Servefest: A Gathering of Churches
A Gathering of Churches Glorifying Christ by Serving Our Community
Background: New Life Gahanna initiated a church-wide day of service in
the spring of 2004
 6 Servefest days through the end of 2006 + on-going Men’s
Ministry/Repair & Rehab ministry
 1500+ workers total over the 3 year period
 spent about $2000 each time, more for the initial one
 have done anywhere from 22-65 projects per day,
everything from working on a Habitat house to passing out
free water to painting fingernails at the nursing home and
TONS of yard work, painting, hauling away trash, etc…
New Life relied heavily on Cincinnati Vineyard’s Servant Evangelism materials
Servefest can best be explained by phrases such as “no strings attached”
and “small things done with great love can change the world” and “simple acts
of service to show God’s love.” Servefest is NOT a recruiting tool, nor a
proselytizing tool, nor a church publicity tool – these things happen as byproducts but they are not goals! It’s about glorifying Jesus alone.
Expansion: As church after church looks to reach out to their communities,
it is clear that God is moving us all outside our walls. It was New Life’s goal
to do a Gahanna-wide Servefest much like the Leadership Westerville
community day of service. Bryce Kurfees with The Gathering was looking for
a way to unite the Body of Christ in Central Ohio and thought perhaps
Servefest might be the vehicle. We then (thanks to Reynoldsburg United
Methodist Church) learned about Sharefest (www.sharefest.org), which is
the “Servefest” event in Little Rock, AR, sponsored through Fellowship Bible
Church. In its 8th year, Sharefest attracts up to 5000 workers from 100
different churches.
What Would This Thing Look Like in Columbus? On Saturday, April 28, 2007,
churches all over the 270 loop will organize service projects for their
members (to complete that day) - 5 churches or 500, and no win/lose here!
It would be awesome to use a central booking area and mix up the
congregations but that is a logistical nightmare that I think would make us
crazy.
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We DO need to try to have some large projects that will use
people from many different denominations, races, ages, and skill
levels but overall each church will book & fill their own projects.
Surely we will all send people to the inner-city but there will be
much to do in the suburbs as well.
If you are a wealthy church with available funds, you can do
projects that require cash – if you have NO money to spare, you
can get by on good old sweat equity- this event can cost you
nothing but man hours and hard work – which is technically
FREE!
We would LOVE to see either a kick-off or a celebration
service/dinner/event but we have proven at New Life and in
Little Rock that this is easier said than done
Are there any obvious stumbling blocks?
Some sticky issues might pop up but the secret is all in the mission
statement – we need to be VERY clear about our purpose. Some ecumenical
issues might arise, politics may factor in but, here again, we need to rely on
our purpose statement as our qualifier: A Gathering of Churches Glorifying
Christ by Serving Our Community.
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If the date won’t work for your church, use another date and still
identify it as a Servefest event. Feel free to customize as need be.
Ownership? We don’t want to identify any church as “in charge” or
the “expert” or “above” anyone else- we want this truly to be a
concerted effort under the umbrella of the Body of Christ in Central
Ohio! Likewise, one church can’t/shouldn’t solely shoulder the
admin/costs/complete responsibility of the entire event.
Resources: www.servantevangelism.com, www.serve-others.com,
Cincinnati Vineyard: Servefest monthly events, Servant Evangelism
Conference, Summer of Service/ServeCincinnati. Anything by Steve
Sjogren (Conspiracy of Kindness, 101 Ways to Reach Your Community,
etc). www.sharefest.org, Fellowship Bible Church/Church of Irresistible
Influence (www.fbclr.org), So You Call Yourself a Christian, The Gutter
(XXX Church), Outreach Magazine.
Project Ideas: Before you do ANYTHING, take inventory! Who is in your church, what
can they contribute, where do they work, who do they know, what resources are in your
community, who do you work with in the inner-city or other ministries, do you know
sister churches in different parts of town, do you have access to tools, a bus, an
electrician, what does your cash situation look like – pool your resources and your
projects APPEAR!
 Target a specific area and BLITZ – we are working with Lower Lights to partner
with churches in Franklinton. Sharefest in Little Rock focuses on one area and
has an immediate, high impact plus a lot of connectedness with various churches.
XENOS and the South Linden neighborhood that they partner with through
Urban Concern are a GREAT example of targeted support and reformation.
 Widows/Single Parents/Chronically Ill/Elderly in your church or neighborhoodclean their house, do light repairs, rake their leaves, and bless them as needed.
 Social Service agencies, Christian or not – food pantries, homeless shelters,
children’s charities, etc – serve their clients or serve the agency itself. Paint,
spruce up, do mailings, organize, re-surface a parking lot, etc…
 Area schools or inner-city schools- yard work, re-paint, spruce up, decorate the
teacher’s lounge, paint murals, offer a teacher appreciation event – think BIG!
 Nursing Homes/Senior Complexes/Hospitals- visit, play BINGO, read Scripture,
organize a sing-a-long, paint nails, make blankets, take kids for a visit
 Business Blasts – take candy bars with a “sweet” message to employees at area
small businesses, clean bathrooms at area businesses, deliver gift cards for
lunch, bring bottled water & small snack (gum/mints/candy) or seasonal gift
 Giveaways – give away water, soda, hot chocolate, newspapers, gas cards, tape,
candy bars, ice scrapers, coins at the car wash or laundry – a small blessing!
 Homeless/Street people – go into the homeless camps and clean trash (this is
VERY gross) pass out lunches or blankets or socks or whatever you have to
give, host a “party” or picnic in their area – reach out to the “least”
 Skate parks/Teen hangouts/Kid’s Events - cookouts, bike repair, carnivals,
school supply give-away, swim party – whatever you can think of that kids
need/like find a locale and go to them – make it FUN!
 Low-Income Apartments- go door to door with items like light bulbs, toilet
paper, smoke alarm batteries, small bags full of staple groceries (breakfast
foods, perishables, etc) – a gift often opens the door to prayer/meeting other
needs – BLOCK PARTY for entire area at playground or rec center
 Call your city offices and ask about people in CODE VIOLATION- while this can
often be “slum lords” who have lots of issues, just as often they are little old
ladies or sick people who just need a hand up- mow their grass, paint their porch,
haul off some trash- BOY O BOY are the neighbors happy with YOU now!
 Go through www.firstlink.org and look for volunteer opportunities, special
events, groups that need volunteers, agencies that interest you – call and offer
to BLESS them with a day of service.