hat happens when a church decides to blanket its community with neighborhood Bible clubs? Children and adults learn scripturesome for the first time. Many come to a saving knowledge of Jesus and look to the sponsoring church for leadership in their familys life. The members neighborhoods witness a model for the Christian life. And the leaders are blessed and their lives enriched by participation in an on mission event that can impact a community for years to come.

Heres how one church committed time and resources to neighborhood Bible clubs and experienced the blessings of growing its leaders, publicizing its activities and expanding its membership.

Nuts and bolts
For one week last summer more than 100 members and regular attenders of Sugarloaf Community Church in Suwanee, Georgia, went outside the four walls of their church and into the communities around it presenting "A Taste of Sugarloaf." The event was designed to promote a sense of community while exposing children and adults to the Bible with enjoyable activities such as crafts, songs and games. The underlying message, of course, was that this kind of learning and fun are available at Sugarloaf Community Church.

The week included two events planned to complement each other:

Neighborhood Bible clubs and block parties, designed for ages 5 to 12, met in five communities on four mornings during the week from 9 to 11:30 a.m. They were designed to teach children the truths of scripture right in their own neighborhood. Each of the five neighborhoods had its own Bible club team led by a leader who lived in the community. Teams consisted of 10 adults and youth, ranging from Bible teachers and crafts coordinator to preschool caregiver and helpers.

One night during the week in each of the five communities the church sponsored a neighborhood block party to give families the opportunity to get out of the kitchen and spend an evening getting to know their neighbors. The block partieswhich began on Wednesday and ran through Fridayalso offered parents a chance to meet members of Sugarloaf Com-munity Church, people who had been working with their kids in the morning Bible clubs and others who came to help with the party. Two block party teamscomplete with grills, cooks, emcees, face painters, set-up and decorating teams, sound technicians and plenty of serversworked with the slogan "Have partywill travel." During the parties, the neighborhood Bible club teams were free to mingle and meet parents and others from the neighborhood because the block party teams were responsible for the nuts and bolts of the event.

Keys to success
But the real key to the success of the week was publicity and prayer. Two weeks prior to the event, church membersled by the neighborhood team leadersprayerwalked the neighborhoods. Then on the Saturday prior to the event, teams again prayerwalked the neighborhoods, putting flyers on mailboxes and talking to people about the Bible clubs and block parties. During the week each neighborhood had its own team of 8-10 people who focused entirely on prayer for their neighborhood.

On mission results
By the end of the week, about 90 children had participated in the Bible clubs and more than 150 families outside of the church had been touched through either the Bible clubs or the block parties. When we looked back over the events, heres what we learned and recommend:

• Start early. The game plan for your neighborhood Bible clubs and block parties should be developed at least three months prior to the event. This allows time for contacting homeowners associations, developing prayer teams, gathering curriculum material, recruiting staff for the Bible club and block party teams, as well as securing assistance from corporate sponsors.

• Involve the homeowners associations. Contact them through a church member in the association and provide them with information about the Bible clubs and block parties. Usually a brochure on the church and a general cover letter providing an overview of the event is sufficient. Emphasize ways the homeowners association might benefit from the event, such as establishing a neighborhood watch program or introducing the associations officers. Occasionally someone will raise the question of the separation of church and state. Explain to them that legally the issue is freedom of assembly rather than church-state since the state is not involved.

• Try to have at least two church families within a targeted neighborhood. Children attract children, and there is a certain affinity that develops between parents as well. Synergy is created when there are two or more families from the church in a neighborhood.

• Involve area businesses. This is an opportunity for them to support churches and neighborhoods in the community, not to mention benefit from some publicity. The businesses that supported "A Taste of Sugarloaf" ranged from a bank that supplied a grill to a Christian bookstore that gave door prizes for the block parties. And dont overlook your local grocery store. The savings can be significant.

• Develop contingency plans. Keep in mind that Murphys Law is still valid. Sugarloaf volunteers prayed for clear skies and got themalong with morning temperatures in excess of 100 degrees. But they adapted and moved Bible story time to the neighborhood pool and games took on an aquatic theme as "Marco Polo" became "Jonah and the Whale."

• Focus on the event and the follow-up. One of the greatest struggles can be in following up. When you invest so much time and effort into the week itself, you can be exhausted when it comes time to follow up. Churches that invest in such an endeavor need to conserve some resources for activities such as analyzing how the week went (and making notes for next year) and calling on neighbors who expressed an interest in the church. Consider designating two team leaders in each neighborhoodone to lead in preparing the team for the event and carrying it out and another to coordinate the neighborhood follow-up through cards, phone calls and personal visits.

• Set a realistic budget and know that the investment will pay off through the years. Overall the week cost Sugarloaf approximately $2,000 (or about $400 per neighborhood). But during the week several children gave their lives to Christ, and quite a few families visited the church after having experienced "A Taste of Sugarloaf." Its amazing what God does when a church starts taking Him to the community.

John Howard lives in Sugar Hill, Georgia.