02 Jun Discussion Guide: Love Where You Live Week 1

Prayer

Take the first 10 minutes of your time together to listen to what God is doing in one another’s lives and pray for any specific needs people in your group may have.

Today we begin our Love Where You Live series. Over the next few weeks we will be discussing how we can create a sense of community in our neighborhoods and serve our neighbors as we seek to obey Jesus’ command to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” We will watch a short video and then talk through a few questions to help us make the theory of neighboring a reality we live out together.

Watch Lover Where You Live Week 1 Video: Presence & Compassion

Discussion Questions

What is your initial reaction to Chief Acevedo’s message in the video? Did anything in particular stand out to you?

Think about your neighborhood. How many neighbors do you know by name? How many neighbors do you regularly interact with beyond a morning hello or a brief exchange across the street?

What obstacles prevent you from knowing your neighbors? Conversely, name some ways that have helped you get to know your neighbors.

In the video, the Chief mentioned the correlation between “taking ownership for your neighborhood” and the crime rate. Since being a good neighbor can positively impact your neighborhood’s safety, what are some ways you can take ownership for helping to create and maintain a safe place to live?

What are other benefits of knowing your neighbors, even if the relationship is more friendly acquaintances than close friends? How have you personally been encouraged by or benefitted from knowing a neighbor?

How do you think your neighborhood rates at being neighborly such as identifying needs and helping one another, or hosting a neighborhood gathering?

Project Discussion

Take the next 20-30 minutes to talk about potential service projects your group can execute for a neighbor of one of the people in your group. Think through what supplies would be needed, how many people would be involved, and what tools would be required? There is an evaluation worksheet on the website. After a couple of weeks you’ll want to narrow down the possibilities to one or two and then decide how your group is going to make that happen.

Prayer

Take the remaining time to pray for your group and for your neighbors as we look to reflect God’s Kingdom into the lives of the people we live near.