Listen, Link and Launch

• How can we listen to our community?
• What are they asking us, as a church to be about?
• How can we link resources in building new ministries?
• How can we do ministries that relate to our communities’ needs and aspirations, connecting with others so that we can do together what we might not be able to do or carry out alone?

Three simple words will be taken out and about in Downers Grove on Saturday, September 22 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Will you help us in getting them out on the street?

We will go out in pairs and ask the community two questions.

1. What do you feel is an important issue facing the community?
2. How do you see the church or churches responding to this issue?

We will then listen to them talk, one person maintains eye contact while the other writes down their responses.

They will be given a card with the name of our church and web site and invited to check back with us in a couple of weeks after we post the results. With the posting of results we will invite responders back to think of resources we might link together that would speak to these issues.

Down the road we will enter into partnerships with others in the community and imagine ministries that relate resources to issues. That's the launch part. But first we listen, and that's what we're asking you to participate in on September 22. We will hold a brief training event in the morning before we go out. Then we will have fun listening to the hopes and dreams of our community. This should provide us as a church with a glimpse as to who we are serving and how we might add value, to their experience.

Listen, Link and Launch is a hands-on experience of listening to a community, finding new tools for listening, combining resources, launching ministries that can involve people who aren’t already part of a faith community. Bring money for lunch, a heart for reaching out, good shoes for a light walk,and creative imaginations for collaborating with others in seeing new possibilities for our Church.