01 Oct Three Strategies to Love Your Neighbors

As the Art of Neighboring is fully underway across our church and city, it has been super encouraging to hear the stories of people who are “loving their neighbors on purpose”.

I’ve discovered that to be successful in loving where I live, three strategies are helpful:

1. WALK — just walking around your neighborhood and being prepared to have conversations with people who live next to you is a huge first step. I often pray, “Lord, please arrange for people to come across my path you desire for me to see and interact with”, and I’m never disappointed by the result.

2. KNOCK — this one can be a little scarier (but again, let’s remember where we are living—the United States of America, not a nation where Christianity is outlawed), but fun as well. Do you have cute kids? A cute dog? A cute spouse? 🙂 Or, can you bake something yummy (or at least know where the bakery section at HEB, Costco, or Super Target is)?

Then you can be a successful knocker. Just say hi and you’ve been wanting to meet them (isn’t that crazy how strange that sounds? It didn’t use to be! It used to be called “being nice”!).

3. TALK — Just ask people where they are from, what they like to do, what their dreams are (if you get that far!) Make the conversation about the other person, and watch their souls be filled up as you fill it full of relational oxygen.

So, take some time this weekend to do these simple things around your neighborhood or apartment complex, and believe God for something great. Why not?

Let’s love our neighbors as ourselves, which begins with simply getting to know their names and stories.

Morgan