This school year, our students have decided to try something new. They are adopting a neighborhood to “Gospelize”. This is a “multiple-touch” evangelism project that is designed around building relationships in the community.
We will be doing multiple service project days, where we serve the people of the neighborhood for no cost to help them with their homes. We will also be prayer walking and doing a spiritual survey over the course of the school year. In the spring, we will be doing a block party at the park that is right next to the neighborhood, for the purpose of getting the children there pre-registered for VBS.
The response by those in the neighborhood seems to be overwhelmingly positive. This week, we dropped off a letter at each house in the 9 block area describing the service day, and that our group would be in their neighborhood several times over the next few months. It details that our group would not be seeking or taking donations, and that we just wanted to get to know those in our community. many were very thankful that we are going to do this.
There is a lot I like about this project. I like that it is more personal than knocking on a door and leaving a tract or confronting them on the doorstep. This is an intentional relational approach that fits well with a lot of the other things we are doing this year in the youth department.
The last part of this project is the interaction with other believers. This project is not about us. It is about Christ and HIS Kingdom. We came into it prepared to meet other believers in the neighborhood. Our group wants to be there as an encouragement to help that believer have the boldness to walk next door or across the street and share the Gospel. There are students from other youth groups that live in this neighborhood. We plan to welcome them to come alongside us in anything we do in their neighborhood. Not for the purpose of growing our numbers, but because we are on THEIR turf, where they live. We are only guests. We want to equip them to continue the work.
Pray for these students, that they will experience what God has planned for them, 9 Blocks at a time…
– Pastor Lacy