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Hosting a Celebrate Jesus Mission requires lots of helping hands! The Host Pastor is expected to be totally committed to the Mission, but the following Coordinators are essential to its success. Coordinators must pray and ask for God’s direction and creativity.
Click on position below for more information
Host Pastor/Key Leader
First and foremost we want to encourage your church family to focus on relationships. ANTICIPATE the needs of your community, physical as well as spiritual. Anticipate the needs that you as a church can meet in ways that say to your community, “we care about you!”
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Make sure your entire church family is prepared for your mission and ready to participate in all the activities, including daily visitations and Servant Evangelism. |
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Communicate the need and sign up people from the congregation to go out with the visiting team every time they go out. |
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Train your church to be “visitor friendly”. |
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Have person (Visitation Coordinator) available during the week who has a good sense of the community and can share directions and maps for the geographic areas designated for visitation, “random acts of kindness” and servant evangelism. |
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Check with some of the stores ahead of time and ask if it is OK to come and give out water or brochures in their parking lots. |
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If your church plans to give out cakes, prayer plants, water, or whatever, make sure everything is ready and available for the week. |
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If there is a need for permits for parks or beaches, have them available. |
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Post a city map in view of church family and mark areas where you have prayer walked or want concentrated prayer. |
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Post another map to mark off where you have visited each day. |
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ADVERTISE with pamphlets, brochures, etc. Be part of planning and implementing the COMMUNITY/BLOCK PARTY on Friday evening. |
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MAKE IT KNOWN THAT THE CHURCH FAMILY NEEDS TO JOIN THE CELEBRATE JESUS TEAM EVERY DAY IN WHATEVER ACTIVITY THE CHURCH HAS CHOSEN. |
Key Leader is requested to work with the Hospitality Coordinator with regard to lodging and dinner for the visit from the CJ Leadership Team sometime prior to mission.
Prayer Coordinator: Prayer is the most important part of mission!
The Prayer Coordinator will recruit a Prayer Committee who will organize prayer events and individual prayer activities. They will bring the church body into prayer for the mission, prayer walk the neighborhoods that are targeted for mission, and lift all aspects, no matter how small, to God in prayer.
We firmly believe there is no evangelism without prayer
Prayer is the most important part of mission!
See how creative you can be in involving your whole church in prayer for Celebrate Jesus.
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PERHAPS…. |
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Prayer vigils |
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Prayers particularly for Celebrate Jesus in weekly worship services |
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Prayer cards/tents for families to place on their tables at home |
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Prayer walks around the church and neighborhoods |
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Keeping your chapel or sanctuary open early mornings and late afternoons for workers to stop off and pray |
Encourage personal prayer and quiet times for all.
Plan to attend prayer gatherings with other churches in your area. Times and places of such events will be communicated to you. Go to some of your shut-in members and have prayer times for CJ with them. IT IS SO IMPORTANT FOR THE ENTIRE CHURCH FAMILY TO FEEL A PART OF THIS GREAT HAPPENING. Invite and encourage anyone who would like to come and pray with the team EVERY morning at the church during the week of mission.
Prayer Walks: Praying while walking
Prayer walking is the only thing that will make a difference in how well the community responds to people coming up to their door during mission week.
How to Prayer Walk:
Go down selected
streets, individually or as a couple, maybe in a small group; go during your
morning walk, evening jog, daily bicycle ride, drive to work or store… GO
with your eyes wide open looking at the homes, quietly asking God what to
pray for or having sensed the leading of the Holy Spirit, praying over each
house, business, family... Go back again and again.
Hospitality Coordinator
The Hospitality Team shall provide:
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3 well-balanced, nutritional meals a day |
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Daily showers |
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A clean location in the church facility for the team to sleep |
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Contingencies for international missionaries who may be assigned to your church. |
Find ways to make warm, hospitable offerings to the team and to those from your neighborhood who come to see what is going on at your church!
We recommend this
example that was very successful at Clearview UMC
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Plan meals and snacks for team members. |
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Clean and make secure rooms in the church that can be used for sleeping. |
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Plan for showers throughout the week in the homes of your church families. |
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Encourage your church to provide lots of kitchen help during the week. |
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Check with businesses around the neighborhood to see what they might donate in the way of food, paper goods, drinks, etc. |
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Ask church families for donations. |
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If there should be international guests on your team, a host will be needed to take them to and from the airport and provide an air mattress, linens, pillows, towels, etc. for their stay. |
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Plan for some of the church families who can’t attend during the week to have one or two of the team members over for lunch or for coffee just so the whole church family can feel a part of the week and can have some time together. |
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Be a part of planning and implementing the COMMUNITY/BLOCK PARTY on Friday evening. |
Well-balanced nutritional meals: Please include meat, vegetables, bread, salad and fruits for the meals; try to stay away from junk food or fast food.
PLAN TO PROVIDE A PLACE FOR THE TEAM LEADER AND TEAM PASTOR to stay one night as part of the visiting of the Leadership Team prior to your mission. Dinner will also need to be provided. (Date will be announced later).
Follow-Through Coordinator
Realize that though the title, Follow-Through Coordinator, implies work done at the end of the mission, it must begin early. Actually, a Follow-Through vision should be in place first and then you build your mission around that vision. This Coordinator will employ the help of the church planning team to see the “face” of the people of your community. Ask yourself, “How would an unchurched person respond to what our church offers?” Be sure you are looking at it through THEIR eyes, not your own.
Follow-Through is where the “rubber meets the road”. It is the “proof of the pudding”. It is the “gel” in the Jello. Follow-Through cannot be faked. It is where love takes on action. Follow-Through is made up of a core of Christ Followers in action. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Eph. 2:10
KINGDOM WORK
Mission! …
Consider beginning active
Follow-Through DURING the actual week of mission. When obvious needs
surface during visitation or prayer time with someone in the community, it
is helpful to the relationship to quickly respond in a tangible way.
For example:
Someone relates a need…
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For groceries |
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To have their grass cut |
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To be taken to the doctor |
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For child care during an appointment |
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For a meal to be cooked as they have just come home from the hospital |
These things are do-able...immediately! They speak loud and clear that we are serious about loving and caring for our neighbors. Let us be ready to recognize and “move” on the opportunities God provides.
Other Ideas
~ Position greeters everywhere — the parking lot, the sanctuary, the educational building, the fellowship hall and nursery to welcome and direct any new people ~ Follow up on prayer requests that have been given during the CJ week ~ Continue to do prayer walks through the neighborhoods ~ Keep your neighborhood aware of Christmas/Easter events, special concerts, ice cream socials, craft fairs, rummage sales, etc. ~ Keep the church campus clean, well-maintained and inviting ~ Plan community “Random Acts of Kindness” days ~ Give out fliers or cards to the community imprinted with your church name and activities ~ Offer bus or van pick-up on Sundays, if possible ~ Do individual follow-up visits to families you made contact with during CJ mission ~
Visitation Coordinator
Visitation Coordinator is an optional position, but one we believe is so important to the flow of visitation during mission. As Visitation Coordinator you will need to do your work prior to the actual week of mission. You will need to find ways to make the visitation go smoothly - for each team to know where they are going, who will be driving them there, and to have everything ready and packaged for teams to take with them as they make their visits. Work with your Prayer Coordinator to prepare Prayer Cards for the team to take with them. You will also need to have coolers of water available for those making the visits (both for themselves and for those to whom you will be offering water). Usually you can find names and addresses of people in neighborhoods through a real estate agent, the County Courthouse or a utility company. There is also a "Percept" Program for churches that can give you specific zip code addresses. (You may contact Rev. Mont Duncan at MDuncan@flumc.org for further info about Percept.) During mission week your early preparation will pay off as your give the map info and items to the teams and send them on their way in minimum time. More can be accomplished and frustration is cut in half when you are prepared and ready to quickly send the teams out to do their visitations. You will also want to keep a large map easily visible so as visits are made you can either "pin" them off or highlight them as being completed. It would be helpful to your Prayer Coordinator if you would help map out prayer walking areas and organize transportation for those who will be doing prayer walks prior to mission. The prayer walks should cover the same areas you will be mapping our for visitation. Those areas which have been prayer walked prior to mission seem to always have friendlier reception of our visiting teams. Prayer is so important as your and your church seek clarity and direction for geographic areas to visit, and then for your preparation of specific neighborhood mapping and visitation.
Block Party Coordinator
It is exciting that you have committed yourself to be a part of your church's outreach to your community! We feel it is so important to have a Block Party Coordinator even though the position is considered optional. Every Key Leader appreciates having someone take on this responsibility! The Block Party has several goals. It is an opportunity for Celebrate Jesus team members to introduce folks from the community to the church family and it is a great time for the church to gather names and information from their neighbors (via door prize info). The Block Party is the first of many ways to cultivate relationships and really begin "community". Block parties can be more than offering hot dogs and having bouncy castles for kids. For instance, some block parties have focused on health screening and seminars using volunteers from local health and welfare organizations. Other churches have offered job fairs, connecting with employers around the city or county. A prayer tent is always appreciated at a block party. Evangelism can be a primary focus at block parties; for example, a Christian hip-hop youth concert, tent evangelist or drama, all ending with an invitation to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Food can be a large or small factor at the block parties. We have seen everything from a 60' banana split, a 40' ice cream sundae (served in a storm gutter!), a pig roast, barbecue, pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers or simply offering cut watermelon slices. Some churches have coordinated with the city to have the streets blocked off, inviting community businesses as well as neighborhoods to participate in a huge street party. There have been Indians on horses, pony rides, race car or fire station exhibits, sack races, cake walks, country gospel music, praise bands....there is no end to the ideas and creativity! Pray as you plan, create and implement your Block Party. God will provide every resource. Invite as many church family members as possible to be involved in the block party activities. Many hands make lighter work!
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Celebrate Jesus, Inc. |
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