Parade
Evangelism

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Doctrinal Agreement

Parade Evangelism Home Page:
Introduction To Parade
Evangelism

The Four Parts Of Parade Evangelism:
Parade Participants

Parade Route - Before The Parade Starts

Parade Route - After The Parade Starts

After The Parade

Parade Floats:
Using A Parade Float

Sharing The Gospel At Parades

1000's Of People... Just Waiting

Parades are wonderful places for sharing the gospel. People typically arrive early and are stitting around killing time, waiting for the parade to start. The bigger the parade, the earlier people are there and the more time they have to kill.

There are four phases to parade evangelism. They are:

1) Before the parade, sharing with the participants who are in the parade.

2) Before the parade, people waiting along the parade route.

3) During the parade, people watching the parade.

4) After the parade as people leave

You can expect a slightly different environment for witnessing during each of these phases.

In addition, with some parades there are people hanging out in parks near the parade. These are excellent opportunities to start conversations. At other parades we may have a float, which provides a different aspect of parade evangelism

General Guidelines For Parade Evangelism

• Clothes - Wear comfortable clothes and in particular good walking shoes. Wear clothing appropriate for the weather.
  • Do not wear sunglasses. People like to see your eyes when you are talking with them.
  • If it is sunny or rainy, you may want to wear a hat.
  • Wear loose clothing with lots of pockets, including a shirt with a pocket. Pockets are very important at parades. They make it easy to carry a supply of tracts, New Testaments; and other materials.
    
    
• Rain - Using an umbrella is difficult. It makes it hard to hand out tracts. When you stop to talk with someone your umbrella may be dripping on them. Instead of an umbrella, if it is raining, dress for rain.
  
  
• Drink Lots of Water - Bring some water. When possible we'll have a person, designated for each team, who carries water, carries the tract supply, and takes pictures.
  
  
• Respect Other's Belongings - When handing out tracts, if people are several layers deep, be careful not to step on items belonging to people in the front row (or on people's toes) when reaching to hand a tract to a person in the back row.
  
  
• Please be on time - At the designated starting time and location we will begin with prayer.
  
  
• The Finish - In general, at the end return to the same place we meet before the parade, unless another meeting place was established. We'll collect the prayer requests and thank the Lord.
  
  
• Have fun. Parades are fun events. Smile. Enjoy the people you are talking with.

Working With A Partner

There are several ways to hand out tracts at a parade working in groups of two. In the diagrams below red dots are adults, blue dots are children waiting for or watching the parade.

- Both people can stay together. While one hands out tracts, the other prayers. Switch at the beginning of each block. If there is a conversation, both stay together. One prayers while the other conducts the conversation.

- Both can walk in the same direction, one in the street (orange line) and one on the sidewalk (yellow line). The person on the sidewalk may walk further and hand out fewer tracts.

- Both can walk in the street. One person directly goes ahead to the end of the block, turns around and starts handing out tracts move back the way they came (yellow). The other person moves along the parade route nanding out tracts. They will meet somewhere in the middle and then advance to the next block. At times, when there is an opening through the people lining the street, you can step onto the sidewalk and give tracts to people in the "back row."