One of my mentors, Wayne Bauer, gave me a book a few weeks ago called The Art of Neighboring.    (You can learn more here.)

I want to share one idea that made me think and reflect.   A group of pastors was challenged by their mayor to call their people to be good neighbors.  He said that most of the ills in their city would be addressed if people just figured out how to be good neighbors.  As the story goes, an expert on these things – a sociologist – said that studies showed that Christians were not really any better at being neighbors than their non-Christian counterparts.

Hmm.  We need to do something about that.  No excuses.   Jesus said that the second greatest commandment is….  Love your neighbor as yourself.

So I just want to celebrate the huge baby steps some of our missional community hosts took  a couple of weeks ago by hosting a pot-luck dinner for neighbors.  That’s a win.  And others hosted an ice cream social for people on their block.  That’s another win.

Okay.  Go thou and do likewise.  Take a little initiative and connect with your neighbors.  Get to know them, their families, and things about them.  I understand a mayor said it would go along way toward reversing the ills in his city.  I wonder what would happen here  if we got serious about loving our neighbors.