Gospel Neighboring

What is a Gospel Neighboring Book Mash-Up? It’s obviously the Gospelicious Monster Truck Rally of book reviews. We take sacred and secular books and plunder them for Gospel Neighboring wisdom and fling said wisdom out into the interwebs for our fellow Gospel Neighbors to apply to their efforts at bringing the truth, goodness, and beauty of Jesus to their city, one neighborhood at a time. Mashed-Up in this Episode: Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City About the Author Timothy Keller is one of Daniel and Andy's heroes. We've probably learned as much from him about church planting, preaching, the gospel, and ministry than from any other writer or Christian leader. Tim Keller pastors Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, which he planted in 1989. Redeemer has helped plant some 200 city-center churches in global cities in many countries. Keller has written other fantastic books, such as the New York Times bestseller The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism.  Big Ideas Faithfulness is not the only biblical aim of God's people in ministry. Fruitfulness may even be the more predominant Bible vision for our life's work. And this means that we need to be ready and willing to innovate when it comes to our ministry methodologies, while being convinced of the unchangeable, singular gospel. 'Theological Vision is "a faithful restatement of the gospel with rich implication for life, ministry, and mission in a type of culture at a moment in history." It is the 'middleware' between the hardware of our doctrine and the software of our ministry practices. Plunder Churches and ministries need to come in all sizes, shapes, and colors in order to reach the diversity of peoples in our multicultural cities. Our Gospel Neighboring efforts should involve more listening and more attention to how we communicate. And they should involve much fewer plug-and-play missional methodology rip-offs. Liberating Good News We need not copycat successful ministry models and methodologies (like Keller's own church). Instead, we can follow their process of discerning the ministry models appropriate to their context as we determine the practices that befit our own.  The Big Challenge We need to honestly ask ourselves if our theological vision and its accompanying practices are creatively fitting to our ministry context and the people we are serving, such that they are yielding fruit through God's blessing.

About Heidi Heidi has extensive experience in social work and social service agencies, particularly in urban, inner-city environments. She’s worked with the Greater Erie Agency on Aging in Erie, PA; Water Street Rescue Mission and Beth Shalom House of Peace in Lancaster, PA; Bethesda Mission in Harrisburg, PA; and Shepherd Community Center in Indianapolis, IN. She is currently involved with the Rock Hill Dream Center and was instrumental in the birth of that neighborhood ministry. Heidi is married and has two adult children who live in Seattle and Indianapolis. She attends Hill City Church in Rock Hill, SC. What is Gospel Neighboring? Gospel Neighboring is living out the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20) by living out the gospel in word and deed in all our vocations/callings. Heidi's Gospel Neighboring Quote "And the Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us." - John 1:14 Tough Lessons Learned in Gospel Neighboring We need to realize that we don't have all the answers, especially if we are white middle-class Americans living with people who aren't like us. There are a lot of things we believe that go beyond Scripture, so we need to be critical of our own value systems. We need to recognize our limitations and biases in order to reach neighbors who are different from us. More Lessons on Gospel Neighboring We should use Scriptural truth to allow our thoughts, words, and actions show Christ to others. We shouldn't use the Bible use as a measuring rod to judge others. We need to know our neighbors to see how they define their value systems and in order to better communicate with them. All the junk on our 'to-do' list isn't worth much if we aren't relating to people. Have a posture of availability toward your neighbors. Action for the Next 24 Hours Define who your neighbors are. Do this by making a list and then pray and ask God how you might relate to these people. Unless you define who your neighbors are they will never be visible to you. Heidi's Final Bit of Gospel Neighboring Wisdom "And I think that's what our world is desperately in need of - lovers. People who are building deep, genuine relationships with fellow strugglers along the way and who actually know the faces behind the issues they are concerned about." - Shane Claiborne "Most good things have been said far too many times and just need to be lived." - Shane Claiborne Heidi's Favorite Gospel Neighboring Resources God's Neighborhood: A Hopeful Journey in Racial Reconciliation and Community Renewal by Scott Roley Shane Claiborne Ruby Payne When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor...Or Yourself by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert Jim Wallis Red Letter Christians: A Citizen's Guide to Faith and Politics by Tony Campolo

What is a Gospel Neighboring Book Mash-Up? It’s obviously the Gospelicious Monster Truck Rally of book reviews. We take sacred and secular books and plunder them for Gospel Neighboring wisdom and fling said wisdom out into the interwebs for our fellow Gospel Neighbors to apply to their efforts at bringing the truth, goodness, and beauty of Jesus to their city, one neighborhood at a time. Mashed-Up in this Episode: Made To Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die About the Authors Chip Heath is a Professor of Organizational Behavior in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. His research examines why certain ideas - ranging from urban legends to folk medical cures, from Chicken Soup for the Soul stories to business strategy myths - survive and prosper in the social marketplace of ideas. His research has appeared in a variety of academic journals, and popular accounts of his research have appeared in Scientific American, the Financial Times, the Washington Post, BusinessWeek, Psychology Today, and Vanity Fair. He lives in Los Gatos, California. Dan Heath is a consultant at Duke Corporate Education, one of the world's top providers of executive education. Prior to joining Duke, he was a researcher at Harvard Business School, writing 10 cases on entrepreneurship that are used in business school programmes. Heath is also the co-founder of Thinkwell, a publishing company dedicated to creating high-quality, multimedia university textbooks. Dan has an MBA from Harvard Business School. He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. Big Ideas How do we nurture and craft and shape our ideas so that they actually stick around when they’re out there in the world? The arch enemy of an idea that’s made to stick is “The Curse of Knowledge“ where "You know things that others don’t know and you can’t remember what it’s like to not know these things.” This keeps ideas weak, pathetic, merely cerebral---they fall short of their intended target, which is to actually change the world. Plunder The ways to stickify an idea...SUCCESS Simplicity - Cut down multiplicity of options, which only lead to analysis paralysis. Unexpectedness - "Break people's guessing machines" by generating a “huh?” from them that provokes investigation or at least keeps their attention until they find a satisfying “a ha!” Concreteness - Imagine human faces and vivd images over abstractions.  Experts have the luxury of abstractions, but novices crave concreteness! Credibility - Since you’re not JFK or Bono, ideas need to carry their own credentials and provoke testing. Emotions - Build a new bridge between something they don’t care about and something they already care deeply about.  Stories - Place our hearers inside the story to help them imagine living there permanently.  Stories almost single-handedly defeat the villain--- the curse of knowledge. “There is a curious disconnect between the amount of time we invest in training people how to arrive at the Answer and the amount of time we invest in training them how to TELL OTHERS.” Liberating Good News We need to move from making a point to showing a person, inviting people into a story, living out our script in that story in concrete, surprising, ways. The Big Challenge How do you know when you’ve practiced effective gospel neighboring? When your neighbors --- especially your non-Christian neighbors --- can and DO crystalize something about the gospel more clearly, succinctly, concretely, and passionately than maybe even you could.

About Colin Kerr Colin studied political science and philosophy at Westminster College before serving as the Director of Christian Education for five years at the Second Presbyterian Church in downtown Charleston. He is author of three books, including A Heaven-Backed Rebellion, and has also been a contributor in the Charleston Post and Courier, Presbymergent, Patheos, and Relevant. If you cannot find Colin in Kudu Coffee, your next best bet is anywhere where there is beach volleyball and surfing. He works with college students at College of Charleston where he leads a thriving ministry called The Journey. What is 'Gospel Neighboring'? Gospel Neighboring poses the question, "What does it mean to be good news to my neighbor?" Colin's Gospel Neighboring Quote "If you want to help people, you have to dive into peoples lives. You have to wade into the sea of humanity." - Hugh Halter Tough Lessons Learned from Gospel Neighboring Colin's campus ministry took the opportunity to join the Occupy Charleston movement in feeding the homeless illegally to build relationships with both the non-Christian Occupy crowd and the homeless population. The ministry petered out after the movement moved on, and there weren't any obvious next steps or follow-through with these two groups. "If you have a call to do Gospel Neighboring, think about the long-term. Where does this go?" More Advice on Gospel Neighboring Don't be so obsessed with equipping others to do Gospel Neighboring that you aren't actively engaged in doing it yourself. Radical transparency/vulnerability/authenticity goes a long way toward showing the world that Christianity is a surprising, refreshing way of life. Next 24 Hour Gospel Neighboring Action: What can you do in the next 24 hours to begin your gospel neighboring journey? Colin says... Pick 2 places where you become a regular fixture and part of the fabric of the community so that you can allow people into your life, and they can allow you into theirs. Colin's Parting Gospel Neighboring Wisdom "Don't give up on being a Gospel Neighbor. God is at work even when it doesn't seem like it." Colin's Favorite Gospel Neighboring Resources You Lost Me: Why Christians are Leaving the Church ... and Rethinking Faith, by David Kinnaman. Colin especially recommends the DVDs that accompany the book. How to Connect With Colin Web Site Twitter Facebook  

What is a Gospel Neighboring Book Mash-Up? It's obviously the Gospelicious Monster Truck Rally of book reviews. We take sacred and secular books and plunder them for Gospel Neighboring wisdom and fling said wisdom out into the interwebs for our fellow Gospel Neighbors to apply to their efforts at bringing the truth, goodness, and beauty of Jesus to their city, one neighborhood at a time. Mashed-Up in this Episode:  The Art of Neighboring:  Building Genuine Relationships Right Outside your Door About the Authors Jay Pathak is lead pastor of Mile High Vineyard Church in Denver Colorado.  Dave Runyon works for Denver Leadership Foundation, non-profit to help government, businesses, and faith-based organizations unite around common causes.  Dave also co-leads CityUnite movement in Denver Metro.  In 2010 Dave led a neighboring movement which mobilized 20 churches and 15k people in Northwest Denver metro.   Big Ideas The key to fulfilling the Great Commission ("make disciples") is obedience to the Great Commandment ("love your neighbor"). The supersized evangelical industry should not overshadow how Jesus made disciples. What if we took Jesus' words literally and we were to love our actual neighbor in across the street in a tangible way? Plunder The Fear Factor - Neighboring can be messy and there is tension in it, just like there was tension for the Good Samaritan The Time Factor - Live life at a pace where you can overlap with your neighbors (Helpful resource:  Stephen Covey's First Things First) Three Questions on Knowing Your Neighbors - What is your neighbor's name?  What is one fact about about your neighbor?  What is one significant life detail about your neighbor? How do we get to know our neighbors?  Baby steps ("Start small, but start today.") Strangers -> Acquaintances -> Relationships Boundaries:  We have a responsibility to our neighbor, but not a responsibility for our neighbor (Giving a hand versus giving a handout) "The Art of Neighboring is the call for us to relentlessly pursue our neighbor and calibrate invitation and challenge for them." (Andy's words) Liberating Good News Don't be afraid to be a good neighbor, because Jesus commands us to do this and says, "You can do this." We have the glorious privilege to imitate Jesus to do small, simple things in the rhythms of our life. The Big Challenge Our lack of neighboring is probably due to out-of-whack priorities.  We need to reevaluate the rhythms of our lives, and the lives of our family members, to see how we might rub up against our neighbors. Should your commutes be rethought or readjusted?

About Justin McRoberts Since 1999 Justin McRoberts has been a constant and noteworthy presence on the independent music scene. A songwriter, storyteller, teacher and an advocate, he is one of those rare artists who blends artistry, honesty and humor seamlessly. Along with telling stories through song, Justin tells the story of redemption as the Pastor of Shelter Covenant Church in the San Francisco bay area. He is also an advocate for the poor through Compassion International. Justin is the author of the well-received book, CMYK:  The Process of Life Together. What is 'Gospel Neighboring'? "The crazy notion that Jesus was actually serious when he talked about our neighbors...how limited the Sunday gathering is incredibly limited compared to the cultural power of having people in your household and the vital strength present in gathering people in your geographic sphere." Justin's Gospel Neighboring Quote "The more genuine and deeper our community comes, the more everything else between us recede, the more clearly and purely will Jesus Christ and his work become the only vital thing between us." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together Tough Lessons Learned from Gospel Neighboring "We didn't have a metric to evaluate success...we grew up in a culture where numbers was the metric of success. So we had to reevaluate the metric of success." "Are people following me, or are people just showing up?  Those are two different questions." More Advice on Gospel Neighboring "When your neighbors see you as somehow integral to the neighborhood in which they live, that is the beginning of a gospel-oriented neighborhood where there is leadership and discipleship." "Knowing a personal story where someone can be part of a Christian community, then leave for several years, but to then come back and count on his former community and the consistency of that community is the fruit of gospel neighboring." Next 24 Hour Gospel Neighboring Action: What can you do in the next 24 hours to begin your gospel neighboring journey? Justin says... "Make a short list of people you want to spend your time with, as opposed to those you feel like you are supposed to spend time with. Who would be easy to spend time with? And then...be intentional in spending time with these people." Justin's Parting Gospel Neighboring Wisdom "From the top of the hill adjacent to my home I can see Mount Diablo looming over the valley that bears its name.  I've grown up in the shadow of the mountain, and though I've lived in a few different places here in the valley I could always see the mountain from outside my home.  Mount Diablo is just over sixteen miles from where I live now, and its distance provides a spectacular perspective.  Standing on that adjacent hill, the mountain appears grey and brown today and see that there is a touch of snow resting about its crest.  And yet, as magnificent as my view is, it's only one way to see and know the mountain.  The things I truly love about the mountain are the things I've learned in time spent on its trails and along its ridges.  A proximity that comes at the cost of seeing the big picture.  Similarly, the things I value the most about the process of life together generally come into focus when I stop trying to see the big picture and pay particular attention to the part right in front of me." (CMYK:  The Process of Life Together) Justin's Favorite Gospel Neighboring Resources The Dangerous Act of Loving Your Neighbor by Mark Labberton How to Connect With Justin  Web Site Twitter Facebook

What is a Gospel Neighboring Book Mash-Up? It's obviously the Gospelicious Monster Truck Rally of book reviews. We take sacred and secular books and plunder them for Gospel Neighboring wisdom and fling said wisdom out into the interwebs for our fellow Gospel Neighbors to apply to their efforts at bringing the truth, goodness, and beauty of Jesus to their city, one neighborhood at a time. Mashed-Up in this Episode: ReWork About the Authors Jason Fried and David Hansson are co-partners in the incredibly successful web application company 37 Signals --- the outfit who makes the web-based project management interface known as Basecamp. Fried and Hansson provide a series of contrarian entrepreneurial and business proverbs for the new connection economy. Big Ideas Embrace the new world in which we live and move and have our being...a world where we have tons of tools at our disposal. We no longer live in a world where you need to know a millionaire or big bank to fund a big idea to make a profit. Leave the old world, and especially its assumptions about work, behind. Forge ahead. Plunder Don't make plans; Take action. Planning is essentially guessing. Don't grow just to grow. Why should a church, or a missional community, aim to be bigger and bigger? Why not find the natural right size and then be content? Do one thing well; delineate details later. Simplicity in our Gospel Neighboring rhythms is key. Underdo or ignore your competition. Especially in kingdom work, it's odd to copy and compete. Do something radically different from everyone else. "To reach people that no one else is reaching, you have to do things that no one else is doing." - Craig Groeschel Liberating Good News We should be freed from obsolete, unbiblical ruts. We have the liberty to rethink our methodologies. And we should liberate our fellow Christians from artificially constraining methodologies and extrabiblical church practices so that they might better pursue their neighbors. God is calling us to rest easy and to know that his Spirit is more eager than we are to make Jesus the big hero of our neighborhood. The Big Challenge We have a moral obligation to rethink our methodology. Why do we do what we do? We want people to meet Jesus in a real tangible way. Will we seek out the best ways to arrange that meeting, even if it's "not the way we do things in this church"?

About Seth McBee Seth is an Investment Portfolio Manager, serving as President of McBee Advisors, Inc. He served as a missional community leader and preaching elder with Soma Communities in Tacoma, WA. He recently relocated to Phoenix, AZ. Seth is also a coach and trainer for those in the missional community movement through serving on the Executive Team of the GCM Collective.  He is the co-author of Be the Church: Discipleship and Mission Made Simple with Caesar Kalinowski. Although Seth now lives in Phoenix, his NFC West allegiance still lies with the Seahawks. What is 'Gospel Neighboring'? According to Seth, Gospel Neighboring needs to determine what is "good news" to our neighbor.  Are we living on mission in a way so that our neighbors see that we are full of good news? Seth's Gospel Neighboring Quote "What kind of neighbor would Jesus be?" Tough Lessons Learned from Gospel Neighboring "Some slaves will love you for showing them their chains and they'll let you help take them off. Others will hate you because they want to stay in their chains." "We need to serve our neighbors without expecting anything in return...because otherwise it is manipulation. God is completely gracious, so we don't need to prove ourselves." More Advice on Gospel Neighboring Caesar Kalinowski told Seth that the best way to to consistently progress in Gospel Neighboring, we should "Ask the Holy Spirit, 'What's next?'" "If your neighbors do anything that remind you of Jesus, tell them that." This is a great way to encourage the very people you are seeking to bring the gospel to. "We are learners...and image bearers of God have truth in them in how they walk and talk, and we can learn from them." "Even the grossest people on your block are made in the image of God and have something to teach you." Next 24 Hour Gospel Neighboring Action: What can you do in the next 24 hours to begin your gospel neighboring journey? Seth says, "Ask the Holy Spirit, What's Next?"  "The Spirit in Acts is not a crazy uncle you don't want to have around. He is present and active." Seth's Parting Gospel Neighboring Wisdom "Listen to the stories of the people in your neighborhood. Think through what would be good news for them. Then ask the Spirit what is next to serve your neighbors without expecting anything in return." Seth's Favorite Gospel Neighboring Resources  Jeff Vanderstelt and Caesar Kalinowski The Gospel Primer by Caesar Kalinowski How to Connect With Seth  Twitter  Facebook Gospel-Centered Discipleship Verge Network