After being a pastor in the local church for twenty years, I know how important it is to have the right message at the right time for your church family. I believe that the message of Neighborliness is a timely word from God for our nation. It’s been a joy to see people all across the country using our resources to spark conversations that help us practically embody the presence of Jesus for our neighbors.
Neighborliness has been used in every imaginable setting across racial, economic, and cultural lines in our country. I have been so encouraged to see the way that God has used this to update our lexicon to talk about getting to know our neighbors across dividing lines.
If you’re looking for practical resources for 2021, we’ve got a ton of FREE resources available for you at www.neighborliness.com/resources.
Sermon manuscripts
Series graphics
Sermon bumper videos
Instagram / Facebook promo materials
Small group curriculum (embedded in the book and available for download on the website)
Community prayer guide
We have just uploaded the frameworks that we use to take churches on a six-month journey toward building a Neighborliness Team around the lead pastor. The idea is to give the pastor support by having a team that addresses racial/economic justice within their church family.
Finally, we also just uploaded the framework we use for helping churches & business leaders that are ready to engage their communities through an initiative called Holistic Community Development. This is a more robust, long-term strategy for partnering the skills and talents of residents of historically high-poverty communities, faith leaders, community leaders, and business leaders to bring sustainable and lasting change to communities.
God is doing something beautiful through this work and we would love for you to join us as we see the spirit of neighborliness sweep the nation.
Here’s a preview of some of the resources available:
“Dad, I really want to read and Bible and pray, but sometimes I just don’t know what to read or say.” My son, Max, looked back at me with a genuine look in his eyes. He continued, “Sometimes I walk in and see you reading the Bible or hear you praying in the morning and I just wish I knew how to do that for forty-five minutes or an hour.”
My four kids are amazing. They love Jesus and share his love with others. But like any other teenagers, they are still learning what it means to have spiritual disciplines. I spent quite a bit of time at the end of the 2020 reading, thinking through, and praying for my kids and how I can better help them establish rhythms for engaging with God in a meaningful (and sustainable way).
I recorded the video below to help you see how you can teach your kids … or yourself … to engage with God on a regular basis in the coming year. Every day isn’t exciting as I engage with God … and some days I linger in my time with him longer than others. But the goal is to spend time with Him every day, whether I feel like it or not. Many times, the days that I did not “feel it” are the days that God ends up speaking to me through his Word or prayer in a powerful way.
I pray that this year is the year that helps you to establish rhythms that are sustainable and lead to intimate times with God.
Juneteenth is a holiday that is full of spiritual significance and meaningful imagery.
If you did not come from a background that celebrated this holiday, there is no better day than today (Juneteenth is today!) to start to learn. My hope is that one day soon Juneteenth will be recognized as a national holiday and celebrated across the country with family and friends.
Here’s a video that we showed the kids today. We got together in the living room and watched the video and then simply talked about what we saw. Passing on the spirit of neighborliness to or kiddos is not complex. It just takes some intentionality to create moments to learn as a family.
Deep longing. Desperate pursuit. These are the type of indicators of somebody that is truly pursuing a relationship with Jesus that is described in the Sermon on the Mount. How hungry are you?
