PETROLIA, Pa., (BRN) – Community events are always good events to come alongside because the church does not have to create the attraction. The church just has to come up with a way to attract and interact with the crowds.
Harvest Church Petroleum Valley in Petrolia, Pennsylvania, chose to facilitate a “carnival atmosphere” during the Emlenton Summerfest, complete with a bounce house, skill games, face painting, henna tattoos and snacks. We also prepared “gift” bags to give away with information about Harvest Church, upcoming events and service times as well as two gospel tracts – one for kids and one for adults. All of our attractions and resources were free thanks to a Baptist Resource Network (BRN) Evangelism Grant.
We were able to interact with over 200 hundred people.
Our volunteers were trained to have intentional gospel-centered conversations with the event guests while they were facilitating the attractions.It was very hard to have in-depth conversations because of the other activities all around us, so there was not much opportunity to lead people to Jesus, but there were ample opportunities to sow seeds and invite them to church, where the gospel is always clearly presented. Throughout the day, we had over 100 intentional gospel conversations and a number of folks mentioned that they were looking for a healthy church. Our presence at the event did cause more than a few to ask if Emlenton was going to be a location of another Harvest Church plant!
Have an outreach event you would like to host, but could use a little help when it comes to the cost? Apply for a BRN Evangelism Grant today by visiting brnunited.org/grant!
