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When you picture your ideal neighborhood, what do you see? Maybe you see the neighborhood where you already live. Or perhaps Mr. Rogers himself welcomes you with a song to a fictitious place where you’ll always belong.
But what ultimately makes a good neighborhood? It’s not a trick question: Good neighbors.
We’ve all been helped by neighbors and probably thought to ourselves, “I want to be more like that.” Jesus himself said the greatest commandment in the Old Testament is to love God and our neighbor (Matthew 22:35–40)—even telling a story to illustrate what being a good neighbor looks like and to whom we must be neighborly (Luke 10:25–37). Given this principle, Christians should be the best neighbors—hospitable, thoughtful, and sacrificial.
And the most neighborly thing we can do as Christians is share how neighborly Jesus has been to us—how he welcomed us when we were strangers.
Christians often lament the lack of opportunities to share our faith with others. But most of us have the perfect place to have meaningful conversations about Jesus—our neighborhood. Here are four principles to consider as you make disciples in your neighborhood:
To have conversations about Jesus with your neighbors, you have to be around your neighbors.
When we cram our schedules with more extracurricular activities, dinner parties, soccer practices, and happy hours, we spend less time at home and little time around our neighbors, even though we physically live next to them—we are proximate to but not present with them. But presence is different than proximity.
Instead of treating your neighborhood like a pit stop or merely as a place where you sleep, how can you commit to being present in your neighborhood?
Maybe there’s an activity you participate in that happens in someone else’s neighborhood—a practice at a local field or a barbeque at a friend’s house. Consider hosting that activity in your neighborhood. Maybe you feel stretched thin by the number of commitments outside your home. Think about cutting one activity and redeeming that time during the week to walk around your neighborhood, sit on your front porch, or spend time in public spaces around your home.
Most people prefer to be asked to do something rather than to do the asking. It’s nice to feel wanted. But the popular phrase, “Good things come to those who wait,” may not be a great discipleship strategy in your neighborhood.
When Jesus “moved into [our] neighborhood” (John 1:14, The Message®)—coming from heaven to live on earth with us—he didn’t wait for us to ask him to come. He pursued us first. And as his followers, we should likewise pursue others. Regardless of how fearful you are of what your neighbors might say or how they may treat you moving forward, initiating kindness with them can open the door to deeper spiritual conversations that may otherwise remain shut.
Don’t wait for neighbors to come to you. Go to your neighbors. Instead of wanting a better relationship with your neighbors, take steps to develop a better relationship with them. Bake some treats and walk over to their house. Knock on their door, asking if there are any projects they need help with. Pay attention to your neighbors’ patterns to initiate conversations as you take out your trash cans together or walk your dogs around the block.
There’s always the no-fun home on your street or in your building. They call the homeowners association to file a noise complaint or—God forbid—hand out toothbrushes for Halloween.
One way to be a disciple-maker in your neighborhood is to be a fun, playful home for others to see. Jesus himself attended parties (see the wedding in Cana in John 2) and had a warm enough personality to relax with friends around a meal (John 13:23–25). If little children were drawn to Jesus (Matthew 19:13–15), he had to be an approachable, fun person.
There are many opportunities for fun in your neighborhood. You could create holiday events—a hot chocolate bar for Christmas, hot dogs and burgers for the Fourth of July, donuts for National Donut Day—that encourage people to spend time in your front yard, backyard, or apartment floor. If you do live in an apartment or college dorm, there are ample social events set up by management or resident staff for neighbors to have fun with each other—simply participate!
Making disciples often happens out of relational connection, and one of the best ways to build relationships with people is to just have fun together.
Prayer should be the foundation for all disciple-making efforts in our neighborhoods. Acknowledging God’s loving care over all areas of our lives—including our neighborhoods—is both right for us to do and can relieve some of the pressure we feel as we make disciples.
If you already have a regular prayer routine, consider what it looks like to integrate your neighbors into your prayer life. Think about specific homes, people, or groups living near you that you could pray over by name and number. Perhaps the Spirit will lead you to ask those people for prayer requests. Even if they don’t share anything specific, they’ll know that you are praying for them.
Jesus prayed for people who wanted his prayers (his disciples in John 17) and those who wanted nothing to do with him (his torturers in Luke 23:34). Maybe you’re surrounded by caring neighbors with whom you have a good relationship. Maybe you’re around people who don’t even notice you exist. Either way, praying for your neighbors—especially those who don’t yet know Jesus—puts Jesus’s call on your life into practice. Go and make disciples.
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