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Outreach at St. Anne's -some thoughts from Dr Colin Forbes
Commissioned April 6, 2008 as Facilitator of St. Anne's Social
Justice and Outreach Committee and Primate's World Relief and Development Fund Representative

Among the 13 standing committees at St. Anne's is the Social Justice and Outreach Committee. Louise Keskinen has been the coordinator working with the Huron Hunger Fund/ Primate's World Relief and Development Fund and through many global programs such as Vision Peoples in Mission.

A recent mission statement of this committee is ;" We would like to develop the outreach efforts in our community and strengthen our connection with the community as we cooperate with other groups in local initiatives in alleviating hunger, poverty, environmental concerns and other social justice concerns".

Our rector has asked me to assist in this committee and with God's guidance I shall try to do this.

I have been asking myself some basic questions about our outreach ministry and I am grateful for the opportunity to share these with you and to obtain your views and your direction in this matter. Today's coffee/tea time will be an opportunity for us to sit down around some round tables to discuss these matters and to make some plans.

Outreach> reaching out
The term “outreach” deserves examination.  I’d like to suggest that we turn it on its head and consider the appropriateness of a "Reach out" ministry.

The meaning of the word "reach" includes - grab, hold, guide, to strive for extend a hand or a rope or hope.

"out" in Swahili is part of a broad term "nje" which includes the concept of "outside of us', far away, foreign (cf. ferenji-Amharic), not part of us, unknown, external. So we see the wide ramifications of this concept of "reaching out"

some questions 
Let us consider some questions:
Why reach out? Reach out to whom? How do we reach out, when do we reach out?

why reach out?
The answer to that one is easy - It is God's command. As Christians, we are ordered to do 2 things; believe in the name of His son Jesus Christ and love one another. We are told to go out into the world. It is not something we should do when we can get time to think about it.

Another reason, albeit a bit selfish, is that reaching out brings blessings to our church and to ourselves - the feel good factor.

reach out to whom?
To those in need. 1 John 3:17 says" who has this world's good and sees his brother have need and shuts up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwells the love of God in him ??"

Can we reach out to those in need of :
love, advice, friendship, funds, respect, fun, care, hope, understanding, healing,
only one of these cost money

We could reach out to those in our St Anne's community, and those outside e.g. Students in the colleges and universities around us - who would pick them up for a Sunday morning service with coffee and a lift home?

We could try to reach out to those with special needs e.g., the mentally or physically challenged child, teen or adult, the marginalized, gay men and women, the poor, addicts-( drugs and alcohol), sex offenders, prisoners and any who feel isolated in our society and immediate community

How should we reach out?
The answer to this is, often - be there.

St Anne's has lots of experience in this. For many years we have been at the Western Fair, not only flipping burgers and rolling hot-dogs but offering the friendly smile, the smart talk ,mostly small and occasionally deep, contact with the youth serving community hours. Our Rector reaches out with her home visits, she brought communion to me in my home when I was suffering with a busted knee. We can reach out in the church and in the community. When I returned to Canada after 40 years in Africa, I lodged in an apartment downtown while searching for a house. I attended the nearby Anglican Church -Bishop Cronyn's, and I noticed that they held frequent Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in the church throughout the week.

Reaching out can have the broad approach - save the world, or a focused one -provide water to those who need it most.

Who does the reaching out?
not only the clergy, the parish councilor the committee, but all of us, in our own way. I am here today because several members of St Anne's reached out to me with genuine friendship when I literally walked in off the street to this, the Anglican Church closest to my home. That's quite a difference to the reception which I received in many churches which I visited in various parts of the world in which I have lived - I visited them once.

Our choir reaches out to us with beautiful music; would they be able to share that in old people's homes? in prisons? on the street? in the Mall?

Our scouts and guides and cubs reach out (with the left hand a-la Baden Powell) to the young. Their motto challenges them to help some one every day -how can we help them to do this? The ACW reaches out us constantly in their loving ways, how can we help them and the many other church groups which I have not mentioned.

When do we reach out?
Again, an easy answer - now. Our Cuban friends remind us "manana nunca viene" tomorrow never comes. The moon people say we must start by taking one small step, Tim Horton's offers us one small bite. But we must start now each in our own way.

The answer to all the questions which we have examined is -what would Jesus do? Thank you for listening, Let us join together to embark on this glorious journey of reaching out.