#115: Neighborhood Ministry Made Simple: How to Actually Connect with Your Community

Join Rev. Canon Dave Male, Co-Director of Vision and Strategy for the Church of England, as he shares practical ways to build authentic relationships in your neighborhood.

Is your church struggling to connect with neighbors beyond your walls? In this episode, Rev. Canon Dave Male, Co-Director of Vision and Strategy for the Church of England, shares how churches can move from program-driven outreach to relationship-based ministry. Through his extensive work with fresh expressions of church, Dave reveals why some of the most effective new forms of ministry are also the simplest – often starting with nothing more than a meal and conversation. Learn how one burned-out church planter discovered a simpler, more sustainable approach that grew to 30 groups in three years.

Dave offers practical insights on empowering lay leaders, balancing traditional and innovative approaches, and starting new gatherings that cost virtually nothing. He shares specific examples of churches successfully reaching their neighbors through simple, reproducible methods, and provides two key questions every church can use to discern their next steps. Plus, discover why the future of neighborhood ministry might look more like a dinner table than a church program.

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Featuring

Headshot of Dave Male

Dave Male

Dave Male was the Director of Evangelism and Discipleship for the Church of England based in Church House, Westminster. He’s led a large team that aims to equip every worshipper in the Church of England to articulate their faith and live it out in their daily lives, as well as developing new fresh expressions of church across England and releasing 1000 new evangelists. Previously, he served as the Church of England's National Adviser for Pioneer Development and was a Tutor in Pioneer Mission Training at Ridley Hall and Westcott House, Cambridge. Dave has extensive experience in starting and leading fresh expressions of church and has authored several books on evangelism and pioneering issues.

Meet Your Hosts

  • Terri Elton

    Terri Martinson Elton began teaching at Luther Seminary as an adjunct instructor in 2004 before becoming the director of the Center for Children, Youth and Family Ministry in 2008. In addition to her continued work with the Center, Elton accepted the position of associate professor of Children, Youth and Family Ministry in 2010 and associate professor of Leadership in 2014.

    Prior to her call to Luther Seminary, Elton served as an associate to the bishop in the Saint Paul Area Synod where her responsibilities included working with congregations, leadership development, First Call theological education and youth and family ministry.

    Before her work in the synod, she served at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Burnsville, Minn. for 16 years. While at Prince of Peace she worked in various roles within children, youth and family ministries, as well as served as the director of Changing Church Forum, an outreach ministry of Prince of Peace. She also authored To Know, To Live, To Grow, a confirmation curriculum, and co-authored What Really Matters, a book for congregational leaders, with the Rev. Mike Foss.

    Elton holds a B.A. degree in communications from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn. (1986). She earned both her M.A. (1998) and Ph.D. (2007) degrees in Congregational Mission and Leadership from Luther Seminary.

    Elton’s research and teaching interests include: congregational leadership, leading in the midst of change and conflict, helping ministry leaders craft a missional ecclesiology with an eye toward the First Third of Life, awakening a vibrant theology of baptism and vocation and reimagining faith and mission practices for children, youth, young adults and their families.

    Elton is a member of the Academy of Religious Leadership, the Association of Youth Ministry Educators, the ELCA Youth Ministry Network and the American Society of Missiology and is on the board for Real Resources. Elton spends much of her time working with congregations and congregational leaders and seeks out opportunities for enhancing ministry with those in the First Third of Life within the ELCA.

  • Dr. Dwight Zscheile

    Dr. Dwight Zscheile is vice president of innovation and professor of congregational mission and leadership at Luther Seminary. His latest book is Leading Faithful Innovation: Following God into a Hopeful Future (with Michael Binder and Tessa Pinkstaff, Fortress Press, 2023).