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Here are three simple ways that a literacy initiative will undoubtedly strengthen your church.
Leadership Development
Every pastor we talk to laments some version of “10% of my church is shouldering 95% of the work.” This happens for a number of reasons. Some people feel like they don’t have the knowledge, like a seminary degree, to really lead in the church. Other people struggle to see themselves as important enough or valued enough to serve. Still, others are scared to commit the time.
A literacy initiative provides a bevy of little leadership roles for people to grow their leadership skills. You could select volunteer coordinators, site leaders, and communications directors for your movement. Not to mention, every reading mentor gets on-the-job teaching, activism, and coaching training.
Our-Church-Reads Evangelism
Church congregants complain they don’t know how to talk to their neighbors about their faith or how to invite them to church. The great thing about being a reading mentor is that it is a zero-anxiety way to discuss one’s faith.
Neighbor: “What have you been up to?”
Congregant: “Fantastic stuff: I’ve been reading weekly with this great kid named Billy.”
Neighbor: “How did you get into that?”
Congregant: “Our church is helping dozens of kids in local schools who might not learn to read otherwise. We believe it is the kind of thing Jesus would do…”
And off the conversation goes. From there, any one of your people could talk about their faith journey, how their faith affects their life, invite their neighbor to come to church OR join their church as a reading mentor.
Strengthen Your Reputation
Every year, the United States increasingly becomes a post-Christian country. The statistics are irrefutable: fewer and fewer people are attending church, and fewer and fewer are calling themselves Christians.
This is happening for more reasons than we have room to discuss here, but one of the reasons is that the church is seen by outsiders as irrelevant. This, of course, could not be farther from the truth, but the problem is they don’t get to SEE all the good the church does.
Paul tells Timothy about a church leader:
They must have a good reputation with outsiders. One fantastic aspect of a church literacy program in an under-resourced school is that it will happen on the public stage. Schools are everyone’s concern, and schools impact everyone’s lives. That is why there are so many local news stories about schools. Put your church inside a neighborhood school, and people will notice.
