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. ...

  I was ready for the debate. Ready to argue in favor of loving our neighbors and in support of Missouri Good Neighbor Week. I even had my script written and had the timing down to less than one-minute. The following script was typed out on my phone is 16pt font. I rise to speak in favor of resolution #3 On Loving Your Neighbor. The opposite of loving your neighbor is not hate. The opposite of loving your neighbor is apathy. Research is showing us that Americans and Missourians have believed, for too long, that being a good neighbor means being quiet and leaving their neighbor alone. Only that is not love. It is apathy. Missouri Baptists have the opportunity here to show the nation what it means to get messy and love our neighbors. I would urge Missouri Baptist churches to equip members to become engaged neighbors and use the new Missouri good neighbor week as an opportunity to launch new neighborhood focused outreach and ministry efforts starting on the doorstep of every Missouri ...

The first statewide awards for Missouri Good Neighbor Week were announced on Oct. 20, 2022, by the joint sponsors of the campaign: University of Missouri Extension Greene County and The Hopeful Neighborhood Project headquartered in St. Louis. Missourians from all walks of life celebrated the first Missouri Good Neighbor Week (Sept. 28 to Oct. 4) by doing and reporting neighboring acts and nominating others as the most engaged neighbors in their respective counties. Statewide, MU Extension county councils will do county-level recognition in counties where residents submitted actions or made nominations. This recognition will vary among counties. In Greene County, the local extension office will send each local award winner a check and certificate. The goal for the week had been to document 10,000 acts of neighboring. But instead, Missourians reported 12,594 acts of neighboring during Missouri Good Neighbor Week. Greene County had the most submissions, accounting for nearly 4,000 o...

The University of Missouri Extension Greene County Extension Council is pleased to announce ten Greene County residents chosen for special recognition as neighbors.   Missourians from all walks of life celebrated the first Missouri Good Neighbor Week (Sept 28 – Oct. 4) by doing and reporting neighboring acts and nominating others as the most engaged neighbors in their respective counties. County extension councils statewide are doing county-level recognition. In Greene County, the local extension office will send each local award winner a check and award certificate. The goal for the week had been to document 10,000 acts of neighboring. But instead, Missourians reported 12,594 acts of neighboring during Missouri Good Neighbor Week. Greene County had the most submissions, accounting for nearly 4,000 of the acts of neighboring. "I love discussing these acts of neighboring. These are the stories that do not normally make the news but are the behaviors that are impactful to ou...

  Rick Rusaw and Brian Mavis, co-authors of “The Neighboring Church,” say loving your neighbor begins with learning their name. The next steps are to offer a helping hand and a listening ear.  “We love our neighbors because we are Christians, not because we are trying to make them Christians,” said Mavis. According to Mavis, it is essential not to turn neighbors into projects but to develop neighboring as a form of ministry itself. Instead of donning matching t-shirts, serving for one day, and making local headlines, “neighboring” is a daily, personal experience with one’s neighbors.  “For years, our church was in our community to serve. Then a city employee asked if we would take care of a woman’s yard for her,” said Mavis. “As I was driving up, I spotted the house from blocks away. The grass was almost as tall as me.” Mavis knocked on the door, and a woman answered. He learned this woman had recently survived stage-four cancer, and she was taking care of a nine-year-old...

  What makes a neighborhood a neighborhood?  Is it the houses? The streets? The sidewalks? The schools? The parks?  Or is it something less visible: the relationships among the people who live there? I have spent considerable time thinking about what makes neighborhoods stronger, and I keep returning to the same conclusion: A neighborhood becomes a community when people develop relationships, trust, and a willingness to care for one another. But there is another question worth asking. Where do those relationships begin? That question is at the heart of Eric Klinenberg's excellent book, Palaces for the People . Klinenberg, a sociologist, makes a compelling argument that the physical places where people gather are essential to building strong communities. He calls these places social infrastructure . And his argument is one that everyone involved in community development, neighborhood leadership, or efforts to reduce social isolation should take seriously. This is one of th...

  Ask someone how they are doing these days, and there is a good chance their response will include one word: busy. Sometimes it is "really busy." Other times it is "crazy busy." We say it almost automatically. Being busy has become so normal that we rarely stop to question whether it is healthy, necessary, or even productive. Kevin DeYoung's Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book About a (Really) Big Problem challenges that assumption. And he does it in a way that is refreshingly honest, practical, biblical, and occasionally humorous. And I say that even after having read the book five times. I give this book five stars because DeYoung understands something that many time-management experts overlook: Our problem is not simply that we have too much to do. It is that we often have trouble deciding what we should be doing in the first place. That is an important distinction for anyone interested in intentional living, stronger relationships, and being a good neigh...