Parish Outreach Guide

Reimagine Outreach. Together.

A Parish resource to understand local needs, discern how to respond, and launch your outreach.

Want to move from vision to action?

VISION

Across the Anglican Church in North America, parishes of all shapes and sizes are asking the same questions:

> How do we move from vision to action?

> How do we do outreach that fits who we are and where we are?

> How do we invite our whole church—not just a few key players—into this work of justice and mercy and mission?

The Parish Outreach Discernment Tool was developed in response to those questions. Designed for clergy, staff, and lay leaders, this resource guides your parish through a reflective, prayerful process of learning, listening, brainstorming, and planning as a community. The goal is not just a new outreach program—but a shared understanding, renewed energy, and a clear, realistic path forward that your whole church can support.

This tool helps surface what God is already doing in your midst, equips your leaders to listen well, and supports your congregation in discerning a faithful next step—together. This is not a one-size-fits-all strategy. It’s a flexible process shaped by the Spirit and grounded in the life of your particular church and context.

HOW TO TAKE ACTION

  • Discover how God is already at work in your community.

  • Discern where and how your church can serve your community.

  • Develop an action plan to create and sustain vibrant ministry.

This guide is meant to give you a place to start as you discern how your parish will practice mercy and justice in your community. We encourage you to take walk through the steps with prayerful discernment. This is not a one-size fits all process. Instead, it is a path that other ACNA churches have taken and found helpful.

BEST PRACTICES

  • If you simply identify one single person to lead this community, the health of the group will rise and fall on the health of the leader.

    When you create a small leadership team, everyone can share in the work. As you identify the initiatives your church will launch, you can invite “champions” on to the team to champion that cause.

  • It is so important to take into account the ways in which your congregation already cares about their greater community. Are there justice and mercy practitioners in your pews? What are they doing? Even if your church does not end up “championing” their organizations, how can you encourage and support them in the work they are doing?

    By hosting listening sessions, you are giving your community buy-in. This is key to long-term sustainable service.

  • Make sure the champions that you invite to the team have a strong desire to serve in this particular way (immigration, food justice, prison ministry, etc.) The commitment of your champions is the key to launching and continuing a strong Parish Outreach Ministry.

  • Encourage your leadership team and champions to commit to serving the church for one year (Sept-August). Offer a feedback survey at the end of the spring and ask if they want to recommit the following year.

TIPS & ADVICE

  • Do not feel the need to rush this process. Long term success depends on building a strong team and positive relationships with community partners. Proceed with prayer and as the Lord leads.

    We’ve provided you with a sample timeline of building out your Parish Outreach in a year. This might feel like a long time, but in our experience this is the minimum amount of time it takes to honor the discernment process and foster sustainable growth.

  • Build a list of community partners, collecting info on type, location, volunteer capacity, etc. Consider overlap of the results from your listening sessions and community in order to find connections with high potential. Then reach out organizations to learn more about capacity for volunteers and interest in partnering with your church.

  • We have found that the power of parish outreach is community.

    One way to facilitate this is to create a chat group for leadership team and champions. Text, WhatsApp, and GroupMe are the most popular tools for quick messages, and Facebook groups work well too.

    Plan socials for your team to encourage collaboration and engagement. Mercy and Justice is FUN!

    Note: "Official" communication such as events and group opportunities for the entire church often also go out via email or more formal channels.

  • No one can do everything. Everyone can do something.

    A big vision is amazing! A single step forward is better. We too would love to see a large thriving ministry in your church. We'd also love to see even one person in your community cared for because of your intentional care.

    Start small. Then grow as God brings volunteers, resources, and opportunities your way.

DOWNLOADS

Sample slides for justice and mercy initiative launch

Agenda for meeting with small groups to capture parish-wide input

Justice & Mercy development tool example

MINISTRY PARTNER

Church of the Cross, Boston

Church of the Cross is an Anglican church in Boston that meets right next to Fenway Park. The parish recently relaunched its Justice and Mercy initiatives and, in the process, created a practical, step-by-step guide for other ACNA churches looking to discern (or re-discern) how you do parish ministry.

We encourage you to check out their website below:

FAQ’S

    • Have the focus be on volunteer-led activities, with pastoral oversight; partnering with other ministries, churches, and organizations that are already doing good work in the city to come alongside them and give in-kind support with people’s time.

    • Do a special offering once or twice a year to support the work of your partner organizations, even if you are not able to include direct giving in your justice & mercy budget!

  • Coming back to questions like: How can we do 1 or 2 things really well, and what are those things? What are people in our congregation most passionate about in terms of social justice issues in our city? Where are other ministries and organizations in our city doing really meaningful work and how can we join in that work with them?

  • We encourage a balance of a) what interests and passions there are amongst the leaders of our Justice & Mercy Team and, b) what ministries are already present at or connected to your church in a way that functions differently than what your team was setting out to do and what the congregation identifies they have capacity for/would be interested in.

  • A tension to consider is related to capacity of volunteer leaders—recognizing that starting up and maintaining this kind of work of justice and mercy requires a lot, wanting to be respectful and understanding of volunteer time, etc. And also wanting to make sure volunteers and team leads are serving in a way that suits their giftings and strengths, as well as their passions!

  • This feels like a crucial (and challenging!) step, particularly finding organizations that could use volunteers in the particular way your church is asking for (e.g. once monthly, group activity). Obviously there is not a one-size-fits-all answer to this, but it is important to attempt to match the passions/interests of your volunteer leaders with the opportunities you see in the community—and keeping the focus on partnering with other ministries/organizations that are already doing this work well that you could easily slot into. At the same time, make room for where the Lord might be growing something bigger that will take more work and time to establish!

Need more help? Have a suggestion for this guide?
We’d love to connect with you!
Send us an email and someone from our team will get back to you.