Fill the gaps

In the original Rocky film, Rocky’s friend Pauly asks him what he sees in Pauly’s sister that he should think of marrying her. After all, she doesn’t seem to have that much going for her. Rocky says, “Dunno. S’pose she’s got gaps and I got gaps. Together, we fill gaps.”

Engaging with our community in credible and relevant ways means filling the gaps.

When you start to ask questions about the needs in your community, one of the things you’ll find is that the residents have a tendency to say the same things.

Their answers fall mainly into two categories:

• More things for the kids to do, to keep them out of trouble.
• More for the elderly.

Yes, there is always need in those areas - and these are two areas that the church has excelled in addressing.

But what people often won’t do is tell you what their needs are. This can be because:

• They have a pre-set view of what the church does, and their needs don’t fall into that category.
• They would prefer to keep their needs under wraps.

That’s why, as well as speaking to members of the community, it’s important to speak to those who work in your community. Doctors, policemen and health visitors, for example, will give you a general window into what’s really happening. Click here for questionnaires that will help you with this.

The challenge of researching the needs in your community is that you’re not looking for something - but nothing.

It may be in asking the questions that you discover other projects and organisations working to meet specific needs. You then have to decide whether the need is so great that what is required is another project - or whether you could join the other group and make the provision better. It’s almost guaranteed that any project happening in your community will be glad of your help.

It could be that another church is running the project, or it could be another voluntary organisation. Either way, offering help and resisting the temptation to compete can make huge positive statements about you as a church.

But it’s equally likely that what you’ll discover are large gaps in what is provided to meet the community’s needs. Then it’s a case of choosing which holes you can fill.

At that point you’ll want to assess the need, discover whether there is any grant funding available, and ask whether training would be desirable. You also have to find out whether there is enough enthusiasm in the church, not simply to start a project, but to maintain it over time.

If the answer is yes, then it’s likely that you have found an opportunity to make a difference.
 

Last Updated 13 October 2008