Won't you be my neighbor?

We have been talking about being missional neighbors quite a bit recently. Maybe due in part to the fact that we are helping with a church re-plant.

Either through our pastor or others, we have come across some helpful material focusing on hospitality and becoming missional neighbors. Instead of restating what others have said, in a more grammatically correct form at that, I will point you to the sources.

1. A few ideas on how to interact with your neighbors from the Missional Church Network.

2. A blog post by a husband and wife covering the topic of hospitality.

3. The book "A Meal with Jesus - Discovering Grace, Community, & Mission around the Table" by Tim Chester. See here for a better and complete review of the book.

I haven't finished the above book but I would highly recommend it for reading. I would also recommend including it in every wedding gift you give. Young married couples should start building a hospitality vision from the get-go. This book will certainly help point the way.

This book challenges Christians to not think "if" but "when" concerning hospitality. It is something we should all be doing.

I like what Chester says at the end of the introduction.

"True, it's not always easy - it involves people invading your space or going to places where you don't fee comfortable. But it's not complicated. If you share a meal three or four times a week and you have a passion for Jesus, then you will be building up the Christian community and reaching out in mission."

Here are two quotes that I found helpful, especially when we are with the Prison Fellowship families.

"Involvement with people, especially  the marginalized, begins with a profound grasp of God's grace. Often our instincts are to keep our distance. But the Son of God ate with them. He's not embarrassed by them. He lets them kiss his feet. He's the friend of riffraff, traitors, the unrespectable drunks, druggies, prostitutes, the mentally ill, the broken, and the needy (homosexuals should be here as well) - people whose lives are a mess."

And in case we are sitting on that lovely pedestal...

"Involvement with people, especially the marginalized, must begin with a sense of God's grace. But not just God's grace to them, but his grace to me. I need to be melted and broken by grace."

We (I) need to remember that we have been rescued out of the very same mess all the above are still in.

And to finish some good old stats from Chester's (quoting someone else) book.

- There has been a 33% decrease in families eating together over the last three decades.  And more than half of those families are watching television as they eat together.
- Over the same period there's been a 45% decline in entertaining friends.
- In the typical American household, the average number of dinners eaten together is three per week, with the average length of dinner being 20 minutes.


 "Sharing a meal is not the only way to build relationships, but it is number one on the list."

Tomorrow I'll mention our recent attempts to share meals with neighbors, a Red Snapper dinner and thoughts for future meals.