A ‘Launch Event’ can be a great way to help your CU to catch the vision for Events Week and to pray intentionally. It’s also a good opportunity to raise funds and get people signed up to serve during the week.
Some CUs run a Launch Event several months before their Events Week. Others run one just a couple of weeks beforehand. Some run both!
It can be helpful to have your speaker at the event, to be interviewed / speak. If they can’t come… a short video can be great.
Here’s a ‘walk through’ two scenarios of the kinds of Launch Events you could run ahead of your Events Week. The earlier the event, the more vision-focused it can be. As you get closer to the date, you might need to get a bit more practical.
4 months ahead of your Events Week (at a weekend away):
You walk into a beautifully decorated room with long tables and find a place to sit. On your table is a little business card with a logo on, as well as some conversation starters (which relate to the theme of the Events Week). You and your friends enjoy a meal together. The Events Week organisers get up and share the theme for the week — they share why they chose the theme and what they hope God will do amongst students on your campus during the time. They also share the values that lie behind the week, as well as a brief overview of what an Events Week day might look like. A 2nd year student gets up to tell some stories of their experience of Events Week last year.
The speaker is briefly interviewed. He or she is asked why he/she is excited about the Events Week, and to share a couple of practical tips about how the CU members can make the most of the opportunity.
On the back of the business cards on your tables are 3 little slots for you to write the names of people to pray for over the next few months. You all spend time filling them in with names, then you pray together for those people.
The organisers outline how much the CU needs to fundraise. A QR code on the screen gives people the option to give there and then. Pre-stamped envelopes, with letters outlining the vision and financial needs of events week, are given round for people to write the address of their home church on. You do yours, and write a little personalised note for your church pastor on the letter. These are then collected up to be posted out the next day.
2 weeks ahead of your Events Week:
You walk into the venue where your Events Week will be held, and sit around a table with others (as you will do at Events Week). On the tables there are flyers for Events Week as well as some copies of Uncover gospels.
You start the evening worshipping God together, which moves into an open time of prayer for the lost at your university. You then watch a short video from your Events Week speaker, hearing their vision for the week and what they are praying for, and you then spend some time praying together in response. The Events Week coordinators get up and reiterate the vision for the week. They then run you through the timetable of events outlined on the flyers and encourage you to share these invitations with your friends.
A local church pastor (or the Events Week speaker if available) then speaks from Isaiah 55, with breaks for you to discuss questions around tables. He raises your expectations and turns your eyes to Jesus afresh. You then head to different prayer stations around the room to pray for different aspects of the Events Week.
As you gather together again, the Events Week co-ordinators ‘launch’ a sign-up sheet. Music plays in the background as they give people the chance to sign up to serve.
You sing together again to close your time together. As people hang around afterwards, there is the chance for people to pick up the Events Week sweatshirts that they have ordered.
Things to do:
- Discuss. Discuss with the CU committee as to when would be best for the CU to run a launch event.
- Plan. Meet with your CU presidents to plan out the event. (If you don’t have overall leadership of your CU, it’s important that the students who do lead are involved in sharing the vision).
- Practical. Sort or delegate the practicals: venue, decorations, speaker, food, PowerPoint presentation, printed materials, worship leaders, speaker video, prayer stations, sign-up sheet, merchandise.