Our church in New England isn’t in the heart of the Bible-belt. This area is full of stoic people behind stone walls. Folks in our neighborhoods can even be hostile towards the Gospel. But that doesn’t mean their need isn’t just as great.
Imagine your neighbors who are battered by life. Those who want something more from life. Those who don’t even know what they’re missing. Now imagine your neighbors receiving God’s mercy and finding grace to help when they need it most.
As a church, we so desperately want for our neighbors to know God’s grace and mercy. In fact, we want it for the 1.2 million people who live in the counties closest to us – but that is a God-sized dream. We know that we can’t do it through programs or sermons.
Sharing God’s grace and mercy is best done relationally.
This year, we suspended our traditional in-house Christmas program featuring a nationally-known speaker. Instead, we equipped and encouraged the women of our church to reach out to their neighbors this Christmas. We modified the Neighborhood Cafe invitation to fit the season and our audience. We created an Open House kit for women with invitations, a short DVD about the truth of Christmas, a simple set of checklists and the option of a fun, simple Advent countdown craft that could be done by those attending the open houses.
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Printable Christmas Open House Invitations
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Printable Christmas Countdown Craft
We prepared all the materials and we prayed. We knew we were asking our women to take a huge step of faith to open their homes and invite their friends, neighbors or co-workers. Finally, we announced sign-ups for Christmas Cafe Kits.
And then we were blown away! More than 100 women in nearly 30 New England towns signed up to host a Christmas Open House!
We ran out of Kits and had to make more. We know that not all of those Open Houses will happen, but their initial responses let us know that God is working in the hearts of New England women to share God’s grace and mercy with those who haven’t yet experienced the gift of unconditional love and unmerited salvation.
Amy Lively’s message of “How to Love your Neighbors without Being Weird” came at just the right time for our church. It is such a timely message that coincides with the dream God has set before us.
Some women are inviting just 4-5 people to an Open House, and one woman is inviting her entire street of 50 homes. Our prayer is that these Open Houses will be used by God to speak into the lives of those who need it most as we share God’s grace and mercy through everyday relationships.
Guest post by Heather Fignar
Amy, this and the countdown are fantastic! Thanks for sharing. I hope to do the countdown to give our sons” families at Thanksgiving and of course do one for us too. I have pinned both these great ideas under the board Neighborhood Cafe.