By Michael Sove
In previous weeks we have been talking about all the ways cell groups can emphasize evangelism as a group, from, “body-life†evangelism to praying over the open chair as the group gathers weekly, to throwing monthly outreach events as a group.
Now I want to focus on the whole church gathered together and share some ideas how all the cells can work together to reach out with larger events. As I write this, we are involved in a multi-faceted series of outreach events as a church.
The Lead Pastor and our Missions Coordinator met with city officials a few weeks back and asked if there was a particular part of town that really needed a positive influence that we could adopt as a church. They quickly told us about an area only a few miles away from where we meet for our weekend services.
Two weeks ago, about ninety of us went out door to door inviting the residents to a “Block Party†to be held in their area the next week. People were really receptive to the invitation. At this “Block Party†there was free food and games, door prizes, music etc. Here is a link for you to get an idea of how it went for us. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtuH6SxOPOc&feature=sub At the “Block Party†we passed out invitations to our next big event “Double Day†which will be held this weekend. An estimated 500 people came through the “Block Party.â€
Double Day is just our internal name for this weekend where we are seeking to double the number of first time guests in our Sunday services. The message is called “Peace of Mind… At Last†and is geared for those we are inviting. We have been advertising in the community all month with billboards, yard signs and most importantly, personal invitations. Each person has been asked to invite two people who do not know Christ.
Finally, one week later we are holding our annual Comedy Night. For this event, we invite a well known, Christian comedian to come in and we give personal invitations to our un-churched friends. This Saturday night event is packed out every year. My friends without Christ will come to an event like this. We encourage our cell members to pay for their friend’s tickets, take them to dinner and then to the event!
We have held golf outings and many other events that are easy to invite people to. In all these events there is one desired outcome, which is best expressed by the following verse:
2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is… not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.â€
What events have you used to successfully reach out to your community?
Michael
hello, im very much interested with your block party. im inspired to that here in my community, my church is located within the community and i think it would be very effective to conduct this kind of activity. can you share with me the mechanics to organize this? like, i saw that there are some foods being distributed, is it for free or for sale?
thanks for sharing.
Thanks for asking about the block party. Everything was free! The congregation all donated money for the food. We gave away hot dogs and soft drinks, pop corn and snow cones (we rented the machines). Door prizes were donated and people registered to win the prizes. At the end we gave away a bike to a needy kid.
Obviously we had many games kids could play as well as music the whole four hours. Our praise worship band played and other musicians.
During the whole event we had people working evangelism handing out NT’s and sharing about Christ as doors would open.
We have 300 names from people who registered and now we are following up for Thanksgiving and Christmas by providing for needy families.
Pastor Bill said this was the greatest community event the church ever did in 27 years. I was impressed by how many of our people volunteered and served in some capacity.
The whole key is we went to the community leaders and asked them to tell us a neighborhood we could adopt for love and care. I hope this helps!