Brighton First Creates Outreach Team

Brighton First is creating an Outreach Team. This is in addition to the long-standing Missions Committee. And there is a difference between the two.

The Missions Committee will continue to oversee the missions efforts of our church, including team mission trips, charity giving in Livingston County, and mission giving through the United Methodist Church and beyond. Annually, Brighton First gives over $85,000 to missions (including expenses for those who join mission teams). The Missions Committee manages our giving presence locally, in the state and around the world. The Missions Committee makes the congregation aware of missional needs with monthly mission moments and campaigns asking for financial support of specific missions. Missions at Brighton First include the VINA Dental Clinic, participation in Love INC with bedding and gas voucher ministries, regular donations to Gleaners Food Bank and Hope's Closet, our ministry for foster children in Livingston County.

Brighton First is strong in missions and missional service. We have a long tradition of improving the quality of life for people in need and bringing the hope of Jesus Christ.

The Outreach Team, another commitment to growth that comes from our Vital Church Initiative Report, is established to build authentic relationships with the surrounding community members. Unlike much of our mission work, which involves transactional giving, the Outreach team will seek to create events and programs that help to build authentic, deep relationships between church members and community members.

A source the Outreach Team will use was written by Jay Pathak and Dave Runyon, The Art of Neighboring: Building Genuine Relationships Right Outside Your Door. (In the weeks after Easter, the congregation will learn more about this book in a sermon series.) It's premise is that the church has stayed inside the building too long. It's time to meet and get to know our neighbors. "When Jesus was asked to sum up everything into one command, he said to love God with everything we have and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Most of us have turned this simple idea of loving our neighbors into a nice saying, putting it on bumper stickers and refrigerator magnets and then going on with our lives without actually putting it into practice."

"What would happen if every follow of Jesus took the Great Commandment literally? Is it possible that the solution to our society's biggest issues has been right under our noes for the past two thousand years?"

The Outreach Team will be leading us into a daring new form of ministry. By God's grace it will make a difference in our lives and in the lives of the people we meet.