I’m going to piggy back on a message from Guest Pastor Lisa Toney given at City Church. If you missed it, take a bit to watch or listen to it. During one section, she talked about coming up with a personal strategy to reach her love her neighbors and reach her community. You can get it if you text the word “LOVE” to (833)455-3514. It was so simple and applicable. Essentially, she talked about how she draws/diagrams out her neighborhood, starting out with simply making sure she knows everyone’s names. From there, it’s easy to build by adding things we know about them, things they like, and how we can be a blessing in return.

There is so much power in simply knowing your neighbors’ names and being kind to them.

As I type these words, I see where I am doing this well and where I still have a long way to go. I consider myself a relational evangelist. That doesn’t mean I go around trying to shove Jesus down everyone’s throat. Quite the opposite. My goal is simply to start out be being a genuine friend. I have a core belief that everything good in life stems from relationship. And I can’t expect anyone to respond to any kind of invitation until I have invested/sown into that person. But even as someone who is passionate about this topic, the hard reality is that I really only know the names of the folks in 7-8 of the homes in my neighborhood. There’s lots of room to grow. In what has been dubbed “The Great Commission,” Jesus offered these parting words to his disciples right before he ascended to Heaven to be with the Father again:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20.

Jesus basically said the most important task for every Christian is to make disciples. We don’t need to raise any money to go on a missions trip or travel far and wide. We just need to walk out our front door and love our neighbors well. How can we claim to be trying to reach folks for Christ if we do not even know our neighbors’ names? It has to start there.

Ask them what they like to do for fun.

Once you know someone’s name, the next logical step is to get to know them. There are a g’zillion ways to do that but one of my favorite questions to ask people is: “What do you like to do for fun?” Most people lead with “What do you do for a living?” There’s nothing wrong with asking that but my experience is that most of us don’t want to be defined by our jobs. Whenever I ask people what they like to do, I feel like I get a little window into their soul. I also find a way to enter their world. If they’re into music, I can watch them jam out. If they’re into cars, I just have to walk into their garage and let them talk about what they’re working on. If they’re into fitness, I can work out with them. You get the idea. If we want people to know we love them, we need to speak their heart language.

Relationships are like banks – we have to put chips in if we ever hope to make a withdrawal.

My experience with Christian evangelism over the years is that some taint the picture by jumping straight to “Come to my church” or “Let me tell you the 4 spiritual laws” when they hardly know the person. Frankly, it makes me cringe a bit inside whenever something like that happens. Whether or not we’re willing to admit it, a spiritual conversation feels like a relational withdrawal to the person on the other end. We’re jumping into someone’s world that we don’t understand expecting them to be immediately ready to pour into the deepest topics of their lives. I’m not saying we shouldn’t invite people to church or share Christ with them… QUITE THE OPPOSITE! I am saying we need to do it more meaningfully once we understand the full context of their life and have invested in them as people. Otherwise, our impact will be minimal at best. So start out by getting to know your neighbors’ names. Get to know them a bit. Be kind to them in small ways. Spend some time with them engaging them doing what they like to do. And at the opportune time, God will give you the grace and the right opportunity to make the greatest invitation of all – to come to church or to know God if they don’t.

Have a great day and go love well!

Pastor Kyle