Neighborhood Mission Trips: A New Way to Live the Great Commandment & the Great Commission
For decades, Christians have associated “mission” with traveling far away. We raise funds, board planes, and spend a week serving strangers in other cultures. These trips matter — but they’ve unintentionally convinced many believers that mission happens somewhere else, sometime later, after we’re trained, and “once we’re ready.” David Burton's book, "Neighborhood Mission Trips for Everyday Christians," flips that script.
The Core Idea
A Neighborhood Mission Trip is a week of
intentionally loving, serving, and praying for the people who live nearest to
you — without ever leaving your street. Instead of asking, “Where is God
sending me?” this trip declares: God already sent you. He placed you
in your neighborhood on purpose — for a purpose.
Acts 17:26 makes that explicit: God “determined the exact
places where they should live,” so that people might reach out for Him. Your
address is not an accident. It’s an assignment.
Why It Matters
Most American neighborhoods are relational deserts — quiet,
private, and polite, but deeply disconnected. Cultural neighboring defines a
“good neighbor” as someone who leaves you alone. Biblical neighboring insists
on love, presence, hospitality, and sacrifice. Meanwhile, our society is
buckling under:
✓ epidemic loneliness
✓ civic fragmentation
✓ declining trust
✓ spiritual disconnection
Your neighborhood needs connection — and so do you.
How It Works
Over the course of one week, participants:
• Pray for their neighbors by name (Bless App)
• Learn names and stories
• Initiate simple acts of blessing
• Practice hospitality and presence
• Serve practical needs
• Host a small neighborhood gathering
No scripts. No pressure. No bait-and-switch. Just love
with intentionality, trusting God for the fruit.
What Makes It “Mission”
It is mission because mission is not defined by distance —
but by obedience. Jesus didn’t say:
“Love your neighbor if you have time”
“Love your neighbor if they’re friendly”
“Love your neighbor once you’ve trained for it”
He said: “Love your neighbor.” Full stop.
This trip trains believers not in programs, but in presence,
prayer, hospitality, and relationship — the same tools
Jesus used.
The Goal
The goal is not to entertain a neighborhood but to engage
it — moving neighbors from strangers → acquaintances → relationships →
belonging → discipleship. It’s about shifting from mission trips we visit
to mission lives we inhabit.
The Outcome
When believers live missionally where they live:
Neighbors feel seen instead of invisible.
Streets become communities instead of rows of houses.
Churches become local instead of distant.
Faith becomes embodied instead of theoretical.
And something remarkable happens:
The block becomes a parish.
The table becomes an altar.
The neighborhood becomes a mission field.
The Great Commandment (“love your neighbor”) merges with the
Great Commission (“make disciples”) — across the street, not across the ocean.
Why It’s So Important
Because proximity produces possibility.
You can’t disciple people you never meet.
You can’t love people you never speak to.
You can’t bless people you don’t know exist.
And because in a fragmented culture, belonging often
precedes believing.
Most people do not convert in sanctuaries. They convert in living rooms, around
fire pits, over porches and meals — through relationships. Neighborhood
Mission Trips help believers rediscover the mission field they’ve been walking
past for years.
MORE INFORMATION
Take the Engaged Neighbor pledge and become part of a movement! The pledge outlines five categories and 20 principles to guide you toward becoming an engaged neighbor. Sign the pledge at https://nomoregoodneighbors.com. Individuals who take the pledge do get special invitations to future events online and in person. Contact the blog author, David L. Burton via email at dburton541@yahoo.com or visit his website at http://engagedneighbor.com.
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