A
Bulgarian Rose Festival – for Missions
In June they have a Rose
Festival in Kazenlak, Bulgaria.
That is the in the heart of the rose growing region of Bulgaria. They export much of the rose oil used
in perfumes made by the French and others. Why not have a Rose Festival yourself.
1)
Decorate the church in (Real or silk) roses.
2)
Give the ladies a Rose corsage to wear as they enter that day. (Real or Silk)
3)
See if a local department store might have some samples perfumes you could get
that could be distributed in a drawing or even auctioned off to help with
missions. (Since I am told all good fragrances have Bulgarian Rose oil in them)
4)
Have a rose pedal (silk) attached to a card that is a magnet hand out to be
placed on the refrigerator as a prayer reminder for Bulgaria (these could be made by the youth or
older elementary kids a week or so before as a way to involve them in missions)
5)
Set a goal of fund to be raised and get a large rose picture and color it in as
the funds come in.
6)
Maybe have a Rose Queen (like they do in the Festival here) but make it on
qualities that fit servant hood or Christ likeness. – I donÕt have a real good idea here but you might
just do it for fun! Let them make
their own rose costume or outfit
7)
Download from the resource section
childrenÕs pages for the Rose Festival that they can use during Sunday
School or ChildrenÕs Church.
8)
See if it is in the spring if a local nursery would work to get you rose bushes
at cost and then auction (sell) them as part of the rundraising sending this in
to a special project for the Balkans. As they plant the bush and it grows it
can be a reminder to pray for the work here.
Have us be part of the
celebration by doing a live Internet interview. If you can get the Internet connection to your auditoriums
computer we can be a part of your service. That way – we can take
questions, and maybe even interview people from our work as well.
And best of all except for
the internet connection costs – it is FREE. (Maybe some one in the church
has a wireless card for their computer and would let you use it for the service
as there way of helping) this
internet connection can also work for Kids club meetings or Youth Group
meetings, womanÕs Meetings and MenÕs meetings. This will allow your people to feel like they are really
there and a part of it!
Web links for more
information of the Rose Festival
You may want to look at the
Rose of Sharon passage from Song of Solumon 2:1 – It is a symbolic name
of Jesus and here are a couple of web sites which help explain the phase and
itÕs biblical history.
Rose of Sharon
http://ezinearticles.com/?Jesus-as-the-Rose-of-Sharon&id=20007
http://www.learnthebible.org/typology-christ-the-rose-of-sharon.htm
http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/1608