Love Your Neighbor, Outreach Initiative

Over the past year, we have been stressing the importance of organic outreach at GraceHill Church. Organic outreach focuses on the natural ways and venues Christi​​ans can share the Gospel with others. We made it our emphasis because we believe Jesus calls all of His disciples to be the salt and light, and they must begin right where God has placed them (Matt 5:13-16; 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; Acts 17:26-27). As a result, some of you began to connect with neighbors, meeting and welcoming them into your homes. Others grew in confidence to naturally proclaim the gospel to their coworkers and friends. Yet, we want to excel still more.

This year, we want to launch a new outreach initiative we are calling Love Your Neighbor to keep the emphasis on our outreach. Hospitality is one sure way we can show the love of Christ to our neighbors. What is hospitality? Rosaria Butterfield, the author of The Gospel Comes with a House Key, puts it this way: “Hospitality is living your transparent Christian life before a watching world that despises you.” Inviting your neighbors into your home not only lets you get to know them better but perhaps, more importantly, allows them to be exposed to your way of life, the Christian life that is.

So, here is the 3-step plan:

1. Pray. Take the next couple of weeks to pray for one family in your neighborhood that you can invite over for dinner. Maybe a new family has recently moved in, and you haven’t met them yet. Maybe they’ve been around for a while, and you have a good relationship with them. Pray for one neighbor.
   
   
2. Invite. To make this a church-wide effort, we marked out November 14-19 as a week for you to host this family. So, having prayed, go and invite that family over for dinner during that appointed week. We decided on this time because it’s a week away from Thanksgiving, and it’s a great occasion to gather around the table to reflect on what we’re thankful for, even with non-Christians.
   
   *If the family you prayed for cannot attend for any reason, pray and invite someone else.
   
   
3. Love. Enjoy loving and serving your neighbors. Loving others starts with giving someone your time and attention (remember Jesus from our study of Matthew), and what a privilege it is to share God’s love with our neighbors.

Let’s pray and see how the Lord will bless this effort, church! We do it for His sake and glory!

-Pastor Tim