Potty Training

One of my favorite blogs, and one that many of you will be familiar with, Achurchforstarvingartists recently had an intriguing post called The Teachable Church.  In it, author Jan Edmiston points out that sometimes leaders schedule classes that are not of great interest to people.  "Maybe" she muses, "[people] don’t want to learn how to re-write the church by-laws but they’d love to know what to do when a friend is diagnosed with cancer.  Maybe they don’t need a theological lecture on predestination, but they’d like to know how to pray out loud with somebody."

That got me thinking.  For years I have been intrigued by congregations that offer classes/services/ministries to the larger community.  When I served in OYSC (Older Youth Service Corps) in Dallas, TX in 1969, the church there offered a  series of "Family Living" classes.  They recruited teachers from the community, e.g. from the local Community College and Family and Children's services.  They offered classes on a variety of subjects families deal with and sent flyers around to every house in the neighbourhood. Classes were offered one night a week for six or seven weeks and interestingly, people came. 

I recall hearing of one church that offered classes on Potty training.  This may seem odd at first, but it seems they had done a poll of the neighbourhood, learned that there were many toddlers in the area, and parents were struggling with getting these children out of the diaper stage.  They decided that if that's what people need help with, the church could help, so help they did.  It may seem to have little to do with the gospel, but that was a church that was at least trying to reach out to the community in a relevant way.  This may be important as churches in our part of the world seem to be increasingly viewed as having little relevance for people in their daily lives.

So here is my question: What kind of services would be of help to the larger community?  Any ideas?  If not, what subject matter would be of interest to you?

Posted by Carman