By Shawn Gibbs, Heart of Life Church
“The work is ours. The results are the Lord’s!” This is the battle cry of a movement that is sweeping the streets of Harrisonville, Missouri.
What is being called the “Adopt a Street” initiative is an act of church unity. The purpose is to fulfill the Great Commission by engaging in local missions and reaching the people of Harrisonville. The vision of Adopt a Street is that “Every Harrisonville family will be touched and blessed by the Body of Christ resulting in a personal relationship with Him and Harrisonville will be transformed because of it.”
What this looks like in practically is sectioning the city of Harrisonville into areas and then assigning different churches in the community to each area. Members in these churches “adopt” individual streets. These church members have begun to form connections with the people of their community and to share the Gospel with them. Local missionaries are sharing upcoming events in the various churches as well as service times.
This endeavor began this February with a period of extended prayer for the people in homes on individual streets before any personal contact was made with them. Colossians 4:3 says “And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ…” As the weather warmed up, the “adopters” began to encounter and engage residents in those homes they had been praying for.
The movement has been praised not only for its missional outreach, but for how it has also brought churches and church leadership together for the cause of Christ. A number of churches participated in a city-wide BBQ on June 22nd and VBS flyers being distributed include a list of Vacation Bible Schools from the community. Pastors and members from a number of adopting congregations also meet monthly for prayer and Adopt a Street testimonies. This type of unity, or oneness, reflects the prayers of Christ in the garden in John 17, and can be a great springboard to other opportunities for church unity in the future.
In Matthew 9:37-38 Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” We would ask for your prayers for the harvest and the workers in Harrisonville, and that this mission might spread to other local communities.
