How to Sustain Community Outreach Events

For the past eight years, Queens Church in the USA has been active in evangelizing through street fairs. In New York City, there are multiple street fairs every weekend from April to October where vendors set up booths to sell merchandise or food. At least once a year Queens Church joins a street fair to introduce True Jesus Church to the hundreds of people who walk through.

From our experiences in this outreach work, we have learned much on what to do and how to keep this work going.

Have a Goal

Our purpose is to introduce our church to others so that they begin to study the truth with us and eventually receive baptism. So we try to participate in street fairs that are close to our spiritual convocations and evangelical services. We want to keep in contact with anyone who shows interest in our church, so we make sure that we have members who will be in charge of calling those who want further information.

Be Aware

Each time we take part in street fairs, we have to find out which one we can join and then take care of logistics. For every street fair, we have to make sure that we follow all the rules and procedures that have been set up. (This is true for all outreach activities, but especially for the ones that do not take place on church property.)

For example, there is the matter of knowing who is sponsoring the street fair. The sponsor or theme of the street fair could affect who attends the street fair. If we are aware of this beforehand, we can prepare early for these circumstances or choose a different fair to join.

Plan Ahead

In the weeks leading up to the street fair, we check our supplies of flyers and other church publications to ensure that we will have enough to pass out. We also start to prepare all the members who will participate in how to approach people to hand out flyers, simple questions they can ask to spark interest, and how to answer questions that are commonly asked.

It’s a good idea to role-play and practice beforehand so that everyone involved feels comfortable performing the tasks that need to be done.

Be Proactive

It is difficult to gather the courage to initiate conversations with strangers, but with practice it gets easier. One of the most important factors in preparation is prayer, both before the event and right before leaving for the street fair. It is essential to have the guidance and power of God with us.

When we are at the street fair, we take turns standing in front of the booth and passing out flyers. We ask passers-by if they have heard of the Holy Spirit, or if they would like to believe in Jesus. If they show interest, we talk to them and take down their contact information. And if they ask more questions, we bring them back to the booth so that the members there can answer them.

Those who sit in the booth also take the initiative and let people know that the publications in our booth are free and conversations start from there. It is important to be well-versed in the Bible and our basic beliefs in order to answer questions or engage in longer conversations with those who stop and are interested in hearing more about the Bible or our church.

It is a great blessing to share the gospel with others. Although participating in street fairs is only one of the many ways we can evangelize, this yearly event has helped us realize what a special position we are in as children of God, and we want to continue to preach because we are moved by the joy we feel when we do this. It is wonderful to see the fruit of our labor when we contact people from the street fair and they come to church.