THE CHURCH HAS LEFT THE BUILDING
What comes to mind when you hear, “The church has left the building?” God has designed his church, this church, to take the gospel to our community. Studies show that most unchurched people are more receptive to going to church on Easter and Christmas when they are personally invited. This is the purpose behind our Easter Block Parties.
We want to reach our neighbors for Christ. In Matthew 22:37–39, Jesus says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Since we love God, we must also love our neighbors. Doing an event like this also helps us stay faithful to the Great Commission. How? Because we are faithfully and intentionally reaching out to our community with the gospel message.
Our goal is to have five locations around our city. Each location will open up their front yard and driveway to host their neighbors. The church will provide hotdogs, buns, and condiments. The host site and helpers will bring different sides and games. When your neighbors show up for a free hotdog, you simply hand them one of our invite cards to the Easter service. It is simple and intentional. This is what it means by “the church has left the building!”
The Easter block parties will take place on April 4 from 11:00AM until 1:00PM. I would encourage each SMBS class to consider partnering together to host a site. This is a great time for a class fellowship as you reach out to your community. The more host sites the greater the impact!
How will we make this happen? Like I stated earlier, we need at least five host sites. We are looking for neighborhoods that have houses fairly close to one another or within walking distance. If you want to host but don’t live in a neighborhood, consider hosting a party at one of the local parks. We are also looking for people to partner with a host site to help put on the party.
If you would like to help at this event, please come to the informational meeting on March 8, at 2:00PM in the Quad. We will go over all the details then. If you have any questions, please reach out to me.
Jacob Chilton
Associate Pastor of Children and Family Ministries