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If You Want To Grow Your Small Church’s Visibility In Your Community & Develop Some Raving Fans, This Is It!
Grow your church’s visibility and develop a reputation of serving your community by offering free space for a neighborhood yard sale.
Hosting a community-wide sale and offering free space for neighbors is a great way to serve your community.
Your church can be a light by …
- sharing your space for free (inside or outside)
- bringing neighbors together in one space
- serving your community in a practical way
We live in a warm year-round climate, so, for us anytime is a good time for a yard sale! If you happen to be in a cooler climate, this idea is totally adaptable! As you read our story, just adapt our details to your setting. You might need to switch “outside” to “inside” and make some creative adjustments, but the principles are totally adaptable if you have a little bit of space to share.
Make Community Connections Yard Sale Style!
Our church was looking for ways to intentionally build relationships with people in our community. We were looking for a way to serve them that would be of benefit to them and a way to show them Jesus’ love in tangible ways while getting to know them.
Thus the Annual Community Yard Sale began.
The Lord blessed us with the perfect property for this outreach. We have a large parking lot and a good-sized field in front of our church property, and the church itself is located on a fairly major thoroughfare –– the perfect venue to hold a community yard sale.
A Two-Fold Purpose
This event is a great way to fulfill two of the “Ministry Funnel” goals.
If you haven’t heard about the Ministry Funnel, you can read more about it here: The Ministry Funnel For Effective Small Church Ministry
First, it is an outreach: A bridge into our community so that they get to know us and build a relationship with them.
Second, it is a way to get our own people some experience in being “on mission” and serving together. There are so many different areas that we use our volunteers in, so it is a fun event for them to get involved in and use their abilities to serve others.
We serve our vendors and we serve our shoppers in physical ways, but we also have the opportunity to share, have conversations, get prayer requests, encourage, and invite.
Promote A Free Service For Neighborhood Outreach (“Wait! Is it really Free?”)
Do you know how many people think about having a garage sale, but the work of making space and advertising holds them back? Well, our mission is to help!
1. Promote The Free Yard Sale To Get Vendors
The first year we placed door hangers throughout the neighborhood letting them know that we would provide the space, the parking, the advertising, and the food. All they needed to do was bring their stuff to sell and they get to keep 100% of what they make.
We just wanted to give them a great atmosphere to sell. We even provided a way for them to get rid of items that didn’t sell at the end of the day if they didn’t want to lug it back home!
For the first couple of years, people were skeptical that this was truly “free”. But we held to our word and gained a reputation for this event in the community! Now after doing it for several years, we usually have people trying to sign up months before registration opens! Our property allows us to accommodate approximately 65 vendors.
2. Treat Your Vendors Like VIPs
We always treat our vendors like VIPs. We truly go out of our way to spoil them.
3. Offer A Children’s Area And Free Food
… but we treat those who come in to shop in the same way. We have a children’s area with fun things just for them.
We serve food, not just to the vendors, but to everyone who attends –– all for free. It is really fun to see the look of surprise when they discover you really do mean free. It truly makes them smile.
4. Get T-Shirts For Church Volunteers
We wanted to make sure the community knew who was there to assist them, so we got t-shirts printed with the church name and logo on the front, and on the back is written in large letters: SERVANT!
5. Train Church Volunteers To Serve
We make sure that all of our volunteers understand how important this word is and that if they were wearing it, they’d better be living it, and they did a great job!
From the youngest volunteer, who was around 10 years old, to the oldest (let’s just say there were many that were a bit north of 70!!), we had a well-rounded group of people who were truly the hands and feet of Jesus, and there were many more who played a vital role in being part of the prayer team.
6. Make Arrangements For All The Left-Over Items
Your vendors will thank you if you provide a way to donate or dispose of left-over items. Many second-hand shops or non-profit ministries have systems to pick up leftovers. Check in your community for options.
How Many Ways Can We Love?
Here’s a list of some of the things that we did this year, and of course, each year we assess the event and make tweaks and changes to make sure that we do an even better job the following year.
Remember, all of this is free, both for our vendors and for our shoppers!
Hospitality: Free Food!
(This year had to be a bit different with COVID-19 issues, but you’ll get the idea.)
Breakfast:
- Bagels from a local restaurant
- Yogurt cups and granola bars
- Juices, water, and of course, coffee!!!
Lunch:
- Hot dogs & chips
- Warm cookies
- Waters & sodas
All-Day Long … we have a professional popcorn machine that popped non-stop!
Vendor Appreciation
Each vendor receives a gift bag delivered to their space with the following:
- vendor lanyard tag
- booklet with the gospel message and the book of John
- copy of the Daily Bread
- bag of hard candies
- small pack of tissues, hand sanitizer, & wipes
- church pen
- invitation to Easter services
- Save-the-date card for next year’s yard sale event
Servants
Part of our church team included “servants” who were ready to help vendors set up and take down at the end of the day.
Concierge Team
We have a “Concierge” Team that goes to each vendor with food and drink throughout the day, and they also give the vendor breaks to use the restroom, go inside for a rest, or to shop at other booths.
Church Ambassador Booth
We have a booth with church literature and information about different groups/activities and Easter invites.
They are able to answer questions, take prayer requests, or direct them to one of the pastors if needed.
Cooling Lounge
Because it’s hot in Florida, we have an area inside for people to cool off in the AC.
- Our servants provide beverages and conversation.
- Give directions to restrooms.
- Servants monitor restroom supplies, continually disinfect, and check trash.
Children’s Area
- Face painting (With Covid, we did a safer hand painting.)
- Various games (ring toss, bean bag, etc.) with prizes
- A silly selfie area (decorated with bunnies and eggs for spring)
- Normally, we have a bounce house or blow up slide.
- Balloon Lady (We have a connection with a balloon artist who makes and gives sculptures away to the children.)
Take Away Time
At the end of the day, we provide a truck to take unwanted/unsold items to the Salvation Army for donation.
Prior To Event
- We have team members who map out the spaces, put up tape and posts to mark the spots and parking areas.
- We have servants who direct traffic –– put up signs down the road.
- Some of our servants do social media posts –– promos in the community.
- We have servants who prep the vendor gift bags, clean, and put everything away at the end of the day.
- Everyone chips in, and it is all needed and appreciated.
How Did The Community Respond?
The response from our volunteers is just as wonderful as the community. They get energized to serve, they are encouraged when they see the “mission” in action, and they get excited about their faith. It is so encouraging for leadership to see!
This single event has been one of the best connections into our community that we have done. It has built trust, a reputation, and many folks have come to services because of it. We have had kids come to youth group, and when a need arises, they call us. Many have said that they truly felt the love of Jesus here, and that’s what it is all about!
Here are a few of the many responses we receive each year:
“We have such a wonderful time at your event. Your congregation is the most wonderful group I have ever encountered! A congregation to be proud of!”
“Thanks for your team’s hard work. We had a great day. We appreciate the kindness of everyone.“
“Been there for the last 2 years and enjoyed each experience. You have a lovely group of people in your church, and the kindness is what really stands out to me. Looking forward to next year.”
Final Planning Tips For Community Yard Sale Success
This is a whole church undertaking, but with planning and teamwork, you can put something like this together.
- Plan out your needs & find team leads in each area.
- Consider how you can involve the whole church – men’s & women’s ministry, youth, worship team, etc.
- Give yourself at least 3 months planning time.
- Pray-Plan-Pray again.
- Make sure each team lead knows what is expected for their area.
- Train volunteers so that everyone knows what to do, where to go, and who to ask.
- Follow up with all participants, send thank yous out to all who served, including all vendors, and follow up with any prayer requests received.
- Always do a survey for workers to see what can be done better, eliminated, or tweaked … and listen to feedback!
Read More
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This is a great idea. Lots of practical tips and ways to make it great! Thanks!
So glad it’s helpful! Let us know if you do one and what your experience is! Becky’s church does this every year and they love it!
Our church is considering hosting a community sale like this, however we have a concern I hope you can address. Our church is a non-profit organization, as I assume most are. If venders are keeping money from sales (profits) rather than raising money on behalf of a non-profit, doesn’t that endanger our non-profit status?
Hello Shirley! Great question. It could definitely depend on how a church sets up a sale. We don’t provide legal counsel of course, so you’ll definitely want to check with your attorney for making any decisions or taking action on holding a sale.
The way this church set up this particular event, the church is not receiving any money from anyone for hosting this event. So from the facts we have, I don’t see how it could affect or jeopardize their status with the IRS. (Once again, I am not a lawyer, and we do not provide any type of legal counsel. Please check with your attorney for clarity and counsel.)