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25 More Ways To Easily Be Missional In Your Neighborhood

in ARTICLES, BLOG, MISSION, RESOURCES

 

Recently, Josh Reeves wrote an article with 25 simple ways to engage your neighbors. Because there was so much interest in the article, we decided to give a follow-up with 25 more ideas to engage with your neighbors.

Here’s a recap of the original article, along with more ways to engage your neighbors:

I have found that it is often helpful to have practical ideas to start engaging the people around me. Most of the things on this list are normal, everyday things that many people are already doing. The hope is that we would do these things with Gospel intentionality. This means we do them:

- In the normal rhythms of life pursuing to meet and engage new people

- Prayerfully watching and listening to the Holy Spirit to discern where God is working.

- Looking to boldly, humbly, and contextually proclaim the Gospel in word and deed.

Below is a second list of 25 simple ways to engage your neighbors. Not all of these are for everyone, but hopefully there will be several ideas on the list that God uses to help you engage your neighbors:

1. Cook an extra casserole and give it to a neighbor

2. Buy an extra dozen donuts and give them to a neighbor

3. Start a compost pile and allow neighbors to dump their compost

4. Host a coffee and dessert night

5. Organize and host a ladies craft night

6. Organize an effort for neighbors to help take care of elderly in neighborhood

7. Become a regular at your neighborhood pool/park

8. If you have a skill, let neighbors know that you can use it to help them for free

9. Host a movie night and discussion afterwards

10. Start a walking/running group in the neighborhood

11. Start hosting a play date weekly for other stay at home parents

12. Organize a carpool for your neighborhood to help save gas

13. Collect good will store items and offer to take them to goodwill

14. Have a front yard ice cream party in the summer

15. Start a sewing group

16. Go Christmas caroling in your neighborhood (invite neighbors in on it)

17. Throw a July 4th block party

18. Start a neighborhood Facebook/Twitter/Google + group

19. Ask longtime residents to help you learn about the neighborhood

20. Offer to babysit neighbors kids so they can have a date night

21. Find out your neighbors birthdays and take them a card and baked goods on it

22. Setup a meet your neighbors night with drinks in your driveway/front yard

23. Ask your HOA or apartment complex if they need help with anything

24. Host a regular Saturday morning breakfast potluck

25. Host a sports game watching party

Do you have some other ideas or ways that you or your Missional Community have engaged your neighborhood? Let us know below in the Comments section!

Missional Tip:

Pick one of these ideas and act on it this week. Let us know in the Comments Section how it went!

Josh Reeves is the Lead Planting Pastor with Redeemer Church in Round Rock, Texas. One way you can thank Josh for his helpful articles is to support Redeemer by going here. 

Follow Josh on Twitter: @joshreeves

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  • http://twitter.com/SamuelGreenlee Samuel Greenlee

    Thank you for this helpful list, although I find it a little odd that Point 11 seems to assume that people interested in living missionally are homeschooling their children. That is probably just a point of miscommunication, though, as it seems fairly obvious that sending your children to the local school can definitely help you to live missionally and engage locally.
    Thanks again.

    • honey

      I’d say Point 11 applies to stay at home parents who have preschoolers at home and older kids in school. :) Homeschoolers like me have school during the day and don’t often make it to these play dates. Hope this helps!

      • http://twitter.com/SamuelGreenlee Samuel Greenlee

        Hmm, either I misread point 11 initially or it has been edited, but most likely I misread it. Thanks for pointing that out

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  • Anonymous

    I think these are all great ideas.  My family and I have done some of them and are excited to do some more of them.  However, helping others is not the only way to be intentional about creating community and being missional.  By putting ourselves in a position to be helped and reaching out to those around us, we allow God to show us who our gate keepers/people of peace are.  Sure you don’t want to be known as the neighborhood mooch, but God often likes to use our weakness to make His greatness known.  

    The disciples were sent out with little but the clothes on their backs.  This allowed for people to open up their homes to them and open up the doors of their hearts to receive the Gospel. 

    Right now my family is trying to eliminate excess and debt.  So, we have gotten rid of cable, internet, etc. What is a home with a friendly Vikings/Packers rivalry to do?  We have started reaching out to those around us with a love for football. Our next door neighbor (a football coach) happens to share the same sick love for the Packers as my wife.  Well, that seems like the perfect way for us to start hanging out with him and the rest of his family. 

    The other day I restained my deck.  First, I power washed it then I sanded and stained it.  I do not own a power washer or a sander.  But people around me do.  I was able to reach out to them from a point of weakness/need and they were able to provide me with the things I needed to get the job done.  Now I am indebted to them.  This gives me the opportunity to find nice creative ways to say thank you (like some of the list of 25).  It also gives me more connection points with them – more ways to begin conversations.  I happened to know who had what tools but had I not known I could have gone door to door asking.  Even if people don’t have the thigns I need it gives them the opportunity to ask me later how my project turned out, or if I was able to find what I needed.  A nice way to thank people might be to invite them over for drinks and desert to check out my newly face lifted deck.    

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