Neighborhood Initiatives for 2024
PARTICIPATE IN LOVING OUR FRENCH PARK NEIGHBORS
2024 is next week! We are excited to continue to build relationships, be a blessing, and bring the joy of Jesus to our neighbors in the new year. Please join us in prayer for these events and consider how you’d like to get involved as we go into our city and love our neighbors:
French Park Run Club - We’ll continue meeting every Thursday at 6:30am for a casual run in the middle of our community. A great way to get in shape and get to know our Santa Ana neighbors. In 2023, we were so excited to see the Lord bear fruit through the Run Club as it connected our neighbors to the Bridge Course and led to new guests joining us on Sunday mornings! Considering joining us Thursdays at the French Park grass area.
Picnic in the Park - We’ve got plans for a spring and a fall picnic in the center of our neighborhood. Right after church, we’ll grab our lunches and some games in order to be together in the midst of our French Park neighbors. We will use this time to invite our neighbors to have lunch with us and continue to build relationships within the community. Make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to get updates on when the next Picnic in the Park will be held.
Annual French Park Events - After 2 years of throwing a Block Party in French Park and hosting our first ever Carols in the Park, we're more committed than ever to being known by our French Park neighbors as a people who are for them. We want to be the kind of church our neighbors don’t want to go away. So we’re leaning in with creating annual special events in the center of our neighborhood. We're eager to meet, bless, and build relationships with our neighbors and these events are designed to do just that. Look forward to June of 2024 for the return of our Block Party & December 2024 for Carols in the Park!
Gospel Outreaches - During the first half of the year, we’re picking out 2 Saturday mornings to go into our city to have spiritual conversations, share the gospel with our neighbors, and become equipped and emboldened to make evangelism a part of our everyday lives. Love going out to do this sort of thing? Join us! Scared to death about striking up a spiritual conversation with someone you’ve just met? Join us as well! As the Lord works in and through us during these outreach opportunities, it will go a long way to help us build a culture of evangelism at Cross of Grace, keep mission at the center of our Christian lives, and give us the confidence we need to ask that co-worker to lunch, reach out to that family member about coming to church, or invite that friend to the Bridge Course. Watch the blog for more details. Dates TBA.
The Bridge Course - Last but certainly not least, the Bridge is back in 2024! After our first time running a condensed course of 6 meetings this fall (and seeing all the fruit it bore), we’re rolling out all 10 sessions of the Bridge next year. From early September through mid November, we’ll be exploring the Christian faith with our Santa Ana neighbors over the course of a meal, a Bible talk, and a conversation where all perspectives are welcomed. This will be an all-hands on deck initiative, but we believe it will be well-worth the work. Learn more about The Bridge Course here and stay tuned for more details.
The harvest is plentiful! Would the Lord lead us into a new year with fresh faith and eager expectation as we spread the joy of Jesus to our Santa Ana neighbors!