Would you like a free bottle of water?

This was the phrase we used as we had a great experience yesterday in New York City at an outreach event that was called Love NYC. My definition of outreach is an event where the people of the church work to create positive interactions with people and show these people the love of God.

People from a number of churches from Indiana, Maryland, New York State and Pennsylvania came to New York City to support the outreach efforts of two new churches located in the city. This event has gone on for five years for one church and I believe this was the first year for the newer church.

By offering people who were passing by us on the streets of New York, free items (bottled water, granola bars and chewing gum) we were able to show them the concern of the church for the people of NYC and most importantly by symbolically providing them with something free, a gift, we were showing them the free gift of love that God has offered to all of us.

It was a successful event, I believe, as our group of 10 people were stationed in teams of 2 or 3 all around the Columbia University campus. The people we were able to interact with represented people from many countries, many cultures, many races, many sexual orientations, many ages and many beliefs.

The reaction we received to our free offers was interesting. Some ignored us completely and just walked by, some stopped and questioned our motives and refused our offer, some stopped and questioned our motives and then accepted the gift and some immediately accepted our offer.

That free gift brought us to a moment where we accepted them for who they were, they did not have to qualify, and they did the same for us. There were no guarantees that this acceptance would continue but at that moment they accepted our offer and hopefully would consider the offer to come to church and come into a closer relationship to God.

We believe we were doing what God calls us to do - to reach out to all people.

You should plan on participating with us next year.