The "Neighboring Church" Part 2: Good Neighbor Teams

 

As our culture has become more mobile and our cars have become faster, there has been a move away from "neighborhood churches" and a trend toward driving several miles to a church, according to Rick Rusaw and Brian Mavis, co-authors of "The Neighboring Church."

But while these "regional churches" attract members from a large area, they often lose touch with their immediate neighbors, the same way their members often do.

"I was working with a church in Ohio, and I asked if they knew how many of their current members lived within a six-block radius of the church," said Mavis. "The pastor immediately said that only one family attending that church lived within six blocks while everyone else was driving in from other neighborhoods."

Eventually, that led to forming a "good neighbor" team at that church. The team's sole purpose was to get acquainted with every person or family within sight of their church building.

"That church had been thinking about planting a church elsewhere but realized that they had a mission field immediately around their existing church building that was completely untapped," said Mavis. "Perhaps launching a satellite campus seemed trendier, but simply walking across the street or parking lot to meet and get acquainted with the church's neighbors was free."

The "Good Neighbor" team of that church was initially comprised of the church's newest members. The team's single purpose was to get acquainted with every person or family whose home was within sight of the church building, a two-block square.

The Good Neighbors team would gather to prayer walk the neighborhood, introducing themselves to the residents who happened to be outside. They identified themselves as from the church and asked, "How can our church be a good neighbor to you?"

Their goal was to make friends. Sometimes they took plates of homemade cookies to share. They learned the names of children, cats, and dogs. They heard about grief, challenges, and joys. They occasionally helped with a house or yard chore.

Others on the Good Neighbor team decided to start a quarterly neighborhood birthday party in the church fellowship hall, and invited the church's immediate neighbors and their families for one afternoon of celebrating every neighbor's birthday at the same time.

Eventually, several of the church's neighborhood residents were spotted sitting in worship with their new friends from the Good Neighbors team. Some of the children attended Vacation Bible School. This church eventually developed several additional Good Neighbors teams to befriend an entire six-block square area.

Is your church looking outside of its walls to connect with neighbors of the church? If not, then why not? I am happy to serve as a consultant for groups wanting to create neighboring teams.