How To Host an Affective Block Party
There are many aspects of an affective block party outreach; I will attempt to list as many details as possible here.
One of the first things you need to do is find a suitable location. This could be one of the key elements in the success of your block party so you will want to be very prayerful in your decision. We recommend having it as close to government housing or project areas of your community. If you do not have any low income housing, you may want to look for mobile home parks.
Most of the time you can go to the management and ask permission to host a “Christian Outreach Block Party” (this is the only time it will be referred as a “Christian Outreach” Block Party. You want to help the management understand you are going to be a blessing to the facility and the tenants. You will want to offer your services in preparing the area by cleaning and grooming if necessary and also your assurance that the area used will be as clean as or cleaner than when you started. It is very important that when going before the management that you smile and show yourself friendly.
If you are planning a Block Party in a park that belongs to the city you may want to get permission from the park department. On most occasions we do not seek permission from city officials and have not had any problems, this will be left to your own discretion.
Try and find a place that is as close to large groups of people.
We do not recommend any advertising to say anything about church, revival,
Acts 2:38 or any other form of religious text. We do not want to give the impression to the people that will be coming that this is a church event. A common mistake on most advertisements for church events is the words listed above. When we try and bring people to church they mostly feel they have a church so they don’t need another.
Once you have chosen a location you will want to start planning your event. This is going to be a very crucial part of the success of your event. The planning should be as detailed as possible. I will try and give you an outline to follow here:
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Food
a) Menu
Hamburgers, Hotdogs, Chips, Snack Cake and Drinks
b) Items needed
Boxes of frozen Hamburger Patties
Hot Dogs
Buns for each
Little Debbie Cakes are recommended.
Cans of Coke – Mountain Dew – Bottles of Water
(Key Points * Never Serve Kool-Aid * Never serve generic Drinks NAME BRAND ONLY!)
Bags of ICE
Individual Bags of Potato Chips
Ketchup & Mustard (You can get individual packages at Sams Club or food supply companies. Never serve mayonnaise.)
Napkins
Trash Bags, the larger the better
Trash Cans
Foil Pans to Place cooked food in while waiting to place in containers to serve.
Styrofoam To Go Boxes (all meals should be packed in these)
Plastic Gloves (Every server should be wearing these)
Cooking
Several Gas Grills are needed Make sure whoever is in charge of cooking items double checks to make sure tanks are full and you have one spare full tank.
Spatulas
Water Bottles for flame control
Coolers for meats
Coolers for drinks
Aluminum foil
Servers and Serving Meals
You should serve all food and drinks to guest. Make sure all servers have on plastic gloves and do not allow extra items to be given until everyone has been served. Do not allow people to come up and just take items. Make sure Saints are very clear that they do not eat until every guest has eaten.
Music
a) Old style songs are a must! I know we all want to use our style however the people that you will be reaching will not respond as well to what we play today in most churches. You need old black gospel and hymns. We have tried other styles and found that people in the world; or sinners relate to old songs that were being played as they grew up or their grandma used to play. (If you do not receive any other part of this information, this one is KEY!) If you have musicians that can play live music we suggest that.
b) Make sure you have a complete list of songs to sing. The more the better, it’s important to have a lot of music not just 3 songs.
c) Praise Singers
d) Instruments – Cords – Mics – All Sound Equipment
e) Electric Generators – Extra Electric Cords and Power Strips (You can never have to many of these)
f) It is very important to have all music, sound and singers ready and tested 45 minutes before events. Make sure all musicians are not playing their instruments except during songs….for instance you don’t want the guitar player jamming to his own tune while warming up….you want the musicians ready to roll and play when the party starts. If tuning is needed keep volume down to a minimum while tuning…this is not something you want the neighborhood to endure.
Bouncing Balloons
It is important to try and get the inflatable bouncing balloons for children. These will draw tons of children. Make sure you have people who can monitor them you will want two people at minimum. It gets wild!
Give Away Prizes
a) You want to name your Block Party “Blessing Our Community Through Giving”
b) Purchase prizes
Prizes should be at least the suggested. You may add more if needed
1 – $49.00 Kids Bicycle
10 - $10.00 Gas or Grocery Gift Cards
4 - $25.00 Wal-Mart Gift Cards
2 - $13.00 Key Chain Digital Cameras
1 - $34.00 MP3 Player
Baptism Tank
Large Horse Trough – Or Large Swimming Pool with minimum depth of 3 ft
3 Long Garden Hoses - Scan the area to see if you can use any water from the complex
Towels – You can never have to many, bring tons of them!
Extra Clothing and Robes – Have the Saints bring in as many old clothing items as possible for people to use to be baptized in.
A possible changing area – sometimes a cargo trailer or make shift changing area will work.
Chairs and Tables
Try and bring out as many chairs as possible. Also you will need a lot of tables. You need tables for the serving line, registration, sound equipment and cooking area.
Ministries
a) Puppets and children ministries if Possible should be done at some point of the service. Make the children want to come to your church to get more!
Flyers
You will want to have hundreds of flyers that advertise your service schedule and any up coming events. Make it an exciting flyer. Pass them out to every person that attends your block party.
Registration
This is one step that you must focus a lot of attention on. You will need hundreds of guest registration cards; we suggest two colors, one color for adults 12 and over and one color for children 11 and under. You will need a minimum of 6 people working registration. You will want to have rolls of tickets, each person who registers gets a ticket, and this ticket is what they will use to get their free meal. Without a ticket they will not be allowed to eat. Make it clear by announcing as much as possible through out the service that every individual needs to register and only one registration per person. You want each child and each adult to fill out a complete registration guest card. Tell them you are going to be using the registration cards to draw names for prizes. You will want to keep all registration cards and use them for follow up. Each person should receive a post card or letter from the church no less than one week from the event. Make sure you have the following request for information on your guest card:
Name – Address – Phone (home and cell) – Email – What Church they attend – Are they interested in more information on your church.
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