Story written by: Pastor Marshall Van Pelt, Shiner FUMC

Photos provided by: Rev. Dr Pastor Sattiewhite, Stevens Chapel UMC

One of the difficulties of churches in locations that experience a lack of community in their area is finding ways to build or opportunities for communities to begin to connect in their neighborhoods. Too often our events sound more like outreach and evangelism and less like strengthening our communities. Stevens Chapel UMC in Schulenburg, Texas accepted a charge to host a well known national community event and found big blessings in drawing in their community to observe the event together. National Night Out was started in 1984 as an effort to create safer neighborhoods by encouraging folks to turn on their porch lights and come out to meet their neighbors.

Law enforcement and civic groups began to join in, and these events began to spread not because of popularity, but because of their effectiveness at building community in places where it had lapsed. This event is observed in 23 states and 17,000 communities, serving roughly 28 million neighbors as of today.

Pastor Sattiewhite of Stevens Chapel did not create National Night Out; she didn't even change the makeup of what it was; she simply asked, "How can we help?" So their church had the opportunity on October 6th, 2026, to host Led & Fed, Parents as Teachers, Red Cross, Bridges, Schulenburg FUMC, MHM, Boys and Girls Club, St. James Missionary Baptist Church, and the Schulenburg Police Department for food and fellowship. For more information on National Night Out, go to https://natw.org/. See if this fits in your church's neighborhood, or find out if they are already doing it, and ask a dangerous question: "How can we help?"