Chapter 5: How to Organise a Faith Promise Missions Conference

Much of the organisation, especially for the first conference, will have to be undertaken by the church leadership. It would, therefore, be advisable for the Pastor to be part of the initial decision-making process, and to be involved in the various stages of setting up the conference.

Decide on a date

When organising the conference, crucial time factors have to be considered:

• Allow sufficient time before your conference to create a missions awareness within the congregation (especially if it is your first missionary conference). Either preach several missions sermons yourself prior to the actual conference or invite a few missionaries to share briefly about what is happening on the mission field. (When inviting the missionaries to speak, emphasize to them that their sharing should not be seen as fund-raising events.)
• The Faith Promise Missions Conference will become a major event in the calendar of the mission-minded church. Therefore, the conference date must clash neither with other major events in the church calendar, nor with any other church-wide seminar or conference.
• Do not plan the conference for a time of year when there are heavy financial burdens, e.g.: financial year end when taxes are a burden or Christmas time when people are buying gifts etc. Experience has shown that March, April, May, August, September and October are the most productive months for Faith Promise Missions Conferences.

Choice of Guest Speaker

The next important step, on which the date has a direct effect, is the choice and invitation of a guest speaker. More often than not, an outside speaker is better able to inspire a congregation and impart a missions vision to the people.

It is therefore important to find a person who:

• is dynamic in his/her presentation;
• knows his/her subject;
• will not only present his/her ministry, but will present the overall cause of missions;
• has a heart for the local church.

Speakers with these attributes are not readily available, and are usually booked up months in advance. For this reason confirm with the speaker well ahead of time.

International speakers

A fairly large congregation may decide to invite an international speaker. This could be a very positive decision as such a speaker will bring an international flavour to the conference. However, it must be noted that this could be extremely costly.

One way of spreading the costs of an international speaker is to combine with two other churches around the country, which are willing to organise their own missions conferences on consecutive weeks. The participating churches invite the speaker, jointly advertise their events and divide the costs. (World Mission Centre may be contacted for assistance in this regard.)

Special invitations

It is vital that those missions organisations and individuals whom the Missions Board intends to support during the year attend the conference. It is essential to invite them in good time to ensure their participation. If one of these missionaries is away on the foreign mission field, request that a representative be present.

These specially invited missionaries or missions organisations should come prepared to set up a display, and to give a brief report on their work.

Choose a theme for the conference

When all the above-mentioned steps have been carried out, it is now time to give the conference a theme. This could centre around the subject matter of the speaker, but must define the over-all mission objectives and goals of the host church. (See Annexure A - D).

Compile a programme

At this point, a tentative programme should be compiled. Three-day programs starting Friday evening and ending with the Sunday evening service have been found to be most effective. However, ensure that the programme for each meeting is not crammed with too much activity - it must allow your speaker freedom.

It has been found advantageous to incorporate the different elements of the missions conference into the existing programme/functions of the local church. In this way, an awareness of missions will be brought to each group in the church. An excellent working plan is as follows:

• Friday Evening - Youth Night (Focusing on their involvement in missions)
• Saturday Morning - Businessmen's Breakfast
• Saturday Lunch - Ladies' Luncheon
• Saturday Afternoon - Meeting with Missions Board and Church Leadership. (This is usually one of the most important meetings of the weekend.)
• Saturday Evening - Open meeting for the whole congregation
• Sunday Morning - Focus on taking up Faith Promise Offerings
• Sunday Lunch - Lunch with Missions Board Leaders, missionaries and speakers
• Sunday Evening - Conclusion

Brochures and Posters

Once the date, speaker, theme and program have been decided upon, it is time to prepare and print the brochures and posters. (This is an ideal place to use the artists in the church.)

It is recommended that two brochures be used - one given out twelve weeks before the conference, and the other four weeks before.

First brochure

This is an information brochure and should contain only the key elements of the conference e.g. theme, venue, date, time and speaker. The goal of this brochure is to make people aware of the conference, and allow them time to write dates into their diaries and plan around them.

Second brochure

This brochure must give all the details people will need about the conference, such as:

• time and date
• information concerning all the speakers
• theme
• venue
• registration details
• the Missions Board's strategy, objectives and goals
• the projected budget and names of intended recipients of the budget.
• telephone number and address of the church
• programme

NB: It is essential to ensure that the layout and proofs are done well in advance and that details (especially telephone number, dates, times and correct figures in the budget) are properly proof-read.

Creating a pre-conference awareness

Every church member, as well as his/her friends, should know that the annual missions conference is not an event to be missed. It should be the highlight on the church year calendar. It is, therefore, important to create a pre-conference awareness by:

• a. Arranging it well in advance.
• b. Consistently referring to it in the Sunday services.
• c. Advertising it in the church newsletter or bulletin.
• d. Making it a topic of prayer at the church prayer meetings.
• e. Handing out the first handbill to the members, and asking them to take extra to give to their friends.
• f. Distributing the main programme just before and at the event.

Intercession

There is one thing certain about a missions conference:

***THE ENEMY DOES NOT WANT IT TO TAKE PLACE***

He knows that when a church gets involved in missions, its moves may become unpredictable. Hence, he will try anything to discourage the process - from influencing the unity of the leadership to meddling with the logistics.

It is important, therefore, to get intercessors to pray very specifically for the conference. The leadership must be involved in spiritual warfare to pull down the spiritual strongholds of fear, disunity and such like, which will try to creep in and destroy the work.

Venue preparation

A Missions Board member must be assigned the responsibility of preparing the venue and must ensure that:

• It is neat and tidy.
• All the equipment required is available, e.g. overhead projectors/slide projectors etc.
• Tables are supplied for the mission stalls.
• Posters are put up in prominent places.
• Flower arrangements are displayed.
• Mission display space is planned and allocated.

Participating Missionaries

The participating missionaries and/or organisations must have their displays complete by noon on the day that the conference starts. Someone must be available when the missionaries arrive, to show them to their stall/table, and help them with any needs they may have.

It must be emphasized in their invitation letter that permission will not be granted for stalls to be erected after the noon deadline. If they are unable to accede to this condition, they should not be permitted to participate.

Hospitality

This is an ideal opportunity for the church members who have the gift of hospitality to spoil the missionaries and speakers.

When they arrive to set up the stalls, be sure to have refreshments available. Ensure that hosting families meet their guests early so that the guests have time to refresh themselves and dress prior to the opening session.

A special meal may be arranged during the weekend, when the church leaders and Missions Board can meet with the guest speakers and missionaries.