I have to preface this article with a few things before I begin.
1. Our congregation has amazing volunteers and we could not have done the Holy Week Walk with out them.
2. We did not have a budget for this event. We actually took a hit in 2013, so we had very little means to create what we did.
3. This was the first time we did this and we planned for the better part of a year to make it happen.
With that said...here we go.
Pre planning
It goes without saying that any event needs some kind of planning. And the better the planning the more likely you will meet your goals and succeed during the event. In the case of the Holy Week Walk (see last weeks post for details) we knew we were going to need time and help to pull it off. We actually had the idea about 3 years ago when our Education Director visited the church that gave us the idea. She took part in the walk and thought we could bring it to Word of Peace. It took her and the education team of volunteers a year and a half to finally put it into motion and 6 months of meetings to work out the details. Whew, that's a lot! But it was needed. The Holy Week Walk is no easy task. In the end there were over 60 volunteers, food for 300, a script to write and 6 different scenes to create.
The Volunteers
Love your volunteers, thank your volunteers and most of all ask everyone to volunteer. We were so blessed with amazing people, most of which have never been a part of a drama at church, be willing to help. It's not easy finding 12 guys to act as disciples! We also discovered so many new gifts in the congregation that we never knew existed.
Food
Finding grape juice, parsley, water and salt is fairly easy for 300 people. Matzo on the other hand was not. Planning ahead was crucial here so we could have enough supplies.
The Script
Knowing your audience for our script was imperative. We wanted to bring the last week of Jesus to people of all ages. More importantly, we wanted children to understand what Jesus went through for us.
This framed our script and made some of the heaver points less important. We thought having a narrator and two witnesses travel with and guide the group through the different scenes would be most effective. The job of the witnesses was to ask the questions that everyone, especially the children would be thinking. "Why is Jesus washing their feet? Why are they arresting Jesus? Who is that woman and why is she crying?"
Looking at the life of Jesus through the eyes of children is a wonderful way to deepen your faith and even ask some great questions.
We did leave a few parts out of Holy Week. We didn't show any of the brutal beating or crucifixion or Jesus hanging on the cross. Those are important parts, but all lead to the death of Jesus and that is the most important.
Setting the Scene
This is the most expensive part of the Holy Week Walk. The more props you have, the better it will look and feel. Costumes were key. They helped differentiate the actors from the participants.
We did purchase a few big items like a Jesus, Pilate and Roman Solider costumes. We also found 4 shade tents at a really good price for the streets of Jerusalem marketplace.
The rest came from donations, things we had laying around the church or items from people's homes.
Preparing for the Unknown
When all the planning was said and done we still had no idea how many people to expect. This was our first time. It's on a weekday afternoon.
We needed a way to know how many to plan for so we invited the congregation to "RSVP" for a time through text and email. This was also the first time we tried something like this. We got a small response at first but as the week went on the responses started coming in more and more. We began to be concerned if we would have enough. We set up for 125 at each walk. When almost 220 showed up each time it was a modern day Fish and Loafs story. We had enough and God blessed us with an amazing showing of support.
Final Thoughts
We are so happy that this went well. We have lots to learn and even more ideas for next year. If you or your church would be interested in something like this, we would be more than happy to answer any questions for you.
My advise: start planning now because Easter is coming sooner than you think.
God Bless,
Dain
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