BUT NOW, there is an answer. In fact, the answer has been in the business world for a long time. Business processes and technologies, if brought to this problem, make possible what was not possible before. Meet The Need has spent the past 10 years figuring out how to apply Business Intelligence and Customer Relationship Management (which are all about understanding, valuing and connecting with people) to:

• Put opportunities to serve in front of members
• Let members figure out what they can do based on their skills, interests and stuff collecting dust in their garage
• Take all of the connection and coordination work off church staff
• Show pastors and staff the impact the church is having in the community

Imagine church members and visitors seeing a constantly changing flow of needs in the community showing up on every church’s web site. Imagine your members being able to sign up to serve at your church, at local ministries and local families through an “amazon.com”-type interface that looks EXACTLY like your web site. Imagine the community seeing the local church more active in serving and loving them. How would that affect their view of the church, and more importantly, God?

What if the organization behind this solution were a non-profit whose objective was solely to see a radical transformation in the perception of the church from being about inflow to outflow? What if it were an organization funded by wealthy Christian men and woman who desired nothing more than to see that radical transformation take place – and therefore didn’t need to charge churches more than a nominal membership fee, no more than one person’s drop in the offering plate on a given Sunday each month?

We’re not talking about a centralized clearinghouse. Those are too staff-intensive and too impersonal. We’re talking about a customized solution for each and every church running through the church’s web site, showing only the needs the church wants to display to its members, and providing a complete report back to pastors about the impact their church is having in the community.

There are so many people in our church pews and chairs. There are 360,000 churches in the US alone – millions who could and would do a little more if the church could point them to the opportunities to apply their God-given talents, abilities and belongings.

It can happen now. Each church can have a window to the outside world from within its “4 walls” through Meet The Need (www.meettheneed.org).