Early in September I was approached by some members of First United Methodist Church wondering about how we could partner to further engage the neighborhood. “We’re thinking of doing a fall festival,” they said, “but we’d rather do it in the neighborhood than in the church.” This was good news to me, and I suggested we see if Ebenezer, the Spanish Assembly of God church on 10th St., would be interested in partnering. They said yes, and agreed to host our planning meetings. When we sat down together to talk, Pastor Aron said, “You know, just before you called, my wife and I were talking and praying about what we could do to engage the neighborhood. And then you called.” We told the other neighborhood churches to see if they were interested, and in the end we had representatives from Ebenezer, Hope Church, FUMC, Third Reformed, and WSN joining forces to throw a neighborhood party.
It was a lot of work leading up and on a cold, rainy Halloween Saturday (we had to move indoors) we were concerned that no one would come. But the place filled up! One of the pastors pulled me aside, and said, “This is great! But you know what, even if no one came, it was still a success just to be working together.” In the end it was counted a success, and there is now energy to do the ‘next’ thing–whatever that may be.
“I told Pastor Aron I liked the way this image in Ebenezer’s fellowship hall including the two signs up on the wall captures the spirit of the church and why churches would do a party like this – ‘Dios es Amor’ means ‘God is Love.’ We love because he first loved us.”
~Andrew Spidahl, Neighborhood Connector