Ward Activity - "Talent (& No-Talent)" Show

We have been asked by our Stake to plan a Ward activity to go along with our Ward's upcoming "Invitation Sunday" (for more information on Invitation Sunday, see the section on this topic on the right side).

Based on the needs of our Ward, we wanted to come up with an activity that met a specific criteria. We want to have an activity that is casual and fun, so non-members can come to our Church building and get to know our Ward members in a positive atmosphere. We also want it to be an activity that our Ward members would be excited to attend and truly feel comfortable inviting their non-member friends/relatives to (without fearing a surprise sermon or missionary 'ambush').

The idea that we decided on is to have a Ward "Talent (and No-Talent)" Show. I have adapted this idea from a post about a 'No-Talent Show' Ward activity that I read about on The Idea Door website, here. We changed it to a Talent AND No-Talent show for our Ward because we thought we could get more participants if we offered a choice of performing conventional or non-conventional talents.

Here is the planning sheet that we used to plan the activity - it gives a good explanation of what the activity is about....

________________________________________________

Ward Activity Planning Sheet

Activity: Ward “Talent (and No-Talent)” Show*

Plan: Ward members volunteer to perform a talent (a regular talent or non-conventional talents) during a Ward “Talent (and No-Talent)” Show (followed by refreshments)

Examples of talents: singing, dance, musical instruments, etc

Examples of non-conventional talents: nose-whistling, packing a suitcase in 30 seconds, spinning plates, or ripping a phone book in half, etc

Purpose: Provide a fun activity that ward-members will be able to invite non-member friends/relatives to attend

Benefits: A “Talent & No-Talent” show activity is a fun way to familiarize non-member visitors with ward members in a casual atmosphere. We should have participants from all age groups (primary, youth, & adults) performing talents or non-talents. Participants may feel more excited to invite non-member friends/relatives because they (or a relative) are performing. This is an activity that can be enjoyed by performers and audience of all ages.

Display tables: We can have several display tables in the cultural hall. Some of these will have displays of non-performance talent by Ward members (paintings, crafts, etc). There will also be display table(s) near the door with Church information & pamphlets about our basic beliefs, how to learn more, etc.

Refreshments: We will ask several people in the ward who are talented in cake-decorating to each bring 1-dozen decorated cupcakes.

Things that would need to be done to pull-off a “No-Talent Show”:

Recruiting the ‘talent/no-talent’ performers (sign-up sheets, email, phone calls)

Pre-screening acts to make sure they are Church-appropriate

Arranging for an emcee

Advertising (specifically that this is a great event to invite non-members to)

Arranging the program (order of acts)

Setting up chairs and microphone

Providing refreshments at the end of the talent show

Create display tables for non-performance crafts (scrapbooking, woodworking, art, etc)

Create display tables with info about attending church & our basic beliefs, how to learn more, etc

Clean-up

*The term “Talent (& No-Talent) Show” isn’t meant to be demeaning to anyone. We are encouraging all types of talents and don’t want to discourage people who aren’t traditional performers. There will be no judging, prizes, or labeling of who is a ‘talent’ or a ‘no-talent’

__________________________

We have also come up with a handout that will be passed out at Church on Sunday with information for Ward members. This is meant to get the word out about the “Talent (& No-Talent) Show”and to (hopefully) encourage Ward members to sign up to perform. Here is the text from the handout:

_______________________

(Name of Ward here) Ward

"Talent (& No-Talent)" Show

(Date and time here)

Do you have a talent to share? We’re looking for acts to perform in the Ward Talent (& No-Talent) Show. It doesn’t matter if you’re traditionally ‘talented’ or not…There won’t be any judging - this is just for fun!

We’re looking for Ward members of all ages to do:

Conventional talents (like singing, dancing, juggling, yo-yo tricks, etc)

OR

Non-conventional talents (like nose-whistling, packing a suitcase in 30 seconds, spinning plates, or ripping a phone book in half, etc…)

Sign-up sheets will be passed in classes on Sundays. Not a performer? Please sign up anyhow- There will also be a display table for people who want to share their non-performance talents (like painting, woodworking, scrapbooking, sewing, etc).

Even if you don’t have a talent you’d like to share, please plan to come as an audience member and BRING A FRIEND! This activity is being organized by (insert names here), please contact us for more info (insert phone number here)

Christmas Cards = Gospel Sharing

Merry Christmas everyone! We came up with an idea to encourage our ward members to keep sharing the gospel this Christmas season. I am in contact with many of our ward members on facebook and through an email group, so I sent this email (below) out last week. It outlines our plan for using Joy to the World "Pass-Along Cards" in Christmas cards being sent to non-member friends or relatives:

"Ward members- This Christmas season, we have come up with an idea for inviting friends and relatives to learn more about our beliefs in a very easy way. Most of you are probably familiar with the Church’s “pass along cards” (small index-size cards with a picture on one side and Church info on the other side)...


Our idea is to offer the “Joy to the World” theme pass-along cards to any ward members who would like to include them in Christmas cards they will be sending to non-members (either local or in other areas). The card would easily fit inside any Christmas card. It has a picture of Mary and baby Jesus on the front, with the words, “Joy to the World”. On the back of the card, it says, “Bring the spirit of Christmas into your home with the story of the Saviour’s birth and His life, featuring music by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir” (there is a picture of the FREE “Joy to the World” DVD that is being offered, and the 800 number to call).


Please note, when people call for the DVD they are asked if they would like to learn more about the gospel, but meeting with the full-time missionaries is not required and they are trained to be very polite.

Including a “pass-along” card in with a Christmas card is a simple, easy way to offer a church-related gift and a non-aggressive opportunity for them to learn about our beliefs if they wish. You never know - there may be people on your Christmas card list who may jump at the chance for a free DVD and may be very interested in learning more about our beliefs!

I have ordered 200 “Joy to the World” pass-along cards and they will be available soon for anyone who would like to include them in some of their Christmas cards. We are providing the pass-along cards to our ward members at no charge. If you have any questions or are interested in having some of these pass-along cards to send out, please let me know (and how many you would like).

PS- The free “Joy to the World” DVDs are meant as a missionary tool for non-members, so church members are asked not to call for free DVDs. The “Joy to the World” DVD is available to purchase for $1.50 from Church Distribution if you would like to buy a copy of the movie for yourself"


Many Christmas cards that would be sent by our ward members would probably be to members in other areas/missions, but thats okay. Sharing the gospel is always a good thing, even if we don't directly see the results in our own ward. Also, even being presented with this idea gets ward members thinking - who are their non-member friends and relatives and would they be receptive to something like this?


To order pass-along cards, go to the online store at www.lds.org. They are $2.00 for a pack of 100 cards (there is no charge for shipping). Please note, it may be too late for you to order 'pass-along cards', as many people are sending out their cards in early December. Another option would be to check with your Bishopric to see if your ward has a stockpile of pass-along cards somewhere that you could have. Or, your ward's full-time missionaries might have some of these cards as well. If you do order pass-along cards and they arrive late in the month, you can always encourage members to give them to people personally (or include them in gift-baskets, etc).

I personally prefer the Joy to the World cards to the other pass-along cards that are available (because they are Christmas-themed), but you could probably use any variety of pass-along card if the Joy to the World cards aren't available to you.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Teaching ward members to be member missionaries

As outlined in the new handbook, one of the responsibilities of ward missionaries is to teach the members of the ward to do member missionary work. One way we do this is by example, but I've been feeling lately that example isn't enough. We need to teach and encourage them as well. We've been talking about how specifically to do that, and we've mostly come up with a lot of things we don't want to do or aren't able to do at this time.

Our full-time missionaries need people to teach, and all of our ward convert baptisms over the past 2 years have been the result of tracting or baptisms from part-member families. NO regular member referrals. We need to work on that, and I'm sure most wards have similar needs.

The handbook mentions visiting the home of members to encourage them, so I've been thinking a lot about how we can do that and what we would say when we got there.

Here is what I came up with last night. I haven't had our ward mission leader (my husband, currently at work) approve this yet, but this was the idea I had and some of you might find it helpful, even if we don't end up using it.

I want to add that many people find it useful to use the 'set a date' program, and that is definitely something that has been popular and used frequently for many years. I personally prefer to avoid that program, or at the very least using the term "set a date program" because I feel that when people hear that phrase they instantly start thinking up excuses why they can't or won't "set a date" to have someone prepared to be baptized. Personally, as soon as I hear the words "set a..." coming out of someone's mouth, I immediately think, "Oh no, here we go again". I realize that this is probably not the best attitude to have, but I have heard it so many times and I personally have never seen anything come of it over the years, as a member or a full-time missionary. I have always found being naturally gospel-sharing to be more effective than a program. Programs like this always seem to be forced and number-focused, and that feels very unnatural to me. That said, if I am asked by a leader to "set a date,:" I do, but it is definitely not my preferred method and it isn't what I prefer to teach others to do, if I have my choice. That is my personal opinion.
But I digress...

I would like to visit the homes of 10 ward members (prayerfully selected) before the end of the month and challenge them to do at least 1 minute of member missionary work during the following month. I've created a handout that explains what we are asking, and lists 5 simple ideas for things that they can do to help with new convert retention and missionary work. I've purposely selected 5 things that require very little time or effort and are fairly "non-scary" to most (some are 'easier' than others). I've also included the approximate time-commitment required, sort of tongue-in-cheek because people always say they "don't have time" to do missionary work. Here is the handout:

If every member of our ward spends just

1 minute on missionary work this month, it will go a long way toward helping

new converts stay active and finding new people for the full-time missionaries to teach!

Will YOU commit to help? Here are some great ideas of simple (& non-scary)

things you can do that require no more than

1 extra minute of your time...

__ As you do your visiting teaching/home teaching visits this month, make a special effort to befriend any less-active or new-convert members on your route. Extra time commitment required: 0 (you're already going to visit teach/home teach anyhow!)

__ Introduce yourself to at least one new visitor, investigator, or new convert at church (or at an activity) every week. Bonus awesomeness points for sitting with them! Extra time commitment required: 1 minute per week

__ Invite a new convert (and their family, if applicable) over for a family dinner or family home evening this month. Extra time commitment required: less than 1 minute to invite (you're already having dinner or FHE anyhow!)

__ Invite a non-member (friend or relative) to the next church activity that they would be interested in. Extra time commitment required: less than 1 minute to invite (you're already going to the activity anyhow!)

__ Invite a non-member (friend or relative) to your home for a special family home evening with the full-time missionaries. Explain that as part of your family night, the Elders will be teaching everyone a short gospel lesson (please give the full-time missionaries plenty of notice so that they can prepare and arrange their schedule). Extra time commitment required: less than 1 minute to invite (you're already having FHE anyhow!)

If you can commit to doing at least one of these simple actions this month, post this sheet where you will see it as a reminder!

If you need contact info for a new convert, or if we can help you in any way,

please give us a call-

(insert names and phone numbers of ward mission leader and/or ward-missionaries here)

You may have noticed that I didn't ask people to give away a Book of Mormon or a pass-along card, engage in a gospel conversation, invite a friend to Church, etc. These are the usual things that we would normally ask ward members to do, but they are also much more intimidating. I wanted to start by asking people to commit to do things that they would actually feel comfortable doing, and therefore more likely to actually DO. Once they start having their own positive missionary experiences, they will be more likely to want to do more in the future. You have to start somewhere!