Video Transcript: Neighbor

We've already looked at context in terms of identity, who we are, how we fit into  the community, how the community perceives us, what is our ministry? What  exactly? Why are we there? What is our purpose, and then how will we carry it  out? But I want to look at two other areas related to your identity, and that one of them has to do with being a neighbor, the idea of making the community your  home, and you brother, Will you burn your passport? Here is the story behind  that. I was in my second year at working at the chapel, and again, a lot of my  friends, I was overseas for two years before coming back to the states and then  getting involved in Urban Ministry. But in my final year there, a friend of mine  took me with him on a trip through Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Yugos,  then Yugoslavia, and then back up to Vienna. And we were in a in a pastor's  home, and George was talking to this pastor, and I didn't catch everything that  was being said, but at one point, the pastor turned to me and said, and you,  brother, Will you burn your passport? And I looked at him like, what is he asking  me to do? And I figured out rather quickly what he was saying is that he wanted  me to be committed. Will you commit yourself to being here, to serving here, to  be among us? You remember the story I shared with you about one of the kids  who came over after I had been robbed twice in one week. And his response  was, Well, pay it. You're one of us now. Now you understand. So the idea is that, is that the position to which from which to exert maximum influence in the lives  of young people is as a neighbor. Jesus said, You will love your neighbor as  yourself. It's when we become a member of the community that that says  something to the people around us, and it changes us as well, because now we  share in the community, we share in its struggle, and we share in the solutions.  And so there's a sense in which, when I moved into five points, I burned my  passport. Five Points became my home. How do you become a neighbor?  Perhaps you're involved in ministry, and you're thinking that, well, yeah, I really  should move into the community that I serve. What would what would I do? Well, one is, yeah, if you're not, if you haven't done so, move move into the  neighborhood, or move closer to the neighborhood. Position yourself as a  neighbor. And once you've done that, get to know your neighbors, be accessible  enough for them to know you and to see you. It's one thing for you to stand in  front of young people each week and talk to them or share with them the gospel. It's quite another when they see you in the grocery store or you're driving with  them and someone cuts you off and they see your response. You are in a  different position to influence them. That's when they will see how real your  relationship with God is. So get to know your neighbors and be accessible to  them. Hang out. You can frequent local coffee shops or basketball courts,  community centers, other youth hot spots, you can just go spend some time with young people. Another thing to do in being a good neighbor is to listen, ask  questions, pay attention to what people are saying, pick up on their felt needs.  Depressing Issues and concerns. Learn to see the community and life from a 

resident's perspective, from a neighbor's perspective. Another is to simply be a  good host. Start a rap session type Bible study. You can form a neighborhood  youth group, or you can just invite people over to your home and spend time  with them. Or you can, you can go to their home and let them and let them host  you, but it's important to be a neighbor. Then secondly, Kingdom. In the context  of the kingdom, who are you in relationship to God's body, the church? What is  your relationship to the Christian community? You know you are leading a  ministry, and as a leader, you have a role to play, but you're not alone. You're  part of something bigger. So what role do you play this relationship that you  have to the rest of the body of Christ? What is that? Well, the church's  relationship to you is they should be a prayer warrior, a mission partner and an  encourager, certainly should have people around you that in partnering with you, they pray for you. When I started in youth ministry, prior to starting youth  ministry, I had learned of a man who had lived in the neighborhood for two  years, and he was getting ready to leave, and I asked him why got together with  him, and said, Why are you why are you quitting? And from what I could gather,  from what he said, it sounded like those were two very lonely, hard years, and  the thing I picked up on the most was that he really felt alone and isolated, and  that he needed encouragement. And so when I started ministry, I began asking  people for three things. One is for prayer, another is for support, and another is  for words of encouragement. And so from the very beginning, my friends have  responded. They write me I don't feel alone, because there are people that are  praying for me and keep in touch with me. And I have all kinds of friends, both in the in the community and outside the community, but it's important that you do  not feel alone in what you are what you are doing. And then there's your  relationship to the church. How do you relate to the greater body of Christ? Well, two ways. One is that you're a point person. You may be the person on the  cutting edge of youth ministry in your community, in your city, in your  neighborhood, and because you are that you that you play a specific role, but it  is a role as one role that relates to a bigger a bigger movement that is going on,  the people who pray for you, the people who encourage You, the people who  provide financial resources for you. They are all a part of the mission. It's the  mission that's important. God may have raised you up to work with youth or  troubled youth or in difficult places, but you're not alone. God also brings other  people around you. So it's not just you, them supporting you as if you're the  center of the story. Really, the center of the story is the movement of God in the  lives of people, and you play a key role in that, but you're one of many, and so  it's very important that you see yourself as a point person. And as a point  person, you have responsibility. You have to share with the larger body of Christ, what is going on in your ministry, or specifically, where is God in your ministry?  What are the significant things that are taking place in your in your ministry. So  you're also a storyteller. You are telling people about here's what's happening in 

this young person's life, without betraying confidences, but you're saying this is  something that happened the other day when little Johnny. Uh, he heard, he  heard, he heard an aspect of of what God thinks about his situation. And I saw  the light bulb go off. I thought, oh, okay, he's, he really is beginning to get it. Or  you have another person that says their life was moving in this direction, and  something miraculous happened. And here's, here's how God is at work in my  community, in the lives of young people, you want to tell the story you're the one that lets the greater body of Christ know that God is alive and at work in the  community. And so you have a relationship to the church. The church has a  relationship to you, and this is all about fulfilling God's Kingdom agenda. And so  that's context. Those are some things we could think about when it comes to  establishing the context for your ministry. It needs to be defined. It needs to be  clear. You need to be positioned as a neighbor and you need to you need to  have a right relation. You need to see yourself rightly as it relates to God's  Kingdom movement, God has blessed you to be a point person. But you're not  the only one that's involved, and you want to involve other people in in your in  your ministry. So that's that's context. When we come together again, we're  going to start looking at, how do you create a transformational discipleship  culture.