"It's not the church you planned on starting, but you have a pretty good congregation here." - said our neighbor while he helped clean up after our weekly block party.
He was right!
When we moved into this neighborhood, we were in the middle of starting a new church in Midtown Sacramento ("church planting," for those who need to hear the insider lingo).
We were renting space from an established local church. We were leading a couple midweek Bible studies. Within a few months of moving into our current house, we left flyers on our new neighbors' doors asking them to help our church collect school supplies for a local collection we partnered with. The flyers had our church logo on it and everything. Pretty official.
But it didn't take long for God to show us the real reason he had moved us to this particular area of Midtown...
Do you know the most common reason people aren't interested in Jesus? It's Christians. That's right. The main thing standing between an unbeliever and Jesus is most likely a Christian.
We know that nobody following Jesus wants to be the reason others refuse to do the same. So we made a list of all the things we could think of that a Christian might do to turn others away from Jesus. Because, if you're developing a missional lifestyle, then you'll want to do everything you can to avoid pushing people further away from him, right?
Now, we know that sometimes people are just turned off by Christianity regardless of what we do. But, we still need to make sure we aren't doing anything to give them more reasons to reject Jesus.
So, we decided to count down the 5 most damaging kinds of Christians and...
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to actually know all of the people living on your block? Or maybe you know some of them, but you don't really know much about them. Or about their lives.
Well, you've probably heard us brag about how great our neighbors are at some point. And, if you haven't, don't worry. You will!
But these relationships didn't just build overnight.
You've been to a block party, right? All the neighbors show up with some food and drinks to share. Some of them bring friends. There are kids running around playing together. Everyone is just relaxing. Engaged in conversations about various topics.
And, if you haven't been to one, we're sure you've seen one. Or at least heard of them.
Well, how awesome would it be to have a block party every week?
So, you want to be more missional, right? You want to get out into your community. You want to get to know your neighbors and the people you interact with. You want to find ways to build relationships with people. As a Christian, your job is to help people see Jesus by the way you live and interact with them.
But, who do you turn to for guidance in this? Who can teach you how to live a more missional lifestyle? Where will you learn how to get to know people and build relationships with them?
What do you do when somebody shows up to your house that you aren't comfortable with? If you're going to start hosting events for your neighbors and other people you meet (like we talked about in this article), this is going to happen to you at some point.
And when it does, we hope you've developed a close bond with your neighbors.
Today we're going to share a story from our first year of truly living on mission...
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to actually know all of the people living on your block? Or maybe you know some of them, but you don't really know much about them. Or about their lives.
Well, you've probably heard us brag about how great our neighbors are at some point. And, if you haven't, don't worry. You will!
But these relationships didn't just build overnight.
Have you been trying to figure out the best tool for starting a conversation? If you're like us, then you are always looking for ways to get to know people better. But, a lot of times we are faced with the question: What can we do to strike up a conversation?
There are an infinite number of possible answers for that question. And we know you will figure out what works best for you. But, we have what we think are the two best tools for the job. And we want to share them with you...
There are a lot of people out there talking about being missional. Or being incarnational. Or living on mission. Or being missionaries in their neighborhoods. Or...fill in the blank.
But this is a plea from us. We really need your help on this one. We need you to connect us with some people who are really doing it. You know...people who are actually trying to live like Jesus in their neighborhoods. And in their workplaces. And wherever they end up.
And here's why...