Love Your Neighbor

Can you imagine if disciples of Jesus actually began to obey the words of Jesus? What if we, as a church, began to interact with our neighbors in ways that both displayed the love of Jesus and declared His good news of grace? In the words of Jay Pathak and Dave Runyon,

When you love God and love other people, deep spiritual things transpire … The beauty of [loving your neighbor] is that it’s simple and genuine. You don’t need to memorize any pitches. You don’t need to chart out a master plan for evangelizing your neighborhood. You don’t need to worry about having a canned speech in your back pocket. In short, you need not make your neighbors your “pet project”; make them your friends. You simply need to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, strength, and body, and love your neighbor as yourself.¹

LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR

It is more than just a program, it’s a movement – a movement where followers of Jesus seek to take seriously the command of Jesus to love God and love our neighbors.

In practical ways we desire to get to know our neighbors, using our God-given personalities and gifts to interact with our neighbors, develop authentic friendships, and display the love of God in Christ Jesus.

When we learn to live out genuine love for our neighbors we will find our opportunity to display and declare the love of Jesus increases. In other words, obedience to the Great Commandment often involves and causes greater opportunity to obey the Great Commission.

Obedience to the Great Commandment often involves and causes greater opportunity to obey the Great Commission. #loveyourneighbor Click To Tweet

The links below will guide you through different elements of what is involved in loving your neighbor. The goal is to provide some practical insights and helpful tools in your efforts to display and declare the love of Jesus. ²

If you are interested in moving forward in further training, accountability, and resources sign up to be a part of our Love Your Neighbor Movement.

¹ Pathak, Jay, and Runyon, Dave. The Art of Neighboring: Building Genuine Relationships Right Outside Your Door, p 114.
²These goals have been adapted from Six Steps to Talking about Jesus, Matthias Media, 2006.

Know

KNOW | PRAY | CONNECT | SPEAK KNOW YOUR NEIGHBOR It’s most difficult to love your neighbors if you don’t know them. Here’s a simple tool to help you get started in evaluating how well you know your neighbors. Take the “who is my neighbor” test using the Block Map. Instructions for using the Block Map Write the names of the people who live in the house represented by the box. If you can give first and last names, that’s great.…

Pray

KNOW | PRAY | CONNECT | SPEAK Pray for Your Neighbor One of the greatest ways we can not only develop a greater love for our neighbors but also display that love is to simply pray for them. As you develop a closer relationship with them, ask for them to share with you ways in which you can pray for them Add your neighbor(s) to your prayer list and make it a point to pray for them each week.…

Connect

KNOW | PRAY | CONNECT | SPEAK In an authentic pursuit to love your neighbor, you should find yourself taking steps to move from Stranger → Acquaintance → Friend.¹ Those who live out radically ordinary hospitality see their homes not as theirs at all but as God’s gift to use for the furtherance of his kingdom. They open doors; they seek out the underprivileged. They know that the gospel comes with a house key. (Rosaria Butterfield) PURSUE A RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR…

Speak

KNOW | PRAY | CONNECT | SPEAK Since the Gospel is the message God uses to redeem fallen people from sin (Romans 1:16), at some point, we will need to break into spiritual conversation that leads to presenting the Gospel. Simple, non-threatening questions are helpful to move the conversation in a gospel-direction. Below you will find a helpful look at starting and continuing the conversation with your neighbor in a way that is natural yet purposeful. PRESENT THE GOSPEL FULLY Ask them…

Love Your Neighbor (Sign Up)

Love Your Neighbor … It is primarily a way of life. As followers of Jesus, giving ourselves to the eternal priority of seeing others rescued from sin and reconciled to God. It is also a resource providing you with tools and ideas to help you move forward in loving your neighbor in real, practical ways. It is a program designed to Foster Partnerships Provide Accountability Equip through Training and Counsel If you are interested in being a part of the official Love Your Neighbor movement, contact the church office.