2010: The Year of the ‘Good’ Neighbor!

“What if we became known as the church of the ‘Good’ Neighbor?”

Pastor Dave From the earliest days of the ‘church’ a unique part of the personality of Christianity emerged: simply put it was community. We tend to take that for granted now. But early on, the church built its reputation by the way it gathered very different kinds of people into a working community. It mattered then, and it really matters now. What if we became known as the church of the ‘Good’ Neighbor?

We all begin new years with great resolve to improve ourselves and the world around us in some meaningful way. What if a whole congregation did that? I propose we do just that at First Lutheran in the coming year. I propose we become ‘Good’ neighbors. It’s more than a slogan and more than a nice idea; it’s a campaign for the whole year, for all of us.

Here’s how it works…
This month a new ‘Good Neighbor’ ministry team will be called into being. Its task will be two-fold. First it will call together an unlikely coalition of people from the congregation and people from the community who may have no previous connection to the church. Their main job will be to listen to each other and to propose ways we can improve the life of the community. Next, this group will make plans to reconnect the ministries of First Lutheran into the surrounding community. First we discover who our neighbors are, then we serve.

Over the coming months you will see more about the ‘Good’ Neighbor campaign. You’ll be hearing about meetings, and reports of actions taken. You’ll see invitations to special events and community meals. Hopefully, you’ll see a new face next to you in a pew some Sunday. Hopefully, you’ll find yourself invited to a gathering by people you met as new neighbors. I hope you’ll go.

Being ‘Good’ Neighbors in the coming year will teach us how to listen. Let us practice the gracious acts of hospitality, and remind us of our deepest roots as a church… those of neighborliness to those we don’t even know.

Have a great year being ‘Good’!

Pastor David

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