300 neighbors at the block party

West Orlando, FL >> Members of the newly planted Grace Church threw a block party for Easter—and invited their whole subdivision. Three hundred neighbors enjoyed free food and invitations to hear the gospel. Find out more below…

Grace Church and Jackie had something in common. They both wanted to meet the neighbors.

Jackie, a young mother and businesswoman, moved into her Winter Garden, Florida, neighborhood five weeks earlier. And Grace Church started a church plant in Winter Garden just three weeks before Jackie moved in.

The two met at an Easter-egg hunt and neighborhood party for Jackie’s subdivision. The event brought together more than 300 people from the neighborhood, and was sponsored by Grace Church.

“A neighborhood party is great,” said host and Grace Church member, Madie Larsen, “but we’re celebrating for a reason—Easter.” For six years, Madie and her husband, Trevor, have hosted the neighborhood party, inviting the whole subdivision to their front and back yard with hopes of talking to them about Jesus Christ. This year, the Larsens’ party was big enough to close down a portion of English Lake Drive on both ends.

Sixty church members—part of the 2006 church plant from Metro Life Church in Orlando, Florida—attended the neighborhood party, serving free food, leading the craft table, or performing a short drama.

All the adults wore nametags announcing their first names, and as Grace Church members from the neighborhood introduced themselves, they casually pointed toward their homes. Senior pastor Wayne Brooks pointed to the house with the giant inflatable water slide in the front yard—he and his wife, Sandie, moved into the neighborhood just before launching the church plant.

Each neighbor received an invitation to Grace Church’s Easter service, as well as a copy of 50 Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die by John Piper.

“Although we have only been meeting for two months, we are enjoying the blessings of a much more mature church,” says Wayne. “Because of the investment of people from Metro Life Church, we’ve been able to reach out and serve in ways we had not expected.”

Curious about Grace Church? Find out more at the church’s website, or read the Larsen family’s story about joining the church plant.