{"id":17521,"date":"2021-09-23T05:38:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-23T05:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/?p=17521"},"modified":"2021-09-24T22:59:47","modified_gmt":"2021-09-24T22:59:47","slug":"jesus-in-the-neighborhood-ephrata","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2021\/jesus-in-the-neighborhood-ephrata\/","title":{"rendered":"JESUS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: STORIES FROM CONGREGATIONS: Ephrata Church encourages families to host block parties"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Stacey Coldiron<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In July, we encouraged our congregation at Ephrata (Pa.) Church of the Brethren to go out and be \u201cJesus in the neighborhood.\u201d It can be challenging to meet and get to know your neighbors when many families stay to themselves and are so busy. Being Jesus to a neighbor can be as simple as helping them carry in their groceries, or mowing someone\u2019s yard when they\u2019re going through a hard time, or just asking how they really are doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doing these things are much easier if you\u2019ve met your neighbors, so we encouraged our families to host block parties. We designed invitations that could be used and offered $100 gift cards for groceries to offset the cost. We had 11 families participate and 8 block parties were held. More than 400 people attended these parties and made connections to their neighbors. Most of those who attended were not church members and many do not attend any church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At one party, the age span that gathered was 2 months to 80! What a blessing to have multiple generations together and getting to know one another. Neighbors enjoyed it so much that they suggested to their hosts that they would like to do these gatherings more often. One older neighbor told a younger family that if they ever needed an egg or baking soda to come to her and ask. One 9-year-old was asked, \u201cWhat blessings has God given you?\u201d and her response was, \u201cThe block party.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New connections have been made all over our community, which we pray will continue to grow. We as believers at Ephrata Church of the Brethren are learning how to be innovative, adaptable, and fearless disciples of Jesus so that we can lead more people to him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe Nolt\/Coldiron clans know how to party!\u201d said a Facebook post about one of the Ephrata Church\u2019s block parties, shown here. \u201cThey had over 60 people come and hang out for an evening of fun! In total, about 10 families have done this with amazing testimonies coming from them. #Jesusintheneighborhood #ecobrocks #connectgrowliveradiate #compellingvision.\u201d Photo credit: Allen Kevorkov<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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