11.Church Yard Sale (Outreach)
Description
The lure of sifting through tables full of under-priced treasures at a huge churchyard sale is enough to get even the sleepiest shoppers out of bed on a Saturday morning. Church yard sales are popular with bargain hunters because they offer the promise of abundant shopping while usually supporting a worthy cause. The secret to organizing a successful church yard sale also known as rummage sale is in the careful planning which must be done at least two months in advance
Execution Checklist
- Select a team that will be in charge for the initiative
- Ensure you have enough space to set up your “store”
- Set the date
- Join forces by inviting the community
- Build your bank by ensuring you have enough change on the day
- Spread the word
- Select the charity where the proceedings will be donated
12.Day camps (Outreach)
Description
Day camps are known for providing a safe environment where children gain self-confidence as they learn new skills. The camp is also a place where children develop a variety of social skills (e.g, communication, conflict resolution ability). More so this scheme offers supervised recreational and sporting activities for children, especially during school holidays. Day camps offer an excellent opportunity for the local community to learn about the church and provide a safe space for children to spend the day when school is out of session. As part of outreach to your community your church can run a day camp at the church if your premises are suitable or at some chosen location. A church is a place full of resources and if well marketed this program will attract a number of volunteers from your church.
Execution Checklist
Before starting a day camp, consider several aspects.
- Preparing your environment to be safe and conducive
- Acquiring accreditation if required
- Draw a budget
- Choosing Your Staff
- Prepare a list of activities
- Security
- Prepare campaign material
- Encourage church members to bring their children and also invite others
13.Offer a “Life Enrichment” Seminar At a Neutral Location. (Outreach)
Description
A relevant church should pride itself on offering an assortment of fun programs to engage, encourage, and develop its members. Basically it all boils down to three components that define life balance and are needed for improving and maintaining quality of life: mind, body and spirit. Your church can identify areas of the church members and community where a gap is and craft a program to address that challenge. A good example could be financial literacy in a community where management of finances is a problem.
Execution Checklist
- Identify the program
- Venue
- Budget
- Facilitators
- Equipment
- Campaign material
- Financial study material
- Select a team to be in charge of this financial forum
- Encourage church members to make an announcement.
14.Business Blasts (Outreach)
Description
There is no better way to mobilize the People of God for the work of ministry in the marketplace than through the local church. If you’re not on the pastoral staff of your church, you may feel like there isn’t much you can do to help your local church get focused on reaching the marketplace for Jesus, the place where 85% of the Christian workforce spends 60-70% of our waking hours. On the other hand, if you are on the pastoral staff of your church, you may feel overwhelmed by the calling to equip your congregation for ministry in marketplace.
You can surprise employees of local businesses with a small gift such as a basket of candy. Bring in one package to be shared by store employees and leave a connection card that reads something like, “We appreciate how you serve the community with your business, and we wanted to share God’s love in a practical way.” Be sure you give items only to employees, so they don’t think you are “soliciting” their customers.
Execution Checklist
- Start a marketplace-oriented small group to lead the initiative
- Work out a budget
- Decide on what impactful gift to give out
- Prepare church cards and flowers to hand out with the surprise gifts
- Announce in church
- Prepare evangelism material that will go with the gifts e.g. devotional books
15.Host recovery groups (Outreach)
Description
Most people have heard the term support group. Some may have belonged to various support groups, while others have never participated, but wonder exactly what they are and what they do.
Generally speaking, support groups exist when people get together to share their concerns about a particular issue. These types of groups mostly focus on particular health problems, such as types of addictions and diseases such as multiple sclerosis, breast cancer or diabetes. Everyone Needs Support. The pulpit sometimes seems so far from people and programs like recovery groups become the most practical way of supporting church and community members during difficult times. It will be greatly impactful if your church introduces a relevant recovery program in your community to walk the journey with people in need of such support
Execution Checklist
- Identify area of support
- Identify individuals with expertise knowledge
- Budget
- Venue
- Times for meetings
- Ground rules for privacy
16.Election day prayer service (Outreach)
Description
The church is commanded to pray for the governing authorities, whether we agree with them, like them, or trust them (1 Tim. 2:1-2). During the pre or post-election time your church can plan a community-wide evening prayer service. This should be a totally agenda-free, non-partisan time for people in the community to gather and focus their attention on praying for the community and country. This can be a helpful outreach opportunity to build unity instead of sowing division.
Execution Checklist
- Set dates
- Prepare venue
- Announce in church
- Prepare campaign material
- Invite community leaders
- Invite contestants
- Encourage church congregates to invite others
17.Food pantry (Outreach)
Description
For a church that feels compelled or called to do its part to address hunger in its community, establishing a food pantry might be an effective way to make a difference. Every city needs a good food pantry. It only needs to be open a couple days a week, but it can really open a lot of doors for relationships. It’s also a good way to keep your thumb on the pulse of your community’s needs. Most of the work will go into getting donations from people and businesses, and then running the pantry on the days it is open. To get started on this initiative identify an area of need. Ask for your congregation for donations and partnerships. You can also approach NGOs to assistance in putting food parcels together.
Execution Checklist
- Identify the need
- Gather a team of volunteers to help establish your food ministry.
- Select an appropriate location for the pantry, preferably with a door that can be locked.
- Set general operational guidelines about who may receive food, as well as how and when food will be given out.
- Set up any record-keeping systems needed.
- Have a food drive to fill the pantry with non-perishables.
- Organize the pantry so items are easy to find.
- Make sure volunteers understand the rules for operating the pantry
18.Random acts of kindness (Outreach)
Description
Random acts of kindness are essential to our well-being, as they liberate us from self-obsession, selfishness, and isolation; they are the effect of an open and loving nature. True generosity is giving without expectation, with no need to be repaid in any form. Random acts of kindness are important now more than ever. Random acts of kindness can be done corporately as a congregation or by individuals members of the church. Challenge your congregation to bless strangers or people they have never helped. They can do this by paying for their groceries, fuel or even taking them out for dinner. There many ideas that people can use to demonstrate the love of God, equip your congregation to surprise others.
Execution Checklist
- Make a list of prospects
- Identify true needs
- Go for meaning over money
- Put together a “Godly Act of Kindness” tool kit. Just because an act of kindness is random, doesn’t mean it has to be spontaneous
- Set Goals. Using your list of prospects, write down some realistic and specific goals about the number and types of Godly acts you want to perform
- Make it a group activity
- Take some cues from the Bible
19.Prayer-walk neighborhoods and include conversations (Evangelism)
Description
Prayer walking is exactly what the words imply: walking and praying. Prayer walking has been described as “praying on site with insight.” When you hear the sounds and see the sights of a particular place, you understand better how to pray for the people in that location. For example, you can read a magazine article about a city that is rigidly Islamic. That, however, is very different than walking the streets of that same city and seeing Islamic writings on every lamppost.
On a prayer walk, you might smell the freshness of a recent tropical rain and ask God to refresh the land with his Word. You might hear children laughing and pray that God would show himself even to the young people of the area. Effective prayer walking calls for sensitivity to all that is going on around you, which will help to pray with insight. That includes being ready to speak to or pray with people encountered along the way. This program is easier to implement as it involves every member of the church. You need to identify target places for the prayer walk and have members of your churches being designated to various places planned.
Execution Checklist
- Be prayerful and be sensitive to the Holy Spirit
- Train congregates for such programs
- Decide the route and places
- Dates and time
- Prepare church regalia e.g. t-shirts on the day
20.Pray for Leaders (Outreach)
Description
The Bible gives examples of people who prayed for their leaders, such as the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament church. The Bible also gives us specific commands to pray for our leaders.
All leaders benefit from prayer. When we pray for any of our leaders, we can ask God to grant them direction, discernment, and wisdom (James 1:5). Your church can become proactive in praying for government leaders, community leader, industry leaders and all people in positions of leadership in your community. All you need to do is select a date, design a program and invite leaders for a prayer service. Leaders themselves would love the idea of the church praying for them and will be thrilled by this gesture.
Execution Checklist
- Prepare your congregation in prayer
- Choose the date
- Prepare budgets
- Organise the venue if not using your own church premises
- Prepare your greeters and ushering department
- Invite leaders
- Prepare connect cards and gospel tracts
- Provide refreshments