Easy reading, but thought-provoking.
From Vyrso:
Pathak, Jay, Dave Runyon and Marcus Brotherton. The Art of Neighboring: Building Genuine Relationships Right Outside Your Door. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2012.
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In 2009 I (Dave) gathered a group of
twenty lead pastors in the Denver area so we could think, dream, and pray about
how our churches might join forces to serve our community. We invited our local
mayor, Bob Frie, to join us, and we asked him a simple question: How can we as
churches best work together to serve our city?
The ensuing
discussion revealed a laundry list of social problems similar to what many
cities face: at-risk kids, areas with dilapidated housing, child hunger, drug
and alcohol abuse, loneliness, elderly shut-ins with no one to look in on them.
The list went on and on.
Then the mayor
said something that inspired our joint-church movement: “The majority of the
issues that our community is facing would be eliminated or drastically reduced
if we could just figure out a way to
become a community of great neighbors.”
Later he
explained that often when people identify a problem, they come to civic
officials and say something like, “This is becoming a serious issue, and you
should start a program to address it.” Frie shared candidly with us that, in
his opinion, government programs aren’t always the most effective way to
address social issues. He went on to say that relationships are more effective
than programs because they are organic and ongoing. The idea is that when
neighbors are in relationship with one another, the elderly shut-in gets cared
for by the person next door, the at-risk kid gets mentored by a dad who lives
on the block, and so on.
After the mayor left the
meeting that day, our group of pastors was left to reflect on what he had
shared. I (Jay) can remember sitting there, and before I could think, I just
blurted out, “Am I the only one here who is a little bit embarrassed? I mean,
here we were asking the mayor how we can best serve the city, and he basically
tells us that it would be great if we could just get our people to obey the
second half of the Great Commandment.” In a word, the mayor invited a roomful
of pastors to get their people to actually obey
Jesus.
