Praying for My Neighbors and Neighborhood


Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness.  When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.  

Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

• Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send laborers from the Ridgecrest Baptist Church out into our own neighborhoods.

• Ask the Lord to show you a few neighbors that He would like for you to develop relationships with in your neighborhood. We recommend starting with the people being the eight closets front doors to your door.

• Ask the Lord to give you eyes to see what is going on in each of your neighbor’s lives and then ask Him to give you a heart of compassion.

• Ask the Lord to show you what He is doing in each of your neighbor’s lives and how you can participate with Him in what He is doing.

• Ask the Lord to open doors for relationship with your neighbors, opportunities to serve and care for them, and to share Christ when they are receptive.

• Pray for a “person of peace” in your neighborhood that might join you in creating neighborhood events or projects that would help you and others make connections for relationship and ministry.

• Prayer for your immediate neighbors by name and ask God to reveal to you the needs in their household and how you can minister to them.

• Pray that God would help you overcome any fear or shyness you have about building relationships with your immediate neighbors.

• Begin praying for the salvation of your neighbors. This should be our ultimate goal but the first step is building positive neighbor relationships.

In Amy Lively’s book, “How to Love Your Neighbor Without Being Weird,” she outlines four steps to a neighborhood strategy. 

#1 Pray Earnestly - Praying for your neighbors should be the first strategy.

#2 Love Deeply - Let God help you with this as your stretch out our arms.

#3 Share Cheerfully - Regular, simple invites to neighbors and basic hospitality can help here.

#4 Serve Faithfully - When your neighbors pour out their woes, don’t rush to say everything will be okay.


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