Last month Emily and I focused on how we are planning to reach the college students in our area. (If you haven’t read it yet, check it out!) This month we will look at our strategy to specifically reach our neighbors.
Our prayer is to help our neighbors find and follow Jesus.
As of September 1, Emily and I moved into our apartment at Colborne Place in Brighton, MA. There are 28 units in total and approximately 50-70 people in the overall complex. We believe that God has placed us in this very complex to be on mission, love our neighbors, and serve the community around us. Through Jesus, we have been brought into the family of Christ, so how much more should we invite others into our family? Emily and I pray that we will be an overflow of the love, grace, and family that God offers us through His Son.
To display the love of Christ and invite them into our home, we plan to reach our neighbors through two specific ways:
1. Monthly Apartment-Wide Events
Emily and I hosted our first apartment-wide event the weekend we moved in. We had a cook-out and cornhole tournament where we met 16 of our neighbors! The overall excitement from the group was a great indicator that community is something that each of our neighbors is looking for. Loneliness and isolation are epidemic in the Boston area so we are excited to build a culture of community and friendship with those that live immediately around us.
We will continue doing these monthly outreaches:
· October: Pumpkin Carving and Apple Cider
· November: Friends-giving
· December: Secret Santa/Christmas Party
· January: New Year’s Celebration
We pray that community will be fostered and that Christ will be made known through our display of love and truth in our friendships, our home, and these monthly apartment outreaches.
2. Outreach to the Brighton Community
Brighton is a neighborhood of Boston proper with 44,000 people in less than 3 square miles. While there are a ton of people, it has a small town feel to it. Just yesterday we went to the park with our dog and struck up a conversation with a man whose family has lived on the same street in Boston for almost 60 years.
We plan to reach the community through hosting:
· Movie nights in the park (Rogers Park and Chestnut Hill Reservoir)
· Game and sports tournaments (ultimate frisbee, cornhole, flag football, etc.)
· Regularly visiting and recommending the same restaurants, cafes and shops
· Serving local schools (for example, Brighton High) and the local YMCA
· Serve the Brighton branches of Boston’s Public Housing Authority
Emily and I truly desire to use the avenues that are already in place to make the name of Jesus great among our neighbors and among the community of Brighton.
Ultimately, our goal is to help our neighbors find and follow Jesus.
However, regardless of whether our neighbors and community come to know Christ or not does not determine our love or service to them. We will serve, love, and invite our neighbors into our home regardless of their faith determination because we can be an extension of the unending love Christ has given to us.
