How to Start a Jesus Revolution in your Community (7 Steps)

I went to a prayer event recently and was astounded by the coming together of an entire community for the name of Jesus. I also realized that it is so easy for people to bring a community together for the name of Jesus, but also that the leaders that have done so are few. Imagine the power and breath of God in our land if everyone came together as a whole for Him? I have decided to show you how easily you can do it. I even broke everything down into 7 easy-to-follow steps.

Step 1: Pray for Vision

Proverbs 19:21

Many plans are in a person’s mind,

but the LORD’s purpose will succeed.

Common English Bible (CEB)

It is very important for us to come to God and submit all of our plans to Him. If you want to change your community, pray to God. Ask for a vision and that His Will is shown to you. Sometimes all it takes is for us to make ourselves available to God to move powerfully. Once you have prayed to God and have some sort of vision, you might want to organize a big rally, like the example we will use to demonstrate our other steps below.

Step 2: Make a Plan

2 Chronicles 7:14

If my people who belong to me will humbly pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.

Common English Bible (CEB)

Come up with a plan, an objective and a desired outcome. Do you want to bring people together to pray against the crime, drug abuse, or social injustices in your community? Do you want to show the rest of your community that its members dedicate everything to Jesus? Come up with a catchy phrase and a name for your event. Without a clear objective, people might not understand what it is that you're trying to achieve.

The next thing to do is get a vision about where the event should take place and what you want to happen. Now you need to make a list of things that you will need to do the event. Write down things like a place (school field, stadium, sports center), fixings (stage, sound, music, microphone and music system), speakers or prayers (pastors, church leaders, celebrities, names that the community will respond well to), other media (flyers, banners to put around the stage or place around the event), security, staff to help, stalls to provide food to people who come on the day, ways to letting people know about the event.

Once you have a list of what you need, think about how you can get these things; or who can donate them to your cause. You don't need to know all the right people, you already know God! And if you have His blessing, then that's all you need! Modify your list as you go along and make sure to present it in prayer to God for Him to guide and help you. Remember, this is about Jesus and not you.

Make up an agenda that you want to happen at the event. If it is a prayer event, for example; do you want different people to come lead the prayer at different times and do you want pastors to share a few words of encouragement at other times? Imagine the event happening in your head and try to jot down what should happen, when. Make sure to allow time for delays or cancellations as well.

Step 3: Go Out

Matthew 10:14

If anyone refuses to welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet as you leave that house or city.

Common English Bible (CEB)

Once you have a list of things you need, go out and approach people and businesses to donate to your cause. You will be surprised by how many people are willing to support positive community drives. Whether people are willing to give into your cause or not is usually dependent on whether they are convinced that you are genuinely doing this for the community and not for self-gain, and whether they feel like you can actually pull off what you are explaining to them. Practice your pitch before seeing these people. Make sure that you have a plan that you can easily explain to others, and that you have rehearsed explaining it. The chances are high that the people you approach will even have the same desired outcome as you. If you are organizing an event against drug abuse in your community, for example, it is very likely that a lot of the people you approach also want to do something about the problem, but didn't know what or how.

Friends and family are a great way to start and practice your pitch. They might not be able to help you with physical needs (or can they?), but they might know someone who can, or could give you advise or tips to help you on your mission.

An important part of this entire process is prayer. Pray before each person or company you approach and realize that everything is in God's hands. Only He can open or close doors. Once you realize that, you should feel more confident. Remember, if God is for you, who can be against you!

Schools are great to approach for a field or hall to use for you event. If they buy into your vision, they might even let their students and parents know about the event you are planning! If you can't get a school on board, you can also approach sports centers, or stadiums in your area. If you want to do something in a park, ask your local authorities for permission. Whether or not you use a public park, I suggest that you let your local authorities know. You might also want to ask them to provide security for the event.

I would not necessarily want to ask to have it at a church, because you might only attract members of that specific church to the event. Also, some people might refrain from coming because they might feel like your event is a church event, instead of an event for the entire community. However, this is totally up to you and God's prompting.

Go to printing companies to ask for a donation of flyers that you can hand out. Go to media, production, music companies or churches to ask for stage equipment. The trick is to approach as many people as you need to until you get what you need. It might be the first printing place you approach, or the fifth. You might feel embarrassed by doing this, but the end reward is definitely worth it! And if you build up a good relationship with whoever helps you, there is a big chance that they will help you again in the future.

It is a good idea to invite whoever you approach to come to the event; even the people who did not want to donate anything. The people who did give to your cause will be glad to see the fruits of your cause and will be pleased to see that what they donated has benefited the community. At the beginning of the event, be sure to thank everyone who has contributed. By inviting the people who did not want to give to your cause, they might even approach you during the event and ask to sponsor your next one. This is a great way to build up momentum and make each event better than the previous one.

It might take only one big sponsor to pay for all of your needs. You will be surprised how small the world is and how big God is. You might end up with someone somehow hearing about you and asking to sponsor all of your needs for the event. With God at the helm, anything is possible!

Decide beforehand what you will and won't allow from donations and sponsors. Some companies will give you money towards your event if you put a 'sponsored by' and their company details on your pamphlets and stage. Decide what you are and are not willing to do beforehand, so that you don't get carried away when meeting them. You don't want to end up promising more than what you can do for these companies. Some places might even ask if you could do the event under their name. Think about this beforehand to see if you would be prepared to turn 'Joburg Prayer Against Drug Abuse' to 'Jozi Church Prays Against Drug abuse'.

Another good idea is to approach your local radio station or newspaper to tell them about what you are planning. They might also tell their audience about the event. That will be a great way to let people know about your initiative.

Don't be scared to ask for volunteers. If you feel like someone wants to help you but can't donate money or anything physical, ask them to help you with the event itself. Organize regular meetings with your volunteers to pray for God's intervention and keep up to date with what's happening so far. Delegate some of the things you need to do to the volunteers and give them separate tasks. Will you need people to act like ushers and make sure the crowd is seated when the event starts, or people who know how to use the sound equipment that can make sure that the microphones are on?

Another thing you might also need is speakers. If you are hosting a prayer event, go to churches and ask for pastors to come and lead prayers for the event. You will be surprised at how willing pastors will be willing to help. At the prayer rally I was at, there over 50 pastors that came to the event and volunteered their time to pray. Some even preached. Having a variety of people (from different churches or professions) speaking might be more effective than having only one person speaking the whole time. Make sure that whoever does speak at your event understands what you are trying to achieve and has the same vision for the event as you. 

The general rule of thumb is to remember that God is on your side as you go out there, and the more people you approach the better!

Put it all Together

Once you have everything you need, it's time to put it all together. Remember to refer to the plan you made in Step 2 and try stick to it as much as possible. Once you set a date, try your best to stick to it. Moving the date even once will lose a lot of your community's enthusiasm and diminish attendance. Invite people to pray for your event as it all comes together. 

Do Your Bit, But Let God Take Control

Exodus 4:10-11

But Moses said to the Lord, “My Lord, I’ve never been able to speak well, not yesterday, not the day before, and certainly not now since you’ve been talking to your servant. I have a slow mouth and a thick tongue.”

Then the Lord said to him, “Who gives people the ability to speak? Who’s responsible for making them unable to speak or hard of hearing, sighted or blind? Isn’t it I, the Lord?

Common English Bible (CEB)

Keep this event and yourself submitted to God's Will. Realize that this (and everything else) is dependent on God alone. See yourself as simply playing a small part while God is in control of everything, forever and always. God does not want you to take control out of His hands, but rather put it completely in Him.

Acts 2: 1-4

When Pentecost Day arrived, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound from heaven like the howling of a fierce wind filled the entire house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be individual flames of fire alighting on each one of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them to speak.

Common English Bible (CEB)

Also remember to be open to what God wants to do. He might have a totally different outcome or experience planned. For example, look at the people who gathered to pray before tongues of fire fell upon them. They did not plan it or know about it ahead of time, but God surprised them.

Evaluate and Repeat

Once you have finished your first event. Think about what happened, what you can improve on and what the community will need next. How can you turn the event into a movement that sweeps through your community? Perhaps you want to do these events once a month, each one bigger and better than the rest. Or maybe, you want to invite the participants of the event to do the same thing at a different place? 

Pray for God's Will

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; don’t rely on your own intelligence.

Know him in all your paths, and he will keep your ways straight.

Common English Bible (CEB)

Jesus needs to be the center point of a Jesus revolution. Make sure that you don't sway from the reason behind your efforts and keep praying to make sure that what you do still centers around God's Will. Once the things you do start making traction, it is easy to get prideful of the difference you make and the waves you have caused. It is also easy to let these things turn into a chase for fame and fortune. Remember to make sure that God is always priority number one.

I would love to hear feedback from anybody that tries this out! Or perhaps there are people that have other tips and tricks to share about starting a Jesus revolution? I look forward to reading your comments below!