Thursday, September 29, 2011

Church on the move...

... means different things to different people.

How do you church in your neighbourhood?

It has been my profound conviction for some years now that the greatest need of the Christian Church is a revival of the New Testament standard of Christian living. There seems to be a very wide gulf between what we believe and how we live, a marked contrast between our position in Christ and our actual experience. Too often we claim to believe our Bible from cover to cover, but fail to live out its truths in daily conduct.

Before we can ever see a real movement of the Spirit of God in blessing to the world in our day, surely the Church must face afresh the New Testament pattern, the whole revelation of the Word of God, in its claims on holiness of life and ethical conduct. A. Redpath

Sunday, September 25, 2011

A lifetime of great relationships.

Recently a local high school student was asked in his Leadership Class to comment on a significant turning point in his life, ala The TSN Turning Point in a sports game. Here's what he wrote:

I doubt I would even be taking this class if I didn’t live in my amazing neighbourhood. Moving there in December 2000 shaped me into a person who would not have otherwise existed. The April after we moved my parents registered me in learn to play soccer. It was the year before kindergarten and so I had not met many other kids my age yet. I will always remember the first day of kindergarten when I saw Josephs' name on a cubby. Somehow I made the connection to soccer and didn’t feel so alone anymore. I felt connected.

Soccer was the first medium for meeting buddies and it was on the pitch that I met three of my best friends today. I have always loved soccer and I believe that getting me into such a great program so early on played a huge part in dictating what sports I play.

My parents were committed to being a part of the neighbourhood so they enrolled me in the local elementary school. I became great friends with the kids I had met in soccer because I saw them everywhere: in the park, on the streets and in school. I not only made connections with my friends, I made connections with their parents and with my teachers and because I saw people in more than one setting, and thus my neighbourhood became my extended family to me. Even today I can walk my dog down the street and create conversation with the people I meet because our neighbourhood is more intimate than just a bunch of friendly acquaintances. This feeling of being connected has molded me more than anything. This familiar feeling of being connected is also the main reason I was attracted to my current local school, S********** High.

The friends I’ve made, the sports I’ve played and the people I have interacted with make my neighbourhood a unique community and have made me the person I am today. Moving to L****** is the most influential moment in my life.

Habakkuk 3:2
LORD, I have heard of your fame;
I stand in awe of your deeds, LORD.
Repeat them in our day,
in our time make them known.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Who are the neighbourhood pollinators in your community?

Have you joined them?

Are you inviting others into healing conversations?

Is it your passion to connect people with abilities & resources with those who might have a need?

Somewhere in your neighbourhood someone is praying.

And
serving.

Someone
is loving.

And
caring.

Somewhere in your neighbourhood someone
is going out and sharing Gods love.

Let's keep spreading it around...

Hebrews 10
Let us consider how we can stir up one another to love. Let us help one another to do good works.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Thursday, September 22, 2011

We love our neighbourhood so much we can't move.



Have you ever said that, or heard someone else say it?

It's a beautiful thing to discover the art of neighbouring.

From our friends at Building Blocks in Arvada, Colorado.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Why am I here?

God has placed us in our neighbourhoods for a reason. Often if we try to love everyone we usually wind up loving no one.

We may not be able to love the entire world, but perhaps we can begin by trying to love our immediate neighbours.

And it may help us in that journey to know the Lord has already gone ahead of us in that adventure!

Friday, September 16, 2011

Beyond our walls?

Many church-based programs for evangelism, social action or the like call themselves, 'Beyond Our Walls.'

If we're thinking that Christians are inside these 'walls' (RE: a church building) and others are 'out there,' we're not doing life the way Jesus did life...

Not only was Jesus 'out there' with his disciples and the multitudes, he was also fond of walking right through walls (John 20:19)!

What walls do you have in your life?

Those of a church building?

The walls of your house that keep you in & 'others' out?

Maybe life is meant to be live 'without walls.'

May the God of the Banquet, the Lord of the Table, bless you with life and hope and may He send you out to invite His beloved creation in for the celebration. He has called us and now He is calling us to action. Go now and do your Master’s bidding.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Neighbourhood L!fe


.

Neighbourhood L!fe… : block parties, people talking on the street, house parties, Feasting, Brain storming sessions with white boards, living room groups, all-age activities, raking, trash pick-up etc, associations e.g. biking, hockey, walking, ….

Shalom
Well-being

God’s Dream
Hospitality

Friendship
Justice
Peace
Reconciliation

Party

Generosity

Welcome

Neighbourhood

Village

Place

Local

Street

Co-operation
Walkable


Cultivating Communities of Shalom in Neighbourhoods…through networking and information.

Who are we?

We are you!...

... if you too are taking responsibility with others in your neighbourhood for your neighbourhood!

You were made for this!

By all accounts there is a growing movement of people like you who are taking responsibility for the “well-being” of their neighbourhoods.

Our hope as Neighbourhood L!fe is to simply encourage and stay near the center of this movement. Specifically we are seeking to learn from others and share what we have learned as well. Out of this interest in learning from others and an excitement about this rich local way of living, we want to connect with others across the county, city and regions for support, resourcing and for making connections with others who might join us from our neighbourhoods.

So you are probably wondering what we are seeing take place in neighbourhoods...

1. People or often their households are taking a fresh look at their neighbourhoods as a place that they are “called” to care for. They are simple re-engaging their concern for the people and the places of their neighbourhood with all their “heart, soul, mind and strength.”

2.
They are connecting and forming a community of friendship with other like-minded people in their neighbourhoods. Many times these neighbourhood relationships become some of the most important friendships and support networks an individual or family may have.

3. Out of these local relationships the group sets out to participate in those activities that contribute to the God initiated well-being or Shalom of the neighbourhood. Hospitality is often at the heart of these activities whether they are sharing in suffering of another around a kitchen table or a celebration with their whole street at a block party.

I have been so cared for since my brother's suicide by loving neighbours who have shared in my suffering & provided God's tangible grace.

4. Spiritual formation occurs in the context of everyday life lived in community.

Colossians 1
This mystery has been kept in the dark for a long time, but now it's out in the open. God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing. The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you, so therefore you can look forward to sharing in God's glory.

It's that simple.

That is the substance of our Message. We preach Christ, warning people not to add to the Message. We teach in a spirit of profound common sense so that we can bring each person to maturity. To be mature is to be basic. Christ! No more, no less. That's what I'm working so hard at day after day, year after year, doing my best with the energy God so generously gives me.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Just a thought...

If your presence doesn't make an impact in your neighbourhood, then your absence probably won't make a difference.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

are you ready to see God succeed in your neighbourhood?

The only business school course that has it's own alumni association is Professor Srikumar Rao's, Creativity and Personal Mastery.

He lets prospective students know,

"You should not take this program if: you cannot tolerate ambiguity and live in a black and white world with few shades of gray; you become upset if your beliefs are challenged and you are called upon to justify them; you are uncomfortable examining values and cultural systems different from your own; you are unshakably confident that you know exactly what you want to be and how to get there. If you cannot maintain an open mind when confronted with seemingly strange ideas, you are unlikely to benefit much from this program."

I have read much of the material Dr. Rao uses & have often thought that the quote above could be applied to joining God's kingdom vision in your own local neighbourhood.

Perhaps the ideas Rao mentions above are the reason many Christ-followers would rather drive to church & labor solely through church-based programs than walk across the street and love their neighbour.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

More words to live by...


What we need more than anything else is not textbooks but text people. (A. Heschel)

Become a Living Bible sent to your neighbourhood.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Words to live by...

We are commanded to love our neighbour. This must mean we can. Abraham Heschel

Friday, September 2, 2011

It's there, happening in your very neighbourhood...

This kingdom does not come by political machinations.

This kingdom does not come by military might.

It doesn’t come by bullets or ballets, by elections or intrigues, by democracies or demagogueries.

The kingdom of God comes quietly, almost secretly.

Like seed growing, like bread rising.

It comes like a long walk home.

It comes in whispers and quiet conversations.

It comes while people are sleeping.

It comes in surprising ways and by unauthorized agents.

It comes through the gradual transformation of hearts and minds one life at a time.

The kingdom of God comes in a million different ways as people become fascinated with Jesus Christ, find his forgiveness, and learn to extend it to others.
B. Zahnd

Thursday, September 1, 2011

hello neighbour!

If I have no contact whatsoever with God in my life, then I cannot see in the other anything more than the other, and I am incapable of seeing in him the image of God … only my readiness to encounter my neighbour and to show him love makes me sensitive to God as well. Pope Benedict XVI