Adopt-a-Block
Jesus said, “Go to the lost, confused people right here in the neighborhood. Tell them that the kingdom is here. Bring health to the sick. Raise the dead. Touch the untouchables. Kick out the demons. You have been treated generously, so live generously.” Matthew 10:6-8 (The Message)
Grace Vineyard’s “Adopt-a-Block” ministry seeks to establish relationships with the people in our community. We are not church recruiting. Our goal is to love like Christ loves - without condition. We come alongside people, offer a listening ear, and give words of encouragement. We pray with local residents in the name of Jesus and great things happen. We have seen miraculous physical healings, demons driven out, and broken hearts healed. God has done great things through Adopt-a-Block.
When we encounter lives of depravity, we remember the Prodigal Son from Luke 15. This son made unwise choices and wasted all his father had given him on “loose living.” This left him feeling unworthy to be called a son. But being hungry and desperate, he longed to return to his Father and began stepping in that direction. The Bible tells us that while the Prodigal Son “was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.”
What a beautiful picture of Father God’s love for his wayward children! They may still be “a long way off”, but God doesn’t ask people to clean themselves up before coming to Him. God sees the heart of a person willing to return to Him, and He comes running with compassion, not anger or condemnation. An encounter with the kindness of this living, loving God leads people to repentance.
“For God did not send his Son to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” John 3:17(NIV)
Interested in joining the Adopt-a-Block team? Contact Crista Darr at .
Please check out some of the amazing things God is doing with the Adopt-a-Block blog tab on this blog page: In the Street