"...church was designed by God to be the dance studio. A gathering becomes a church when a group of Christians together hear the music of heaven's party and the laughter of God enjoying Himself and begin awkwardly dancing with the Trinity into the relationships and circumstances of life in order to bring heaven's way of doing things to earth." Larry Crabb

This sounds like something that MUST happen in our neighbourhood too!

Make a conscious decision to be hospitable.

Bear one another's burdens.

Bound together...

In communities, at work, but particularly in families, people are put together in something like a three-legged race. God means us to cross the finish line together, and all the other people tied together with us play some part in our progress.

They are oftentimes to rouse our stubborn sins to the surface, where we can deal with them and overcome them. Bundled together in families, a giant seven or nine or fifteen legged pack, we seem to make very poor progress indeed and fall to the ground in bickering heaps with some regularity.

But God has put us together - has appointed each person in your bundle specifically for you, and you for them. And so, 'little children, let us love one another' with might and main, and keep hopping together toward the finish line. (Frederica-Mathewes Green)

The power of a mundane life in the neighbourhood

Jeannie Hinton, and Peter Price interpreted the attraction of the early churches:

“They demonstrated the power of God through their love for each other and their attention to the practice of forgiveness, confessing their sins, seeking to live their faith by kind actions, sincerity and neighborliness, and being careful not to become anxious about tomorrow’s problems. For some people this may not seem very revolutionary, but when we look at things that divide human society, the diligent practice of such virtues becomes quite impressive.”

Simple and ordinary Christian living is attractive and effective in all cultures. John Drane writes:

“The church is growing in the Third World today, largely through the unspectacular witness of ordinary Christians, often children and women. If we can bring ourselves to learn from them, that would be really good news, not only for the church but also for the wider culture.”

And Martin Robinson concludes:

“The acts of grace that most change the world consist of those actions that will never be widely publicized… No matter where in the world you look, those who become Christians have overwhelmingly made such a decision because of the actions of ordinary people in their circle of influence."

Stuart Murray summarizes:

“Maybe simplicity can help us recover the dynamic of a mission movement. Maybe we need to simplify our churches so that they are sustainable without wearing ourselves out and able to sustain us as we release one another for unspectacular witness and simple acts of grace in our circles of influence.”