Outreach & Witnessing

We did this in 2001 and the results are amazing!
A month before the PopReach, we collected cases of pop donated by people in the church. In the end, we had 1,200 cans of pop. We used the parking lot of the church as our stage and did human videos and skits while passing out free cans of pop to all who stopped by. We even passed them out at the stop sign nearby.

Our worship team set up outside and we had games for kids with lots of prizes. The kids could play as many times as they wanted and always received a prize. Adults participated in the skits and had a blast. Afterwards we gathered in the foyer for testimony time. Everyone was able to witness to at least 1 person. It was the most successful outreach we have done!

Since Senior Adult day is during the month of May, our youth sponsored a Senior Adult Dinner for persons in the Senior Adult Sunday School class. We sent formal invitations which included a ticket for their meal. Youth volunteered to be welcomers, photographers, servers, cooks, clean-up, etc. The youth, with the help of volunteer Youth Workers, prepared the meal of turkey, dressing, vegetables, desserts, etc. Afterwards, door prizes were given (i.e. plants used for decoration). This service project for the senior adults made our youth realize the importance of serving others (respecting senior adults) as well as how important senior adults are to our church. In turn, the senior adults felt proud that the young people thought of them to have such a special dinner. To some of the senior adults, you would have thought they had gone to the prom!

All you need to do is find a barn/warehouse in/around your community and ask for permission to use. Then you can find a local band to play at the event(or like we have done a local christian radio) and bring out food and play some games like Capture the Flag and other “war” games that will get teenagers pumped up.

If you have a group of willing servents in your youth group, then set a date on your calendar to help local senior citizens in the community. You will need to make a sign that says that your youth group is willing to do odd jobs for senior citizens in the community simply because Jesus loves them. Put your church number on the sign and the date of the event. You should also consider limiting it to the first 10 to 20 people that call depending on the size of your group. Otherwise, you will be working for weeks on end! Next, post the sign at the town senior center and watch the calls come in.
When the day arives, have tracts on hand and some literature on your church. Accept no money because you are doing it to be a blessing and a witness for Jesus Christ.

Our youth group held a ‘Servant Saturday’. We made arrangements with the older (80 +) people in our church and we assigned an adult and 2-3 teens to each house who wanted help and we worked for 2-3 hours at each place. We did whatever job needed to be done. This was as much a blessing to the youth as the seniors.

If a nearby mall has a stage, you can set up a Mission to the Mall. We used the stage in our mall for a youth service. We had dances, skits, worship songs, and testimonies and blasted Christian music at the mall. It was awesome for us as students and we witnessed to a lot of people walking by. We asked people ‘how may I pray for you’ and gave out tracts. I had to go through insurance and clearing everything up with the mall manager – but it was free and an awesome and beneficial time.

Plan to visit a children’s hospital, children’s home, day care centre or Christian centre in your area. In advance, meet with the appropriate person at the location to plan your eventual visit with the youth group. Tell your youth group members about the upcoming visit and ask them to select one of their favourite books from childhood. At the location, they will be grouped with one or more children. They will read and discuss the book together. After the story time they will donate the books to the organization. Church members may donate books if necessary. Let the kids become familiar with the book ahead of time so they can read it with enthusiasm. Once the books are chosen, ask them to bring them to the youth group meeting and ask the following questions about each book: 1.) How are values presented? 2.) Who are the heroes in the story? What does the book teach us about heroes? What is the symbolism of the story? etc….

This Thanksgiving, don’t just collect Spam and generic green beans for Thanksgiving. Challenge your youth to collect one turkey for every member and donate it to the local food pantry or mission for Thanksgiving. Select leaders from each age group or Sunday School class and have them publicize and lead the effort. Make them responsible for X number of turkeys as they rally their peers and the adults of the church to donate turkeys. Publicize this effort in the local newspapers as well.

This has become a HUGE thing in our city. On the first and third mondays of every month, students all across the city wear a navy-blue t-shirt with the words “I Believe” on the front. Every Monday this takes place you can walk though a middle school or high school and see hundreds of kids wearing these shirts. When people stop to ask, this is the opportunity to share the Gospel.