Like everything else it's mainly a matter of communication. My church has been very deliberate over the past few years in communicating who we are and what we're doing in our community. We make sure that we have a presence at all community functions handing out food, drinks, blinky things and invitations that list our current programs. We take cookies and invitations to the schools and businesses in our community along with notes of thanks for what they do. When Hurricane Katrina hit people from the community instinctively brought donations to our church because they knew without being told that we would be involved in relief efforts. Communication is everything. It's not okay to have your neighbors drive by your church and wonder what goes on in there... you have to tell them who you are and what you've got going on and help them feel welcome to join in.