Why Is Missional Neighboring the Best Next Step?

You begin right where you are. That’s the next step in this revival.
Dr. Robert E. Coleman

Take it from someone with decades-more wisdom than me: the people right next to you matter. Discipleship is an overflow of our faith that reaches into our homes and neighborhoods, finds people pressing into real-life questions and seeking honest answers. It’s found in the rhythms of everyday life, the cadence of casual conversations. It’s God seeping into our habits and our tone, our reactions and our words.

And this unforced, ripple-effect way of living is what revival is riding on.

To piggy-back off what we talk about last week (you can find it here, if you missed it), we stay hungry for God by continuing “coming to him who is the Living Stone . . .” (2 Peter 2:4a TPT). In His presence, we grow in maturity, letting go of what distances us from Him. Then we live it out by loving the people right in front of us with Christ-saturated grace, practical compassion, and humble openness. With and without words.

May we be the kind of people not content to keep our thirst for Christ a secret. Who don’t limit our love to words or compartmentalize faith and everyday life.

When we’re talking often with God, we can’t help talking about Him and like Him.

And this is the way it should be.

We learn and replicate. Copy Him so others can copy Him through us (1 Cor. 11:1).

And as Dr. Colman—Asbury Professor of Evangelism for over 27 years and witness to three of Asbury’s revivals—avows, we begin with the people right next to us: our neighbors.

Simple, right? Or maybe not. At least it feels that way the days you feel insecure, unqualified, or too busy.

What stops us from loving the people right in front of us?

Missional neighboring is the term I use to describe missional living in our literal neighborhoods. It’s as uncomplicated as God loving the people near you through you. The ingredient list is short: 1) proximity to God 2) authentic, growing friendships with our neighbors.

It’s getting close to God and letting our neighbors be privy to what God is cultivating inside us. Opening up about the hard questions we’re wrestling through, what God’s had to teach us the hard way, the ways we know He’s faithful, listening, present, good. Showing up for neighbors in practical ways. Interweaving our lives by choosing to need each other.

Let’s talk for a minute about what gets in the way of missional neighboring.

Busyness:

We’re on the go constantly, and when we’re home, our neighbors rarely see us. Unless our lives intersect, we won’t cross the bridge from being just neighbors to also being friends.

Self-sufficiency

We’re do-it-myselfers. Chin-up, figure-it-out-on-my own people. But when asking for help is a line we will not cross, we shut others out of our lives.

Personality

We overthink or speak without thinking. We’re too much or not enough. Either way you slice it, we self-critique. However, we can’t see the value in others when we dismiss our own God-given value.

Assumption-drawing

We assume it’ll be messy. Uncomfortable. Awkward. (And it may, but it’s also beautiful, like a coming home.) Or we make silent assumptions about our neighbors that deter us from crossing the street to say hi. Can we just be real? Many of your assumptions aren’t true.

Comparing

This is a big one. We compare our homes (the inside and the outside), what we drive, wear, have and don’t have. Then we either pump ourselves up or beat ourselves down. Comparing is the enemy of connection, and if we could get over ourselves for a hot minute, we’d find others as insecure and in need of real friends as us.

Now let’s talk about what DOESN’T matter when it comes to being Jesus to the people in our neighborhood:

Age, race, and titles
Political affinity
Enneagram number
Parenting philosophy
Church denomination

The ways we’re different from our neighbors make us fit together better. A community’s strength is in the uniqueness of its members. When we see the potential for sharing lenses, wisdom, skills, and time, the diversity within neighborhoods is nothing short of treasure.

The ways we’re different from our neighbors make us fit together better_Twyla Franz for The Uncommon Normal

If the revival launched from Asbury gave us a glimpse of people “from every nation, tribe, people group, and language” (Revelation 7:9 TPT) lavishing praise upon God, then let’s remember that when Christ unifies us, He’s the only thing that matters.

As Shannon Martin says in Start With Hello, “We’re at our best when we toss the complications and set our default to the basic act of sharing ourselves” (Start with Hello, p. 115). We’re free to drop the complexities and formalities and get busy loving God and loving the people in front of us.

How to get started

Feeling stuck? Start small. One baby step at a time in the direction of opening your life to God and the people in your neighborhood. Remember that the direction is more important than the pace.

Need more guidance? Here are a few things I’ve created that will be helpful.

“Rain Is an Opportunity to Share an Umbrella: Real-Life Ways to Love Those Right in Front of Us” teaching and accompanying workbook, created for the Faith in Action Summit and now available (free) to you.

The Obstacles to Neighborhood Missional Living Series. Join me on the blog or podcast as we tackle the biggest roadblocks to missional living and how to overcome them.

Cultivating a Missional Life: A 30-Day Devotional to Gently Help You Open Your Heart, Home, and Life to Your Neighbors. Download a free sample from the resource library, and if you want the rest it’s $4.99 on Kindle or $6.99 for the paperback. Grab the bonus 30-day missional living challenge (free with a purchase) to get the most out of the devotional.

Let’s pray.

God, You know our hearts and where we’re stuck. Come near and lead us forward with gentle grace. May we copy You so our neighbors can copy You through us.

Just a friend over here in your corner,

Let’s start neighboring the uncomplicated way!

Have you ever wished the people who live next to you were not just your neighbors, but your friends? The sort of friends who know the messy stuff and walk with you through it. Share meals, watch each other’s kids, generously lend tools, that ingredient you can’t cook dinner without, time.