The Art of Neighboring: Building Genuine Relationships Right Outside Your Door

by Jay Pathak

It’s common for churches to host big events and ask people to invite their friends. This is not a bad thing and, in fact, has been an effective way for people to share their faith with friends and neighbors who don’t know God. But at the same time, there are many people around us who will never attend one of these events. So it’s important for us to think about how we can go to the places where they already are.

If we don’t take Jesus’s command literally, then we turn the Great Commandment into nothing more than a metaphor. We have a metaphoric love for our metaphoric neighbors, and our communities are changed—but only metaphorically, of course. In other words, nothing changes.

we are not supposed to love our neighbors to convert them. We love our neighbors because we have been converted.