The Story Students are drawn to making a difference. They want to impact the world, not just for a day but for eternity. EFCA Challenge wants to help be a link in that process - of helping develop a heart of compassion in your students - to make a difference now, right where they are. Together students can change the world - for eternity. The opportunity is for all our EFCA students - not just those attending Challenge '08. We are asking your youth group, whether you're able to come to Challenge or not, to partner with us, EFCA TouchGlobal and Outreach, Inc. At Challenge in Salt Lake City, we'll have the time, space and with God's provision, the resources to package up to one million meals for starving children in Africa - but there’s one catch - we need to raise the funds by May. The Challenge Your students are being asked to give up discretionary funds to buy a million meals for one month - the money they spend on pizza, McDonalds, etc that they and their friends could sacrifice for a week or a month. 30 cents for one meal, it doesn't take a lot of change to make a difference. How many meals? It's up to YOU: $.30 a meal times a million, 3 meals for a buck. We will partner with EFCA TouchGlobal to distribute the meals through the Evangelical Free Church of Congo - in order to feed starving people both physically and spiritually in Jesus name. When? The time is limited to join this exciting opportunity - will you, your students and their friends join us? Will you let us know if you are participating and what you can do? How During the afternoons of Challenge, one of the ministry options for groups to do together will be to package meals for an hour or two. With all the students and groups attending Challenge, we have the potential of packaging one million meals. We are only limited by the funds. The money needs to be raised beforehand so Outreach Inc. can purchase the supplies and ship them to SLC. The sign up for all the afternoon ministry options will be made available a little later in April. Keep your eyes open. Logistics Please contact Sharon Trucker at Sharon.trucker@efca.org to let her know of your planned involvement in the Sojourn Compassion Challenge. We want to hear from you. Send us a status report by April 28th, then we will know how many meals we can commit to packaging in SLC. The funds can be sent to us by check by May 15th or you can use a credit card - go to https://www.efca.org/apps/giving/ and type in Sojourn Compassion Challenge to designate where the funds are to go. Bonus The student ministry that raises the most money gets 5 free registrations to Challenge 2010. Available Resources Use any of the materials created for you, including can or cup wraps for pocket change, or use the logo and graphics to create materials for your students. Students can use them at school among their friends; they could be placed around the church (if permission is given).. Posters that can be used to challenge the students to think about what they can do are also available. Click on the resources listed to below to download tools.
Coffee Cup wrap for coin collection
What do I do? Some ideas - get the go ahead from church leadership & ministry team; recruit students leaders; have a kick off night; use empty containers from McDonalds meals, coffee, energy drinks, etc; have a hunger strike (save the money for the project-eat one or two less meals a week and give the money)' help students engage their friends; collect funds; send the money by May 15th; engage other youth leaders and leadership students, possibly even draw in pastoral staff in the initiative. Learning opportunities Use this time as an opportunity to do a brief series or one meeting focus on compassion - that is Jesus' heart is for the poor. This isn't just a onetime event but an opportunity to develop a heart of compassion around the world. Go to www.efca.org/student/challenge/download.html for compassion resources to help you speak into your students' lives. It's for everybody Churches that are not able to attend Challenge this year can have an impact in ministry alongside those attending Challenge by helping to raise the funds for this outreach opportunity. Be creative, share ideas Here are some very basic tools - a logo and look to help you and your students communicate this project to friends, family and community contacts. But your only limitation is your imagination. Challenge your students to be creative, to find new ways to make money, collect money, sacrifice to make a difference. The Challenge blog at www.challengeconference.com will be a great place to share ideas. Challenge your students to make a difference for a week, for a month, for a million meals. A difference by donating the money they might spend on a Big Mac meal, a latte, an energy drink or a music download...Can they give it up so others might eat? Will they ask their friends to do the same? Can they start something that's bigger than themselves...a contagious compassion that grows beyond...
We believe EFCA youth are called to make a difference - do you?
7,000 STUDENTS. A MILLION MEALS? |
