Ministry Fair—Tips or Practices?

I organized one of these last August, a few weeks before several our our ministries re-started for the Fall season. A few weeks ahead of time, I contacted all the leaders of ministry and asked them to participate, and nearly all did. I created signs with bright colors with the "Fair" concept and purchased inexpensive ($1) plastic table cloths in assorted colors to place on the tables and suggested everyone have candy or some kind of giveaway to entice visitors to stop by.

I encouraged the leaders to provide information (a display) about their ministries and required them to have a brief "job description" of what is involved for someone volunteering in that ministry (our office staff helped with these, and we saved them so this will be easier next time!). I provided sign up sheets for each ministry so they could collect names of people who were interested.

Some ministries had clever giveaways, for example:

- "Free hairnets!" - from our ministry that helps serve meals at a local organization

- "We can always use 'S'MORE' volunteers" with a S'mores snack mix

- Our Sunday School ministry made a posterboard with a sample lesson plan so people could easily see what it would be like to teach.

- Our Cadets team brought out some of their activity gear (bows & arrows, tools, etc.)

We encouraged all church attenders to consider visiting the fair, not just because they might want to sign up, but to learn about the other ministries at the church so they could help direct guests or friends to a ministry that might serve them.

Overall, we did not end up with a lot of sign ups this time around, but overwhelmingly people appreciated the opportunity to learn about ministries. 

I also planned lunch for all the ministry leaders afterwards as a thank you for their service to the church and for helping with this event in particular.