Make a thought-provoking float that stirs discussion among onlookers.
Create a church float that is unlike most others with ideas that are outside the box. Use the float to share the vision of what church could be as opposed to what it is supposed to be in traditional circles. Incorporate dance, color and deeper meaning in your church float. Does this Spark an idea?
Run the Race
Make the float all about winning an eternal race.
On a banner above the float, write either 2 Timothy 4:7 which speaks of finishing the race and keeping the faith, or Philippians 3:10 which tells of pressing on toward the goal to win the prize. Make a finish line in the front of the float. Attach balloons, checkered flags and include a small group of cheering fans.
Stating from the back of the float create the legs of runners. Have one pair of legs starting the race by kneeling in prayer; the second pair of legs portraying a runner giving water to a beggar; then a third runner who appears to be preaching the good news, Bible in hand; and at the finish line a final runner waving her Bible in the air in victory.
Free to Dance
Choreograph a dance to a contemporary song like "Praise You". Dress the participants in choir robes and have them start with a short traditional hymn before breaking into the lyrics "take the shackles off my feet so I can dance!"
Supply them with candy, lighthearted tracts, CDs and passages from the New Testament to pass out to the crowd in between stops when they aren't dancing. Another idea is to let them drop the robes and display rainbow colored shirts in honor of gays and lesbians being accepted into more churches.
Organic Church
Dot the float with a small jailhouse with an inmate and a sheriff; a school with a teacher and student; and a park with a teeter totter ridden by two children. Erect steeples above these places not ordinarily associated with the word, "church". Clothe those on the float in shirts that proclaim, "I AM the church!"
The Whole World
Make a large paper mache ball iwth the earth painted on it. Place the five-foot high ball in two large paper mache hands surrounded by clouds made of cardboard and glitter. Enlist volunteers of different nationalities to ride on the float that declares, "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands".
True Religion
Erect the front of a chapel with a door and steeple. On the "inside" place three short pews with a pious group of well dressed church people sitting in front of a pulpit. On the outside of the church post two guards on either side of the entrance. Place a large lock with chains on the church door, denying entry to people looking at the door -- beggars, the homeless, handicapped, prostitutes and tattooed bikers. Behind the group of ``riff raffs`` position a cross next to a benevolent looking Jesus, reaching to them with outstretched arms, a huge smile and water. Hang a banner at the back of the float with the verse from the Message translation of James 1:27 stating, "real religion: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight."
Tags: float that, back float, finish line, float with, large paper
