Stop wasting time running after the perfect community. Live your life fully in your community today. JVanier

The kingdom of God is near...

Reach out

Someone near you needs your care, love and support for a "first" they are going through. A "first" is something you experience for the "first" time after your loved one is gone.

Candidly, I had never thought of this until these recent days, after a letter came from a friend named Peggy who had gone through the loss of her spouse, and she said, "get ready for all the 'firsts.'" (JGarlow after the recent death of his wife of 44 years)

Has anyone been widowed near you?

Anyone lose a mom or dad?

A son or daughter?

When I become more intentional my neighbours become friendlier.

Why Communities Matter

Imagine being an unemployed single parent raising children in a community where there is nightly gunfire and frequent murders.  Imagine stepping over mounds of trash as you walk past the drug dealers to pick up your children from the bus.  Imagine being new in this neighborhood where people stay to themselves and avoid eye contact.  Imagine if the only time you leave your home is to go to the corner store where the main products are beer, cigarettes and junk food and you end up buying junk food all the time because you can’t afford a bus ticket to get to the grocery store three miles away.  Imagine that the community center was closed down, the playground unfit for small children and that there were no community activities other than an annual block party that often ends in confrontation among residents. Who would you trust, how comfortable would you be leaving your children with a sitter so you could work?  How would this kind of environment impact your individual capacity for success and that of your children?

Now imagine a group came into the neighborhood and got the community center reopened.  Imagine what would happen if they started bringing concerned neighbors together and empowering those neighbors to address the issues that the residents cared about.  Imagine those neighbors starting a family support team to provide peer support and encouragement to parents just like you.  Imagine this team of parents praying for each other, watching out for each other’s children, giving each other rides to the grocery store and creating a place in that community center where you and your children felt safe, cared for and valued.

Imagine what would happen if the school board tried to write your neighborhood out of the new school and this group of concerned parents found out.  Imagine this group fighting and winning the battle and all the kids in the neighborhood for generations having the advantage of a better school.  Imagine this group partnering to get new playground equipment, a computer lab and a mobile food pantry.  Imagine the parents in the neighborhood coming together to start a youth sports program and a group of neighbors who like to cook starting monthly community meals to help neighbors get to know one another. Imagine the seniors getting together for outings and fellowship.

I don’t have to imagine, I had the privilege of watching all this happen in Hillside Court over the past four years.  The changes in this community happened slowly and were driven almost entirely by the neighbors themselves, but none of it would have happened if Embrace Richmond had not listened to the neighbors and gathered them together so that they could strengthen their relationships with one another.  Healthy neighborhoods are made up of people who care for each other and work for the greater good of the community.

How do you measure whether a community is stronger?  I was immersed in the work in Hillside for years.  I was there when the man was gunned down in the streets right before our team gathering and I was there on MLK Day when there was a shootout right after we prayed for peace to rain down.  I know violence is down and that there is a sense of security that was not present four years ago.  Is this reduction in crime due to an increased awareness by the neighbors; or is it due to increased police presence; or perhaps it is simply a natural cycle that will soon spike again.  Measuring the long-term impact of community building efforts are very difficult.

Societal systems are complex and are often influenced by a multitude of factors.  So, as much as I would like to measure our four year investment in the Hillside community, I am not sure how other than to paint you the picture of what it was like before we got there and what it is like now.  I can introduce you to dozens of people whose lives have been enriched because they now have each other.  I can give you details on the number of individuals impacted by the seven different initiatives that are supported by more than 40 caring residents. They provide services to more than 500 individuals per year and I know all the residents of this community, which has over 600 children, have been impacted in some way.

However, all these facts do not come close to capturing the essence of how the spirit of this community has changed.  People went from being isolated and focusing on their individual needs to being connected and working toward the common good, often making tremendous personal sacrifices.    It is the spirit of the community that has changed and I am not sure how to measure that.  Today there is a spirit of hope, optimism and faith that was not there four years ago.

Communities First Association developed a list of measurable markers that I have found helpful for measuring when a community is being transformed:

A community is being transformed when

A community unites around a shared vision

Neighbors use their gifts to help the neighborhood

Leadership emerges in the community from the community

Residents assume ownership for the on-going work of community transformation

There is a growing sense of pride and community connectedness

There is less dependence on outside organizations and resources

Residents experience a sense of peace and joy (Shalom)

I once heard a pastor ask, “What would this neighborhood look like if God’s Kingdom were to come here in this place as it is in heaven?”  For me, transformation should lead to evidence of God’s Kingdom breaking through on earth.  I have seen and experienced an in-breaking of the spirit in our community development efforts through the years and I personally believe that it is only this divinely sent spirit that can transform individuals, communities and our world.  How can we ever capture that in a matrix of success?  I choose to simply stand in awe of it all achnoledging that it is not the work of humans alone.  We are simply participants in a divine mystery. (Wendy McCaig)

Be accessible.

Are you helping or hindering the building of community in your neighbourhood?!

Ask God to help you SEE the lonely people in your neighbourhood.

Lets care for the elderly, the vulnerable and the disadvantaged.

Give the gift of your time - you are God's presence to your neighbours!

Start Something That Matters.

When we moved to San Francisco, we lived on a street where our neighbors included an atheist Jewish family, a Buddhist family, an Irish Catholic family, a gay family, and a Hindu family. There was no sense of community, so we decided to become conduits of the kingdom by practicing the discipline of hospitality. We learned people's names and used them. We introduced neighbors to each other. And something began to happen.

My atheist Jewish neighbor came into my kitchen once and said, "You know, something has happened since you all moved to this neighborhood. It's hard to describe, but it's like an enzyme has been added. Where once there was no life, now there's life. What is that?" And I said, "That's the gospel of Jesus being lived out in our lives." DZander

Relationships take time.

Father, make us the kind of people that would make other people glad that God made this neighbourhood and that He put us in it.

Dallas Willard on loving your neighbours...

One of the giants on the faith went home to be with Jesus recently. In his last days Dallas was passionate about helping people learn that life with God meant loving our neighbours.

Shalom Dallas & thank you for a life well-lived.

Compassion begins with you.

The greatest issue facing the world today, with all its heartbreaking needs, is whether those who, by profession or culture, are identified as ‘Christians’ will become disciples – students, apprentices, practitioners – of Jesus Christ, steadily learning from him how to live the life of the Kingdom of the Heavens into every corner of human existence. DWillard

The world can no longer be left to mere diplomats, politicians, and business leaders. They have done the best they could, no doubt. But this is an age for spiritual heroes—a time for men and women to be heroic in their faith and in spiritual character and power. The greatest danger to the Christian church today is that of pitching its message too low. DWillard

Do you love the people God has placed in your life?

Life in the neighbourhood...

A community is when we put our arms around our neighbours.

2 Corinthians 6:5
People are watching us as we stay at our post, alertly, unswervingly… in hard times, tough times, bad times.   MSG

The reason why we live and why we do the things we do as disciples of Jesus.

Jesus came among us to show and teach the life for which we were made. He came very gently, opened access to the governance of God with him, and set afoot a conspiracy of freedom in truth among human beings. Having overcome death he remains among us. By relying on his word and presence we are enabled to reintegrate the little realm that makes up our life in the infinite rule of God. And that is the eternal kind of life. Caught up in his active rule, our deeds become an element in God’s eternal history. They are what God and we do together, making us part of his life and him a part of ours. DWillard

What might God be up to next door?

Then Jesus made a circuit of all the towns and villages. He taught in their meeting places, reported kingdom news, and healed their diseased bodies, healed their bruised and hurt lives. When he looked out over the crowds, his heart broke. So confused and aimless they were, like sheep with no shepherd.

“What a huge harvest!” he said to his disciples. “How few workers! On your knees and pray for harvest hands!”

Making room for neighbours

helps ensure that your ladder is on the right wall.

Do you obey the words of Jesus?

God For Dummies

God is to be loved with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind. 

And share it with others.

Will you help bring attentiveness to the living God in your neighbourhood?

Your roots will determine your fruits.

The neighbouring movement...

It is a wonderful thing to be a part of.

In a world filled with hostility, choose to be a warm & welcoming face & place for friends and strangers alike.