City of Great Neighbors: Committed Neighboring Churches in Arvada Remain

 

The leaders of Arvada, Colorado say they want their city to be a city of great neighbors. I ventured there in July to see firsthand how they are doing in Arvada, Colorado. 

This is the city where Dave Runyon and Jay Pathak were pastors when they wrote the seminal book The Art of Neighboring about 12 years ago which kicked off a resurgence in the neighboring movement nationwide, especially in churches.

I had the opportunity to have coffee with Dave. He is no longer a pastor but he still lives and breathes neighboring each and every day, consults with other cities and organizations that are interested in neighboring work, and has been an encouragement to me over the years. 

The city has challenges much like every American city with a population of 130,000 or more: homelessness, racial tension, an economic divide, sprawl, and rapid growth.

But there are also really positive things in Arvada as a result of the neighboring conversations that began there 15 years ago. There are five churches in town that have remained very committed to neighboring outreach and set an example of what that can look like in a community. 

One of those, Revive Church, listened to their community when they were trying to decide whether to build or move their growing church. They heard from the community that they were in that child care was a desperate need and that workforce development was a need and assistance for neighbors was a need and they took that to heart.

Instead of building a new, shiny church building, they purchased an old shopping center and brought it back to life. Some of the spots have businesses important to the neighborhood. But they also made space available to nonprofits and outreach efforts like Hands of Hope. 

When the community said that one of the greatest needs in the area was childcare they invested money in one of the largest spaces, a freestanding building, and created a childcare facility for families in the neighborhood. The church underwrites a large portion of the tuition for many of the children at the center. 

They also are remodeling and creating a workforce development center to help people with job skills and to help them re-enter the workforce.

They asked the community about the needs, they heard the needs and responded to those needs in an effort to love their neighbors as opposed to building a larger church further out in the community.

Storyline Church and a few others in town have made similar efforts to keep neighboring a central focus of their mission and purpose. 

Every city in the U.S.A. needs to do more to create community and a sense of belonging among those who live there. Those efforts years ago in Arvada have had a ripple effect.

There have been lives changed where individuals have decided to invest in their neighborhood to stay where they are and to make contacts. One neighborhood has a  directory with everyone's contact information that they use that to organize and create connection activities there in that neighborhood. 

What I heard time and time again from people was I love this area because of my neighbors. They have a real sense of belonging and connection there.

Arvada is a big town. Not everyone is going to know everyone. Not everyone is going to agree with every community decision or every community addition. But, it is not a community if the only things we do are things we personally love. There has to be activities and places and events that appeal to a wide range of people. A good community makes all of those options available. Arvada is a better community because of those efforts.

Arvada is better off because of the conversation that has taken place where people have asked what can we do to be great neighbors. 

What can we do to be better connected. 

What can we do to help all of our neighbors have a sense of belonging. 

Arvada churches initially led the way. Now other organizations are involved including the city and its neighboring department. 

No community is perfect in this regard but Arvada, with help from Dave Runyon and Jay Pathak and other pastors certainly set the bar high and helped to lead the way for others. Now go make your own connections in your neighborhood and community.

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Does this article make you interested in taking the Engaged Neighbor pledge? Five categories and 20 principles to guide you toward becoming an engaged neighbor. Sign the pledge online at http://engagedneighbor.com.

Contact the blog author, David L. Burton at dburton541@yahoo.com.