After about two years of Friends Days our local church began monthly Field Days. On Friends Day we would invite our community to visit us; on Field Day we would visit the community. We wanted to build the importance of practical service and personal evangelism into the culture and calendar of the local church. Friends Days had broken up the fallow ground for outreach and Field Days took it to a whole new level.
Determine the best weekend or weekends for this Sabbath afternoon activity. Encourage church departments and ministries not to schedule meetings or activities that will conflict with Field Day. The idea is to get everyone involved.
A steering committee or the personal ministries department should come up with a number of outreach activities to involve members or church departments. This book lists many possible activities, but there are plenty of others. Be in tune with the needs of your community, and be creative in helping meet them.
The range of activities should be promoted the week before Field Day. On Field Day, after the church service, members are directed to an area where they can connect with project leaders or their own departments if they choose to go out together. There should also be some ministry activities that members can do alone, such as prayer walking, nursing home or hospital visitation. Many churches will find it meaningful to have everyone return to the church for a vespers service that evening so people can share their experiences.
