Project Starter Kit
It’s simple but very true: the best way to start a project is prayer! Why don’t you and your youth group go on a prayer walk around your local area and ask God to give you vision and direction as to what would most impact your community.
2 good questions to ask:
1. What are the needs of people in my community? Can I think of a project that could meet some of them?
2. How can I engage with local people and build relationships?
Not sure what to do?
What about…
Painting: fences, railings, walls, kitchens, murals…
Doing a street clean: litter picking streets, woods & rivers. Scrub off graffiti…
Distribute a slip with services: think of simple services you could do, in a group go around and post slips listing the ideas you could do arrange a way to get a reply. You could do all sorts of things: weeding, mowing, planting pots, laying turf, use your imagination!
Run a fun day: find a local space and apply for council permission. You can face paint, run games, have a BBQ, man a bouncy castle, have live music, create a picnic spot and offer a prayer tent… what about getting sporty!
Simple acts of kindness: why not drop off homemade cakes to your neighbours or other simple gifts?
Create a free car wash: grab buckets, sponges and cleaner and make peoples’ cars shinny for free.
Serve a local community group: could you help do any jobs at a school – painting, cleaning, gardening? Or what about at a local care home?
Be creative! People have done all sorts! You could run a street picnic, renovate a room or building, offer prayer, wash windows, run a festival in a car park, hand out water on a hot day, run a kids’ clubs, host a sports competitions, arrange an art class …
Have a go!
Once you’ve got a project idea ask these questions:
Is it varied enough to keep young people engaged for 15 hours? If you have a whole afternoon of litter picking the answer is probably no!
Can it be completed over the IgniteHope 2012 weekend? It is good at this point to assess the number of young people in your team and how old they are as this will effect the speed of work.
Are there ways to sustain the project post IgniteHope? It may be that you want to maintain an area that you have cleared after the weekend, or you want to keep up connecting with a group of people that you met, or even start up a sporting team or club!
What equipment do I need? Are there any specialised equipment needed? We will try and source equipment for projects, but it is helpful for you to identify equipment and resources you can access from church or neighbours.
Who do I need to inform about my project? You will need to register your project with Ignite - you may also need to apply for permission for land use, putting up small structures etc form the Council. It is also good to let your local police know what you are doing - they may even want to help!
How can I publicise my project? If you are planning a community event it is good to advertise this well in advance - you could get flyers into schools, doctors surgeries and local shops. If you want to do a project like gardening for local people it is wise to do a leaflet drop and collection to get an idea of where you will be gardening.
Find out about 3rd Party liability insurance. Ignite cannot offer insurance for community events so it will be the reponsibility of individual churches to provide insurance for such events. (many churches will have this in place already).
How can I keep volunteers up to date? Communication is key! If you have volunteers, keeping them informed will help them feel connected to the project and probably more willing to get involved further. Could you keep developments posted on a board at church? a facebook page or an email?
How can I get people praying for this project? Why don’t you think of creative ways to get your church praying about the project?
Make sure you meet key guidelines and requirements
- CRB’s
- Health and Safety
- Risk Assessments
Failure in meeting one of these three may abort your project.
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Hebrews 10: 23 - 24
Once you have designed your project fill in the project proposal form made available by emailing ruth.probert@igniteme.org. Please contact us with any questions or queries on 029 2051 2247 or email the above address.