Sharing your faith is at the heart of many religious traditions, making community outreach important and essential. By reaching out, you can support those in need, deepen your faith, and encourage others to walk alongside you.
Supporting your neighbors is the first step in welcoming others to your church, temple, mosque, or synagogue—which is why we’ve compiled four community outreach ideas for churches and religious groups for you to explore.
While youth groups are a common choice for family-oriented programs, there are many other ways to bring families together through engaging events and activities. Plus, hosting programs catering to people of all ages and interests can help you reach people beyond your congregation.
Popular ideas include:
Babysitting helps parents and caregivers worry about one less responsibility, freeing them to focus on work, errands, or quality time with their loved ones. Additionally, offering tutoring programs provides valuable academic support for children in need of extra help.
Host clubs that cater to the various interests of children, adults, and grandparents in your community. Consider holding book clubs, cooking classes, knitting circles, music groups, or children’s art or science lessons.
Sports and fitness groups are another popular way to get involved with your community. You could run a youth basketball league, hold yoga classes, or create a pickleball group for older adults.
Create a safe space where people from your religious group and the broader community can find support. These sessions can focus on grief, substance use disorder, empty nest syndrome, or mental health conditions.
Aside from family programs, you can host plenty of other events that can help raise awareness of your church, mosque, or synagogue. Activities to consider include:
Partner with a local health group to provide information on healthy living, host a blood drive or health screening, or offer a vaccine clinic.
Events open to the community can show your commitment to the public. Consider low-cost activities like ice cream socials, picnics, movie nights, trivia nights, and family games.
Hold events specific to your religion—like Easter, Ramadan, and Hanukkah—or cultures, like Black History Month and Lunar New Year. General seasonal activities, such as a Super Bowl party or back-to-school supply drive, can also appeal to larger groups.
Consider what information your congregation or the wider community would like to learn. For instance, safe technology use, parenting techniques, finances, or cooking may be topics to cover.
No matter what type of event you consider, it’s helpful to think about who you want to reach and what interests them. For families with children, a fun activity can go a long way, whereas people from marginalized communities might benefit from financial literacy or nutrition education.
Another powerful way to connect with the community is through service, demonstrating your commitment to supporting and uplifting others. Volunteering for community projects may involve participating in:
Look for upcoming service projects and encourage your religious community to get involved. You can also identify local needs and lead a new initiative with your congregation to make a meaningful impact.
Your church, temple, synagogue, or mosque can use passive fundraising programs like RaiseRight to help with outreach in several ways. But first, here’s how it works:
RaiseRight is a simple, low-effort way to support your church’s mission—without asking congregation members for extra donations. By shopping as they usually would, supporters automatically contribute to your church. Plus, RaiseRight offers complete flexibility—your church keeps 100% of the earnings and can use them however best serves your community.
Here’s how you can leverage RaiseRight for community outreach:
Purchase gift cards for those in need in your congregation or the wider community. With options ranging from grocery stores to gas stations and restaurants, you can find something for everybody.
"RaiseRight is the lifeline for our church’s outreach center. We buy grocery and gas gift cards to donate to the homeless or purchase non-perishable items for local families in need. Then, we use the earnings to buy more gift cards to keep the program running. We’re now generating more community involvement and making a bigger impact through this program."
—Chris, fundraises for his church's outreach program
Use gift cards and online shopping to budget and pay for any expenses associated with events you hold. From decorations to crafting supplies, school items, clothes, toys, and food, RaiseRight can help you do it all.
The funds you earn through RaiseRight can be reinvested into the community as you see fit, whether you want to use the funds to buy more gift cards for those in need, cover event expenses, or use earnings to fund a larger project or initiative, like a mission trip or building renovation.
Regardless of how you use RaiseRight to aid in community outreach, choose the approach that best fits your group. For example, if your congregation skews older, selling physical gift cards at your services may work better than promoting the mobile app or online shopping.
Here are some next steps to get the ball rolling:
Happy earning!