How to Cultivate What’s Worth Imitating in Our Neighborhoods

Pinprick a pool of water and watch the ripple grow. Even the smallest disruption moves beyond the point of initial impact. The same thing happens when we cultivate what’s worth imitating. It impacts those in closest proximity to us first, then ripples out to further, touching those in our neighborhoods, churches, workplaces, schools, and communities.

Last week we talked about how discipleship begins in our homes because our families are usually those in closest proximity to us—and how this is the start, not the end, of the ripple-effect.

What moves beyond us always begins within us.

What grows inside eventually shows.

And what we cultivate inside always affects more than just us.

I’ve seen it in conversations in driveways, between neighbors who are friends and not solely neighbors, that what God grows in us rubs off on others. I’ve seen how neighbors can help neighbors and point the glory to God because trees cut with chainsaws, heavy things lifted together, and kids or dogs watched for each other, become an act of worship when they are an overflow of what God’s nurturing inside us.

I’ve seen too, that real talk about hard things—like the challenges of raising our kid—paves the way for organic discipleship. It takes humility to be open with both God and those around us about the ways we are struggling, but something powerful happens when we do. Openness dismantles pride and fear and simultaneously deepens connection. We practice being vulnerable and honest with God, and then letting others into those conversations, and it demonstrates how to submit to the refining process of the Holy Spirit.

Proximity is not just physical

Yet while the proximity of our neighbors to us puts them in a prime position for our ripples to reach them, proximity is not an automatic guarantee of organic discipleship. Too often we live in isolation, keeping to ourselves, rarely crossing paths with even our right-next-to-us neighbors.

We can be physically proximate yet still not a part of each others’ lives.

It’s a picture of busy lives and tall fences and little time spent lingering where we are actually visible to our neighbors. Of garage doors closed quicky and mail retrieved silently and weeds pulled without glances up to see who else might be outside. Of meals eaten in a rush and rarely shared, of emergency runs for the one missing ingredient instead of first checking to see if a neighbor might be willing to share what we lack.

It’s a story of living lives that exist parallel to but rarely in conjunction with our neighbors.

In order for what God is doing in our lives to ripples out into our neighborhoods, we must adopt a heart-posture of openness that welcomes our neighbors into our actual lives. Vulnerability bridges us into being real. Here we can drop pretenses, drop the curated impressions that we have taken as our true identity so long we feel exposed without them. Only then can our growth in reflecting the words, works, and ways of Jesus be seen—and only what is seen can be imitated.

Proximity is latent potential until we couple it with openness.

“Imitate me as I imitate Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1) is a two-fold call that involves openness to God and the people around us. It’s opening the door for our horizontal relationship with God and the parallel relationships we have with others. Because if we imitate Christ but live in isolation, no one else benefits.

Cultivating what’s worth imitating

I’ve witnessed, and I’m sure you’ve seen it too, that the wrong things can also show. Gossip can spread like wildfire, ingratitude begets ingratitude, and negativity grows. We, though often unintentionally, influence what others around us believe, say, and do. So while it’s important that we are inviting our neighbors to truly get to know us, equally important is that we are cultivating the right things.

We must bury ourselves deep into Christ if Christ is what we want to show when we are squeezed. We must learn though coming often to the proximate place with the Lord how to imitate His words, works, and ways. Additionally, humility is what we must practice if we want to be open and honest about our lack that He covers gently in His grace while leading us into wholeness.

Where to begin

I know it can sound intimidating, this life of proximity to God plus proximity to people that is a recipe for organic discipleship. And it’s easy to write off what doesn’t feel doable. So I want to take a moment here to come back to the concept of baby steps.

Baby steps are by nature small. Yet they set us in a direction. And the direction matters so very much more than the pace.

But what use is the direction we intend to go if we never start moving? This is why I am a big advocate of baby steps. We can wrap our heads around them. They spark hope that something can change. They dissolve the fear we are flooded with if we see a big chasm between where we are and where we want to be.

If you long to live a life that ripples in your neigborhood, start with just one baby step. Talk with God about one thing you can do next that will increase your proximity to Him or the people in your neighborhood. Then step forward, knowing that He is with you all the way.

You may falter. The movement may feel shaky. But lean into His promises that where He leads, He will provide.

That baby step you just took, don’t discount it as being too small. It’s instrumental in setting you in motion, and it paves the way for the next baby step, and the next, and the next.

Friend, may I pray a blessing over you before we close?

May you know how welcome you are in the presence of God. May you know that His great heart is bursting with love for you, and He longs for you to draw near, to meet with Him, to linger long in the proximate-to-Him place. May you know that He is just as close to you here as He is when you take a baby step towards being open and vulnerable with a neighbor. May you let the good things He is growing in you show. In the precious and holy name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Change your actual life in less than 5 minutes per day!

You can change your actual life in less than 5 minutes a day because baby steps truly can change the trajectory of your life. If you want 2021 to be the year you actually start living on mission in your neighborhood, this little book (available as a paperback and on Kindle) will help you get there. Each of the 30-day devotions takes but a few minutes to read, but they will lead to lasting life change.

If you’d like to check out Part 1 of the devotional FREE and also gain access to the rest of the missional living resources I’ve created for you in the new For You library, let me know here where to send the unlock code!