31.Olympics/ AFCON/UEFA/LA LIGA Finals Party (Outreach)
Description
Sport and recreation is not about winning, it’s about helping build stronger, healthier, happier, and safer communities. The above-mentioned events are big sporting events that people always look forward to, and it can be a wonderful opportunity to get people into church if done correctly. Since these are events most people prefer to watch with close people, it is important that you give careful thought as you plan. The excitement and the euphoria can bring everlasting memories which people will always associate with your church. When we open the doors to our church this ensures that people can easily fit into our church community easily. Every church has individuals who excel and are passionate in sport. Identify those individuals to lead this initiative. In most cases use your church premises for the watch party so that you can open your doors to the community and bring familiarity. Never lose an opportunity to start and end with a word of prayer
Execution Checklist
- Make an announcement about the program in church
- Prepare a budget
- Acquire a secure venue
- Prepare campaign material, invitations, fliers and posters
- Get equipment for the day, projector, PA system, big screens, lighting
32.Host a Concert or Talent Show (Outreach and Evangelism)
Description
We all have special gifts, talents, and abilities given to us by our Heavenly Father. When we were born, we brought these gifts, talents, and abilities with us. The church has a responsibility to develop the talents of its members and its communities. Hosting a concert is a noble idea as you can also get the opportunity of sharing the word with the community. This can also make your church a place that is known for supporting and developing talent. Putting together a talent concert is very simple as it only requires you to identify champions in the church who are passionate about the cause. These individuals will be responsible for the research on the type of concert to be done and which community stakeholders need to be invited.
Execution Checklist
- Identify talent within your community and inquire if they are interested in participating in the program.
- Plan a budget
- Seek for partnership from Local talents e.g. musicians
- Announce in church and also encourage them to sign up talents within their communities
- Offer a prizes for the runner ups
- Acquire equipment for the program e.g. PA system, cameras and enough chairs
- Prepare church material to hand out e.g. books, brochures, fliers
33.Disaster Response Programs (Outreach)
Description
What is a disaster? Disasters can be natural occurrences such as tornadoes, floods, or earthquakes, acts of terrorism, or armed intruders in a building. All of these sudden and unexpected disasters can come about anywhere, including while in church, and one should be aware of this possibility. Although a church has many duties and priorities, the safety of the community should also be paramount. This means having a precise plan in case of a sudden calamity. Disastrous times are the most opportune times to show the love of God and it will be a very powerful gesture to the community from the church. However, for the church to reach out, a plan must be in place. This plan needs to be organized in detail so that if something happens, everyone is prepared to act.
Your church should put together a disaster plan and raise funds towards this portfolio. Select members of the church who are passionate and have expertise on disaster management programs and lets them put plans and systems in place. Your church does not need to only respond financially, you can respond through volunteers who will be available to help.
Execution Checklist
- Have a proactive plan and budget for disaster relief
- Recruit volunteers from the church with various expertise to lead various needs
- Engage strategic partners in the community
- Educate all your members and encourage them to participate
- Prepare evangelism material that you will give out with the donations
34.Raise Money For a Local Cause (Outreach)
Description
Whether you’re fundraising for a personal cause or for a non-profit organization, there are countless reasons why your church may need to raise money. However, fundraising is not just a means of raising money, but also a way to promoting a message and a set of given goals. After all, without the goals being clearly explained and set out, nobody would want to donate. However, gaining funds is obviously important to the immediate achievement of specific goals. Your community may be in need of borehole or the electricity transformer has to be fixed but there are not funds. Find out how much is need to fix or drill a borehole or fix the broken transformer and donate towards that project. This will be a great way to form a partnership with your community.
Execution Checklist
- Identify a need
- Seek necessary authorisation if needed
- Draw financial budget
- Nominate project leader and committee
- Set date the project should be finished
- Announce in the church and ask for donations
- Make follow ups and periodic reviews of progress
- Launch the date for handing over proceeds to the cause
- Give feedback to the church
35.Road Shows (Outreach and Evangelism)
Description
Sometimes we get so into the work of the ministry that we forget the importance of celebration. Perhaps we feel that the party mentality is for the young and immature, and we don’t have time to bother with such nonsense. God, however, knew that we needed to stop and celebrate. He created us that way, in fact! In order to be sure, we did it, He commanded it as part of the Old Testament law, explaining to the Israelites that they needed to follow through on keeping a number of feast days.
Roadshows are a series of marketing events usually accompanied with festivity hosted by a church when launching a program or celebrating a milestone. This helps in taking the church’s message and vision on the road. Your church can use road shows to celebrate important milestones e.g. anniversaries. Roadshows can be done in different geographical locations to increase awareness and knowledge of the program. They are a great way of spreading the word and also interact with different communities you may have not been able to reach.
Execution Checklist
- Identify theme
- Necessary authorization needed
- Financial budget for the campaign
- Map of the areas that you will be covering
- The road show equipment e.g. truck, PA system
- Duration of the road show campaign
- Assignment of project managers within the team
- Enrolment of volunteers among church members
- Provision of food for volunteers, depending on duration
- Availability of evangelism literature and information collection cards.
36.Tree Planting Day (Outreach)
Description
Trees are of invaluable importance to our environment and to human well-being. They give us clean water to drink, air to breathe, shade and food to humans, animals and plants. However, the rate of deforestation in most communities is alarming and little is being done to ensure that this phenomenon is reversed. Your church could embark on a tree planting day that can be aligned to the local or national tree planting day. Your church through its members can buy plants for this day which can be planted at strategic places within the community including the church premises.
Execution Checklist
- Get volunteers and pledges from church members
- Identify places for planting trees if they are not within the church premises
- Seek permission from authorites if identified place require permission
- Invite the community to participate and raise awareness on tree planting initiative
- Prepare church marketing materials e.g. flyers and poster
- Decide on a date
37.Career Expo (Outreach)
Description
A career or job fair is an excellent way to meet a large number of potential employers at one time. These fairs not only provide employment opportunities, but also provide a network for career exploration and professional development. This can be a very strategic outreach program for the church which can help church members and community members. Progressive churches today understand that their role and responsibilities in the life of their congregants and communities should be more holistic in its outlook. Another important advantage for an expo is that the church can also be in Contact with the corporate world. Some church program can in the end be funded by the corporates through their corporate social investment funds if they find the church being helpful to the community. To host a successful career expo your church can identify well accomplished members of your church who can become guest speakers on the day. Through church members you can also easily have contact with the corporate world and government departments who can become partners in the career expo.
Execution Checklist
- Work on budget plan
- Set dates
- Identify corporate stakeholders
- Invite the department or ministry of education
- Invite the community
- Organise venue
- Availability of evangelism literature and information collection cards.
- Prepare church marketing materials e.g. flyers and poster
38.Supporting mission work (outreach)
Description
Have you ever just paused and considered the immense challenge of global missions? I mean, have you really tried to wrap your head around and understand the overarching purpose and end goal of global missions?
When you do consider all that goes into this monumental task, you realize that, in many ways, global missions is some of the most difficult work on the planet. However even in the face of all the overwhelming challenges of missionary works you will still encounter those who go on these missions and serve with joy. Christians who are attracted to missionary service among un-reached peoples are often individuals with strong personalities. They have a dogged determination to go wherever they need to go and do whatever they need to do to glorify God and to spread the gospel. However sometimes their biggest challenge are resources. Your church can partner in the mission by donating money and any other resources to assist in their missionary work. By so doing you will have essentially partaken in the mission to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Execution Checklist
- Identify a mission to support
- Establish the required needs
- Ask members of the church to partner to the cause
39.Community Garden (Outreach)
Description
Community gardens are places where people come together to grow a variety of vegetables, herbs, fruits and flowers. This is done by renting individual or shared plots of land within the community garden. Community gardens contribute to a healthy lifestyle by providing fresh, safe, affordable herbs, fruits and vegetables. This helps to relieve stress and increase sense of wellness. As part of the healthy living initiative, your church can start a community vegetable garden. This garden will be for free and provide healthy vegetables for the community. Your church may need to secure a piece of land in order for this initiative to take shape. If you have a few members of the church who are knowledgeable about agriculture they can lead this initiative. The rest of the church members will provide labour to work the garden.
Execution Checklist
- Acquire land for the gardening project
- Equipment to be used for gardening
- Financial budgeting
- Select a team of volunteers that will be heading this project
- Make an announcement about the initiative in church
40.Recognize Special Groups In Your Community (Outreach)
Description
Living as the Body of Christ is a much higher calling then we are often led to believe, and being the hands and feet is a call to action, plain and simple. If we were to wait until we encountered injustice to do something about it, lots of us might find ourselves without many opportunities to act. Yet if we begin looking for it, we find that the world is full of all kinds of injustice, suffering, and evil. Recognizing special groups in the community means showing appreciation to those considered special. These could be orphans, widows, elderly, disabled etc. Appreciation can be shown through the donation of food and clothes, or by just hosting a dinner for them. You can also encourage your church members to invite their relatives with special needs to the program.
Execution Checklist
- Necessary authorization needed
- Book a venue
- The cleaning equipment needed
- Duration of the program
- Assignment of project managers within the team
- Enrolment of volunteers among church members
- Financial budget for the program
- Availability of evangelism literature and information collection cards.
- Ask for donations from church members and local businesses to fund the cause.