Proposal to the Abbotsford Ministerial,

Love Abbotsford, June 6-7, 2003

We’ve been invited to join with churches in many other Canadian communities in reaching out to their neighbours through an event called Love [Your City], which in our case would be Love Abbotsford. It consists of 3 main components – a Friday evening kick-off event, a Saturday morning Kindness Explosion, and a Saturday evening worship celebration.

The main focus of the weekend is the Kindness Explosion, which utilizes servant evangelism – acts of kindness to show God’s love in a practical way. Each participating church would plan their own projects – ie. handing out free cokes, pick ing up garbage, cleaning restrooms of small businesses, cutting lawns, giving out free hot dogs, etc. Along with the free gift or service, we would hand out a business size card that says, We hope this small gift brings some light into your day. It’s a simple way of saying that God loves you—no strings attached. Let us know how we can further serve you. On the back of the card would be the participating church’s name, phone number, etc.

We feel that it would be a powerful thing to see churches working together and impacting the city of Abbotsford in a powerful, yet quite simple way – through loving acts of kindness.

Picture this – a Kindness Explosion!

Imagine someone driving down S. Fraser Way at 11 a.m. Saturday June 7 – they receive a free Coke from Christians handing out free drinks at a couple of intersections, they get their car washed by more Christians conducting free car-washes throughout the city, get a free hot dog and coke downtown, and along the way see folks picking up garbage with everyone wearing white T-shirts with red hearts on the back. Meanwhile, unknowingly they’re being prayed for by numerous Christians prayer walking! All just to show God’s love – no strings attached. What would their view of Christians be? What would their view of God be?

The weekend, June 6-7…

Friday evening – kickoff

Saturday morning/afternoon – Kindness Explosion servant evangelism projects planned by participating churches all over Abbotsford.

Saturday evening – worship celebration

The Mission of a Love [Your City] event:

  • To show the Love of Jesus to the people of our communities.

Jesus said to love God with everything, and to love our neighbour.

We want to draw people to Jesus through the unity of the city church, expressing its love for people through simple acts of kindness with no strings attached. And we also want to show our love for God through worship, service, and our love for one another.

The Vision:

  • To promote unity among the churches as we work together toward a common task.
  • To touch as many unbelievers as possible through servant evangelism – redefining the church, breaking barriers and building bridges moving them toward Christ.
  • To help establish ongoing servant evangelism within the local Church context.

So there you have it. Bless you as you consider this event. Feel free to call me if you have any questions/comments/suggestions.

Joe Kindness

Abbotsford Community Church

888-8888 (home)

999-9999 (work)