Children of the World - An Awesome Outreach
Sorry I haven't posted for so long. I went on vacation to do a little surf fishing. But I'm back now, and ready to stir up a little dialogue!I know that church planters and new churches are always looking for effective, affordable, high-impact ministry opportunities to utilize for outreach in their communities. Here is one such ministry that I can recommend to you ... the Children of the World International Children's Choir. This incredible group of kids is a ministry of World Help, a worldwide relief ministry that focuses upon the needs of children.
The Children of the World are actually three separate touring choirs that travel throughout North America in an effort to raise awareness and funds for World Help's ministry to the "Forgotten Children" of Uganda.
From a church's standpoint, the COTW kids deliver an incredible amount of community ministry "bang for the buck." The local church must cover their $600 travel fee for the concert and provide host homes for the children on the evening of the concert. The only other cost is for a group dinner and a motel room for the driving staff. The entire event costs less than $750! The local church pastor facilitates an offering after the concert that goes completely toward the Uganda ministry ... absolutely no funds stay with the local church.
We are hosting the COTW in our community this week. We decided to go ahead and make it a truly community-wide event. Instead of having the concert at our church, we are hosting it at the local community auditorium. We have received some serious radio news coverage, as well as a front-page story in the local paper ... complete with a color photo!!! We are so excited about the potential for community impact through this event.
The COTW choir is an excellent opportunity for a church to give a gift of culture, music, fellowship, and fun to its community. I recommend that you give them a call and invite them to your church. You can find all of the info that you need on their web site. If you need more information, just drop me an e-mail.
What about you? Have you hosted this group in your church? What kind of experience did you have? Can you think of any other ways to maximize the outreach and impact potential for a traveling ministry group such as this one?
posted by Geoff Baggett at 4:27 PM
3 Comments:
Geoff,
Interesting idea for outreach. This kind of group could/would actually get some interest from the secular community, unlike bringing in "Latest Christian music pop sensation that you can almost afford!" Next summer we are planning a concert series for our community and I will contact these folks and see if they are available. Let us know how the concert goes.
Hey, Rog-
The only problem might be with scheduling. I think the tour ends in late May or early June. And they book way out in advance. You might want to go ahead and give them a call.
The COTW concert was huge!!! We had 320 people in attendance. They gave over $1500 toward the World Help ministries in Uganda. And the truly awesome part was that the crowd was so inter-racial. The African-American community responded in an incredible way. We will definitely host this group again next fall.
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