Holy Week for the Whole Neighborhood

One key part of neighborhood missions is the church showing up for the holidays. The neighborhood is going to celebrate anyway — they might as well do it right on their own turf, alongside the churches that care about them and are sticking around for the long haul. At Griggs, we always seek to make the most of our holidays by extending invitation and outreach to the Poe Mill neighborhood. Here's the rhythm we've developed over the last several years.

We kick things off with our Palm Sunday block party at Ministry Park (27 2nd Ave, right in the heart of the neighborhood), celebrating the simple truth that Jesus is King. Yes, it's a full block party — free food, giveaways, inflatables, and a big Easter egg hunt. But it's also a worship service, because our King has come to us. 

We gather under the pavilion for worship, teaching, and even baptisms in a big silver trough. This year, dozens of neighbors joined us to sing to King Jesus, including our homeless friends and a neighborhood resident who is blind. By the end of the afternoon, about a hundred neighbors had come through, received a free Bible, enjoyed plenty of Easter chocolate, and gotten their faces painted (all in Jesus' name!)

Next comes our Good Friday service. It’s a quieter, more reflective gathering where the goal is to sit inside the crucifixion story as if we were the disciples on that first holy weekend, not yet knowing how it ends. We read large portions of the crucifixion account, take extra care to prepare our hearts, receive the Lord's Supper, and sing songs about the cross. This year, about 80 adults joined us, with three handmade crosses on stage to look at and reflect on.

After the service, the church is flipped and decorated in bright, hopeful spring colors because we know Sunday is coming, and so is the next chapter: Jesus is alive.

Easter Sunday is by far one of our most missional days of the year. This year, at least 20 extra neighborhood friends were in attendance. We want to make the most of that open door by not only proclaiming that Jesus is alive, but by demonstrating this truth. So we weave in all kinds of extra elements to show that Jesus is alive and moving in our midst: baptisms, baby dedications, and new members coming forward to join the church family.

Something we're especially grateful for is our Easter offering. Each year, we choose a neighborhood ministry to bless with our entire offering from that morning. We spend weeks preparing our people. We share the story of the chosen ministry, everything they do, and why it matters for Poe Mill or the West Side. Then on Easter morning, we invite a representative to come share their heart from the stage before we receive the offering on their behalf.

Over the years, we've been able to give our Easter offering to Soteria Community Development Corp, Poe Mill Achievement Center, Sammy's Mission, and — this year — Shelter Skate Church, a ministry that feeds skateboarders and runs Bible studies at the Poe Mill skatepark every Sunday afternoon. It seems we gave enough this year to send one of their skaters to Christian camp this summer. Praise God!

As a church, we do depend on the generosity of people like you to keep our ministry going. But it's good for us to practice giving to others as well. It reminds us — and shows the neighborhood — that Jesus is alive and working through all of his people on this side of town. By his Spirit, he is uniting his church to reach the neighborhood together. Holy Week isn't just for us at Griggs. It's for everyone who calls 1st-6th avenue “home.”