Lunch in the footy club: a community-friendly event

The Pinnaroo congregation in South Australia's south-east hired the local footy club for their Longest Lutheran Lunch. It would have been cheaper and probably easier to hold it in their church hall but the congregation had something else in mind -- or rather, somebody else.

'We wanted to take the love of God with us into the community', said Helen Schiller. 'People may not come into our church buildings, but we are able to reach out to them by using a community facility.'

The small rural parish's lunch success proves that community outreach activities aren't just for the big city congregations. Average worship attendances in the three-point parish are: Pinnaroo 35, Murrayville 18 and Walpeup 14. And the parish is not comprised of marketing gurus, either. 'As these are rural towns, the majority of members are active or retired/semi-retired farmers, with other members being mechanics, business managers, shearers, health workers, school teachers/assistants, secretaries and home workers', Helen explained.

'We're fortunate to have an active pastor here. He's the only minister of religion from Tailem Bend to Mildura.' In his annual report to the congregation, Pastor Steve Maas demonstrated his strong community focus: 'Our challenge is in becoming concious of and deliberate in being the presence of Jesus in our communities.'

The Longest Lutheran Lunch was not the first community outreach event held by the congregation. They've been running Mallee Youth and Shed Men programs over the last few years, and the number of people attending is increasing. Four denominations are involved in the programs.

'Some people attending have had little contact with a Christian church and this is one way to proclaim the love of God in a simple way and support people along their life journey', Helen said.

Whenever a fifth Sunday in a month occurs, the congregation goes out into the community to assist other organisations or community events.

'We've gone out into the main street to provide food for the Biggest Morning Tea, provided a thankyou breakfast for emergency volunteers, weeded at the cemetery and hosted a social morning at the nursing home section of the local hospital', said Helen. Donations collected at these events are forwarded on to the organisations.

'It was such an appropriate time, being a fifth Sunday community event, that our Longest Lutheran Lunch support the ALWS East Africa Famine Appeal', Helen said. 'No-one is obliged to give a donation at any of our events, but they have been well supported.'

'The wider community has certainly noticed our Community Sunday events', said Pastor Steve. 'Several of them have been reported on in the local newspaper.

'I think that many people in our communities consider the church to be largely irrelevant, often seen as a closed-door affair for the religious people. The 'Community Sunday' concept is an attempt to break that external stereotype of the church and also to create a "safe” place for church members to practise living out their faith values in front of their community.

'And the community, while still cautious, is also curious. These tentative steps at being “relevant” are attracting attention. We have found great community support for other fundraising events like the Biggest Morning Tea and our Shed Men’s Barbecue for Prostate Cancer. So when the opportunity came up to host the Longest Lutheran Lunch as one of our Community Sundays we jumped at the chance.'

The parish promoted the lunch in the local community with fliers, posters and personal invitations. After the event a story was run in  the local paper. 'This saw several local people approach the church, offering to make a donation to ALWS, even though they couldn’t attend the lunch', said Pastor Steve. 'Rather than it being a risk to run a fundraiser at a community event, I think it was an incredible opportunity to showcase the heart of the gospel in our concern for others, and the openness of our faith communities to those who live in the shadow of our churches.'

'The Longest Lutheran Lunch was a way of getting parish members and others in the community together, enjoying each others' company and sharing the love of Jesus with each other', Helen said. 'And to be thankful of all the food we have. I think we were blown away by the generosity of those at the lunch.'

She said that the parish would certainly do this or something similar again. 'The more we can be Jesus in our communities in non-threatening ways, the more people are willing to accept his message.'

Pastor Steve addedL 'We’d certainly support the concept of a Longest Lutheran Lunch in the future, although the shape of it would likely be changed to reflect the needs and interests of our local communities. I would hope that whatever shape it took in the future, it would remain an open door event to our local community ... a simple way of engaging our friends and neighbours in the life and community of faith.'