Good Neighboring Equals Good Ministry
At the top my personal week’s “gratitude list” was welcoming the staff of Valley Ranch Baptist Church to our Lewisville neighborhood. They were participating in their periodic day of community service. This is a special group of people and some of you may remember that I pastored there for almost 10 years.
It was June of 2014 that God “lovingly and strategically” changed our life’s course and we launched Loving Community our faith based 501(c)(3) public charity whose mission is to be good neighbors by connecting people into relationships and serving the needs of our community.”
We are increasingly giddy about the mission God has called us to! We are amazed at the good work God is accomplishing via our participation in His plans for His “Kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven”.
Our work of “bringing a little heaven to earth” as we like to call it, is fun and rewarding and yes, tiring! The spiritual entrepreneur in me wishes at times that our “big idea” was somehow new.
However, as it turns out, it’s really not! The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah cast a neighboring vision when he wrote, “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare.” ~Jeremiah 29:7
Boy oh boy have we ever found that to be true! As we’re learning to get our eyes off of our own “selfish, self-centered” selves and motivations, and as we pray and seek the welfare of our neighbors and neighborhood, the places God has sent us, we are watching an amazing thing happen. We get to see the glory of God flourish!
South African missiologist David Bosch wrote, “Mission is more than and different from recruitment to our brand of religion; it is the alerting of people to the universal reign of God through Christ. Mission is not primarily concerned with church growth. It is primarily concerned with the reign and rule of the Triune God.”
Grateful to get to alert others in the places of our neighborhood like Durham Middle School and
Arbor House Memory Care Center to the reign of God through Christ! Thanks Valley Ranch church staff for helping us to bring a little heaven to earth this week.
Inviting all to God’s call to love our communities well!
Jim
John1:14
