Neighbor Resources - NoCo Neighbor

Neighboring Resources

Resources

Check out a variety of resources to help empower and equip you to love your neighbor. We believe the fulfilling the Great Commission (to preach the Gospel & make disciples) can be lived out by listening to the Great Commandments (love God and love your neighbor). That's why we're passionate about helping followers of Christ care for their neighbors and putting the care of the Church back into your hands.

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5 Tips for Neighboring

Prayer

Starting to neighbor needs to start with prayer. Physically walk around your neighborhood and ask for God to open up and ordain conversations and relationships with those living near you. When you first start praying around your neighborhood, it may start with asking God to help you meet others and start a conversation. Soon you will be able to add specific prayer requests over your neighbors as you do your prayer walk. This discipline keeps you both focused on the needs of your neighbors and on mission to share God's love with them while getting to spend time asking God to use you were He's planted you.

See People

Seeing people means making eye contact as you see others, smiling as they walk by your house, stopping to say hello while you walk your dog, and not crossing to the other side of the street every time you see someone else out and about. This discipline is a must to begin a deeper relationship with your physical neighbors but also helps train your brain to see people in the grocery store, at work, and in all other areas in your life. It can be easy to keep to ourselves and advert our eyes instead of engaging, but the first way to make people feel valued is to make them feel seen. Imagine how you feel when you think about how God sees and knows who you are, how can you reflect this attribute to others?

Be Curious

Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it's what gives life to neighboring. Relationships are a two way street that require you to learn more about those near you, so be genuinely curious and ask lots of questions about people. It's easy to start with questions about their day, their job, their family, how long they've lived in the neighborhood, if they grew up in the area, and about what you see them currently doing. When we're curious, people can sense that we care. When we ask questions, we get to know others: how to pray for them, how to serve them, how they can help us, what hobbies we could do together, and caring friendships are formed.

Take Notes

Taking notes doesn't need to be left behind in your school years. Did you know your brain retains more when you write information down? And if it doesn't, well good thing you wrote it down. Meeting neighbors and getting to know them can feel daunting enough without worrying about all the names and information you asked about. Just open up a notes app on your phone or use some pen and paper to write basic information and facts about each house and family around you. This leaves you free to reference, study, and feel confident in engaging in another conversation.

Be Available

This could be one of the most difficult of all 5 tips. What a busy, go go go culture we find ourselves along for the ride in. When we fill all or most our time with commitments outside of our house, we may not have much left to give those living closest to us. We can take steps to counteract this though! Slow down a little and look around to say hello before you close your garage door, allow yourself to be interrupted by those walking by, prioritize neighborhood gatherings, walk the neighborhood garage sales, and again - for emphasis - be interruptible. You'll find being a loving neighbor isn't always convenient, but it is working to build God's Kingdom, and that takes time.

Neighboring Conflict Tips

Humility (Phil 2:3-4)

A humble heart is a necessity when approaching others in times of conflict. Don’t allow pride to create divisiveness between you and another, at least on your side of the conflict. Our lives are no longer about needing to prove that we are correct and win the argument. Our lives are to reflect Christ more and to be more concerned about pointing back to Him than winning the conflict. If our conflict is with fellow believers, we must remember we are to seek unity and not divisiveness which each other as we are now part of one Body. We have been ultimately reconciled by the blood of Christ and our bond as family is larger than a neighboring dispute (Eph 4:1-4)

Wholesome Talk (Eph 4:29-32)

It shouldn’t surprise us that the Bible has so many verses warning us about the damage our speech can do, can’t we all think of some hurtful words spoken to us? In the flesh of our old selves, we can be prone to anger, gossip, lying, and using our words to cause pain. As new creations in Christ, we are to seek to use our words in a different way. To build up, encourage, edify, speak life into people, and proclaim the Gospel. What a different way of living than we now bring into neighborhood disputes! Let’s be ever cautious of participating in slander, gossip, and hateful speech about and to our neighbors. It can be easy to get wrapped up in neighborhood drama and conflict, so continue to be an imitator of Christ by choosing your words carefully and being slow to speak, allowing wholesome talk to shine as a light in the darkness.

Gentleness (Gal 6:1)

You may have been truly wronged by a neighbor, but how you approach them about this issue matters. Galatians 6:1 reminds us that it is easy for us to fall into the temptation of sin while we are attempting to correct the sin committed by others. We are to approach others with a gentle spirit of correction. This doesn’t mean to avoid conflict, not holding others accountable, or being honest. This means that the way we approach issues of wrongdoing should be done in a direct, thoughtful, grace-filled, and Holy Spirit led way towards the goal of restoration. Bringing a gentle spirit into the conflict allows a true discussion to occur and brings down walls of defensiveness, deflection, and blame.

Peacemakers (Romans 12:17-19)

There is a real peace in knowing that even when we are wronged by someone, that it isn’t up to us to seek revenge and get back at them. Instead, we are taught that we are accountable for our own actions and decisions. Others may not be willing to reconcile, work out a conflict, or have a relationship restored – that’s okay. But for us as Christians, we are still asked to live among people and continue to treat them in a way that is honoring to God. We don’t only treat the people we like well, but we also continue to show love, grace, gentleness, and patience with people we struggle to like or don’t like us.

Accountability (Col 3:16)

You could have reached this point and gathered the impression that by having humility, wholesome talk, gentleness, and peace in handling a neighborhood conflict that you will just be doormat and disengage with conflict. Not at all! These are fruits of the Spirit that change how we approach conflict. There are times when you will need to help mediate someone else’s dispute or approach others with a problem. The key is to be Spirit led, not flesh led in how you approach and walk through the conflict. This is the truth in love approach. We must remember that holding others accountable isn’t about proving our rightness but showing God’s righteousness and helping restore our fellow image-bearers through the grace of Jesus back to our Father.