could focus on the logistics and execution of the event. Taylor believed that putting the community first would open more doors down the road for further outreach opportunities, and he was right.

Following the event, churches in Coweta began contacting Coweta, First for advice on their own events. Additionally, churches began cooperating with each other and pointing community members to the church closest to where they live rather than back to their own church. Even the Coweta Chamber of Commerce got involved, notifying Coweta, First, of new community members so the church can recommend them to a local church that best suits them.

“God is doing a work to break down the walls between churches,” Taylor said. “A lot of new opportunities have come around within the past few months thanks to ‘One Week, One Mission.’”

Taylor said the church took inspiration from John 17 in planning the event, the focus being unity.

“The unity from the outreach is more important than the outreach itself,” he said. “(I believe) we had more Gospel conversations at the event than ever before.”

Coweta, First, is working on a “One Week, One Mission” strategy guide for churches who want to host a similar event in the future. Taylor said that in the future Coweta, First might not hold an event to the same scale as the one from this year, but take inspiration from it down the road, focusing still on reaching the community around them.

“Evangelism and discipleship are not separate,” he said. “We need to meet the people’s physical needs before meeting their spiritual needs.”