Creating Community-Wide Events to Reach People for Christ
By Rick Mitchell

A community-wide event is a great way for your church to make a good impression on the community. Let your imagination run wild as to the type of events and activities you can have. But, above all, remember your purpose is to introduce Jesus to the participants either during the event or later during the follow-up.

It takes time to put a community-wide event together and to publicize it, so allow 6 to 12 months of preparation.

Follow Up
Although follow-up takes place after the event, it is important to plan your follow-up before the event. You may plan to present the Gospel by handing out tracts or just wandering through the crowd taking every opportunity to witness; however, the real harvest is in the follow-up. There are many different ways to do this, but the most effective are personal contacts through mail, e-mail, phone calls, and/or visits.

The best follow-up tool is a registration list. It is important to find a way for everyone to register willingly.

One tried-and-true method comes from advertisers who have long used contests to develop their mailing lists.

A simple contest you can use is to fill a large clear jar or container with jellybeans, rocks, marbles, beads, or whatever you want and ask guests give their best guess as to how many items are in the jar. In order to claim their prize, their entry form will need to include their name, address, phone number, and e-mail address. Exhibit the prizes near the jar.

You may choose to deliver the prizes to allow you a visit with the family in their home. Small consolation prizes to everyone else will also give you opportunities to make personal contacts.

Throw a Party
Everyone likes a party; and who better to throw a party than God’s people who have the happiness and joy that Jesus gives? In planning a community-wide event, remember the purpose of the event is to reach people for Christ.

Pick a Date
If you are in a warm weather climate, you can choose any time of year. If you have a rainy season or cold winters, you may be limited in your selection of good outdoor dates. Check your church and community calendars to make sure nothing else is scheduled at the time you choose for your event that will create a conflict.

Pick a Place
Determine where you will have your community-wide event. Church parking lots work well, but make sure if you use the parking lot that you have another place for parking cars. You want a lot of room for people to walk around and a lot of places for people to park their cars.

Insurance
It is always best to check with your church’s insurance provider to be sure that such an event will be covered. Be sure to tell them what events you will have and that both church members and non-members will be present. Your church insurance probably already covers such events, but, if not, you can usually get such coverage for an additional fee.

Publicity
Publicity is very important. You can make flyers and mail them out or hand them out door-to-door or in the parking lot of a mall. Call and see if you can get free radio and TV spots, or even free newspaper and magazine publicity. Make posters and put them up in stores and other places to get the word out.

Community Resources
Invite community resources to participate. The police could come and do a child I.D. booth with fingerprinting. Ask the fire department to do a booth on fire safety. Ask someone from your church to man a yard sale booth (items donated by church members with proceeds to the church outreach fund). Consider a bake sale booth (baked goods from your church with proceeds to the church outreach fund). Ask the Humane Society to bring some pets for adoption and hand out literature on proper pet care.

Don’t forget a booth from your own church – tracts, bulletins, church calendars, cards that can be filled out asking for a visit from the pastor.

There are lots of other community organizations that would be happy to participate – they have a message to get out, too. You just have to make some phone calls and issue invitations.

Children’s Activities
The young people in your church might set up some contests and little games for kids—things like beanbag toss and throwing hoops over sticks are fun things that little kids like to do. A train ride would be good if you have someone with a tractor that can pull some cars behind it like a train. Or how about a hayride; ask a local farmer to come and put hay in the bottom of his truck and carry folks around. Consider a face painting booth; children love to have their faces painted.

Food
You must have food. You can sell it, give it away, or do a combination of the two. Consider cotton candy, popcorn, sodas, hot dogs, ice cream, or funnel cakes.

Before you do anything about food, though, be sure to check with your local health department for any guidelines they might have as to preparing and serving food. Their advice will help you avoid any problems.

Performances
It’s good to have a stage. You can contact a local high school or middle school to see if they have music groups who are willing to come and perform. Maybe a local gospel group would be happy to come and sing some old-time favorites. Be sure you discuss with the organization’s director the music they will perform and the type of clothing they will wear. This will save you and them some grief later. Many other organizations—barbershop quartets, instrumental ensembles—may also be glad to come and sing for 20 to 30 minutes. Look for other talents, such as joke telling, singing, juggling, magic tricks, clowns, and so on.

Be sure to tell each group upfront if you will pay them and how much. If you are asking for a free performance, tell them how many people you expect in attendance at the event and that it will be good exposure for their group. Then it is their decision to come or not. Being clear about remuneration will avoid misunderstandings and hurt feelings later.

At the end of the day, you can wrap everything up with a banana split or ice cream sundae. These are easy to make and are a great way to end the event!

Rev. Rick Mitchell is the founder and president of Sports & Rec Plus, a worldwide Christian ministry that equips churches to use sports and all types of recreation for outreach, evangelism, church planting, and church growth, www.sportsrecplus.org.