Do you want to get to know your neighbors? Do you want to share with them the love of Jesus? Let me share with you what has worked for us …
My wife and I know most of the people in our neighborhood and in the two adjoining neighborhoods, a total of about three hundred homes. Several neighbors have told us that we know more neighbors than anyone else in the neighborhood, and asked us how that happened, since many of our neighbors have lived here longer than we have.
Follow Jesus to Your Neighbor’s House
We enjoy getting to know neighbors. It may appear to come natural to us, but we make it an intentional part of following Jesus.
In this series I will discuss some of the methods that have worked for us in getting to know our neighbors, how we move some of the relationships beyond just being acquainted, and what we’re doing now to move those relationships to yet another level.
Living in Neighborly Isolation
Most of us drive home from work, push the button on our remote garage door opener, pull into the garage, close the garage door, and go into the house. If we emerge from the house that evening, we may go only to our backyard, possibly to play with our children, or to grill something on our outdoor grill. The next morning, we raise the garage door, back out, and wave to a neighbor as we pull away from our house.
If we hire a lawn service, we may rarely spend any time in our front yard. If we’re lucky, we may know the people who live next to us, but probably don’t know most of the people who live two or three houses away from ours. We may notice a house with an unkempt yard, or the house with several broken-down cars parked in front. But we don’t know the people who live there, and assume they’re probably lazy.
Many of us find our friends and build relationships at work, church, or among relatives. When we have a party, those are the people we invite. When the party runs a little late on a warm summer evening when all of our neighbors have their windows open, and our guests are laughing and singing and some neighbor calls the police to complain, we’re offended. We silently make a vow to get even with every neighbor who does anything to annoy us. We have our rights and have to stand up for them! Right?
That’s what Jesus would do, right? Didn’t He throw the moneylenders out of the temple, His temple? If Jesus could display His righteous anger, shouldn’t it be OK for us to do the same?
Loving Your Neighbors Like Jesus
We have discovered there is another way, a way that not only doesn’t get the neighbors upset with us and us mad at the neighbors, but a way that looks a whole lot more like Jesus.
This “other way” begins with getting to know our neighbors.
Let me show you how we have come to know our neighbors, and how you can too.
If you truly want to live out the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it begins by getting to know your neighbors.
What are some easy, practical ways to do that? We’ll look at some of those ways in the series of posts on getting to know your neighbors. Sign up to receive them all for free by filling out the form below.
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Jesus didn’t need to ‘get to know’ anyone. He knew us before we were born. When He spent time with others, it was not for Him to learn of them but for them to learn of Him. It is, perhaps, a good thing that we can never know others as completely as Jesus did. We tend to be a very judgemental people, looking for excuses to point our fingers at others. Nonetheless, I would have to agree that we should become at least passingly familiar with those we live amoungst. Who knows, we may even make some new friends. 😉
Matthew, Thanks for the comment. In some of the other “Getting To Know Our Neighbors” posts you will find that we actually define our neighbors as more than just the people who live nearby. We include everyone we come in contact with, such as co-workers, clerks in stores and so on. We regularly hear from people we know that many of them have very few real relationships with other people and often have no or few friends. We often hear from the business world “find an unmet need and fill it.” As followers of Jesus we think we have a huge opportunity to build loving relationships with other people.
My wife and have found that walking our dog has been a path for better getting to know our neighbors. At times, if we sense a need and a prompting by the Holy Spirit, we will ask if there is anything we can be in prayer about for them. That has opened many doors to a more meaningful relationship. We have recently considered starting a neighborhood Bible study. That’s a large step for us even though we’ve led church Bible studies often over the years. Thanks for your generous and loving example in Christ! Our fledgling website: manwomanGod.com has been a blessing to us.
What an excellent answer to getting to know people. Many people will respond to that kind of question in a positive way. Others may say pray if you want but it won’t help. Very few will outright reject the offer.
Getting to know the neighbours as person first or neighbours as a persons in different cultural and belief context ?
The series is primarily on the physical neighbors in your community, and getting to know them as persons.
BTW, since you are part of the RedeemingGod discipleship group, to get these emails, all you have to do is click the “Update Subscription Preferences” link in the bottom of any email I send to you, and you can add the emails from there (and see the other options).
I am asking that questions as my context here is entirely different than in the western culture and environment.
Great post!
Thank you,
Gary
Southern NH, USA
Love is the greatest and those who love are not under the law. Every spiritual Christian should be driven by love because God is love.
In the US today, its true that we don’t know our neighbors that live next to us. If we walk down the street and talk to people who are out is a good way to start. Throwing block parties or other events can open doors and help you get to know then as well.
Being kind and treating all people how Jesus would brings his light to them. Love the people first, then they will be open to hearing about our wonderful Savior Jesus Christ!