THE

GOOD
NEIGHBOR
MOVING BEYOND THE CHRISTIAN STEREOT YPES WITH
COMPASSSION AND TRUTH
By Lance Ford

Evangelism. Few words bring more frustration,

consternation and guilt to Christian leaders,
and Christians in general. We know we should
share the gospel. We want to share the gospel.
But how to do so is where we run into problems.
Why is it so difficult? And is there a better way
than the props, programs and overly presentationesque ways of getting the gospel across?
Happily, there is. And the answers are myriad
and readily available to us all.

Evangelism vs. Conversionism

I am convinced one of the primary reasons

we struggle with evangelism is because we
dont really evangelize. We have not been
encouraged to do evangelism in the true sense
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What happens when GoodNews people see themselves as sent into their
community? Lance Ford
reflects on the ideas behind
the book.

of the word. Unwittingly we have replaced

evangelism with conversionism.
The word evangel is rooted in the word
euangelion, which means good news. But
the gospel we are called to carry and deliver is not just any old good news. It is the
good news of the kingdom of heaven. It is
the announcement of the ethos, ethics and
economy of Gods rule and reign.
Conversionism, on the other hand, focuses
primarily on the atonement component available through Christ. The difference in conversionism and evangelism is summed up well
in something I once heard Dallas Willard say:
Im not trying to get people to heaven after
they die. Im trying to get them there while
theyre still alive.
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True and complete

evangelism both
demonstrates and
proclaims the message.
People of the Good News

True and complete evangelism both demonstrates and

proclaims the message, ways and means of the Lords
kingdom come, will being done, on Earth as it is in
heaven. It certainly includes the good news of Christs
atoning grace, but it doesnt stop there. Evangelism happens
when Gods kingdom people live as heavenly citizens in
earthly places. Literally, evangelism could rightly be called
goodnews-ism. An evangelist is actually a goodnews-ist.
The gospel of Gods kingdom reign is not only good news
in and of itselfit is good news because it creates a new
people who are good news. They are good news in their
neighborhoods, the places they work and the places they
shop and frequent. The great news for many of us is the fun
and joyous truth that we all can be evangelists. We have already been sent by the Lord into neighborhoods, workplaces
and marketplaces.

The Good Neighbor

In the infamous exchange that ensued with Jesus story of

the Good Samaritan, Jesus told the lawyer that if he took
up the habit of loving his neighbor as he loved himself,
he would live. The word live is the Greek word zoe, which
refers to the life that comes from God. In effect, Jesus is
saying if we want to really live life to its fullest, then we
must get serious about loving our neighbors. In the same
passage, he goes further to say the real question is not
Who is our neighbor? but Who will be the neighbor?
Jesus calls us to be the neighbor. In doing so he invites us
into the life of heaven.
Everyone has neighbors. Regardless of the settingurban, suburban or rural countryside, we all have neighbors.
And we are called to love those neighbors as we love ourselves. The deeds that will be produced by that love will come
about as we get to know our neighbors and what needs they
have. We cant love people from a distance. It is pretty difficult to love someone in tangible ways if you dont know them.
The knowing part is often the greatest hurdle and barrier for

many of us. A lot of us dont even know one another.

National surveys reveal that less than half of the American populace knows most of their neighbors names. It is
startling to consider that many people live for years in an
apartment complex or neighborhood without so much as
knowing the names of their neighbors, much less having
an actual relationship with them. American neighborhoods
have become collections of disconnected people. If you are
a pastor or church leader, just imagine for a moment the exponential opportunities that could immediately take place if
your church members actually got to know their neighbors.

Consumerism and Individuality

Although Americans are the wealthiest people on Earth,

we are also the most medicated and therapeutic society
in existence. Clearly, the pursuit of happiness has not
succeeded. Consumerism has served to feed individualism
to the point where the old-fashioned notion of neighbors
sharing and caring for one another is rarely experienced.
When I was growing up, if my mother, in the midst of
baking, realized she was short a cup of sugar or an egg,
her first thought was not to jump in the car and go to the
nearest grocery store. She would go next door and ask our
neighbor Dorothy if she could borrow the item. If Dorothy
was not at home, Mom would go across the street to Janie.
Our neighborhood was connected relationally. It was not
infrequent that Janie would ask my mom if her little boys,
Andy and Joey, could stay with us for an hour or so while
she ran an errand, or for my dad and a couple of other guys
in the neighborhood to spend an evening or Saturday afternoon helping one another change the brakes on a car. There
was an air of interdependence. It seemed to be understood
that we all were in life together and that our neighbors were
expected to be a part of making life work.
We are a community.
We are not ourselves by ourselves.
We are born into communities.
We live in communities; we die in communities.
Human beings are not solitary, self-sufficient creatures.
So writes Eugene Peterson in Christ Plays In Ten Thousand
Places: A Conversation in Spiritual Theology.

Sent Into the Neighborhood

When my wife and I moved across state from St. Louis

to Kansas City, Missouri, several years ago, we came
with a mindset that the Lord was sending us into the
neighborhood we landed in to be salt and light. The

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last few years have been nothing short of an adventure

in neighboring. We intentionally began not only
sharing our knowledge and resourcesfrom gardening
to carpentrybut we also asked others to help us and
help one another. When we discovered that a retired
IRS worker lived on our street, we were able to ask
him to help a single mom do her taxes. This not only
saved her an outlay from a limited income, it brought
great joy to him in being able to help and contribute. It
brought joy to our former tax-collector friend. Sounds
like a gospel story, huh?
It is amazing what happens when someone is asked to
help you or someone else with the skills or resources they
have. A sense of purpose and usefulness emerges. Part
of helping bring life to a neighborhood lies in mining the
resources or wisdom, skill, knowledge and assets on hand.
My daily routine typically begins with time in the Bible
and prayer. One morning as I prayed and sipped coffee in
my upstairs library, which overlooks our neighborhood, my
eyes fixed on a picture on the wall. The photo was of our
house in 1940. At that moment I had been particularly
praying for our neighbors, house by house. As I looked at
that picturefrom more than 75 years earlierthe Lord
spoke to me. He said, Ive been working in this neighborhood long before you came. I sent people way back then to
do the same thing Ive sent you to do.
We have not just ended up in our neighborhoods and
apartment buildings. The Lord sends his missionary people
into cities, towns, villages and Podunk places.
Youll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old
ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable
again. (Isa. 58:10-12, MSG)
The mindset of a Jesus follower who believes he or she has
been sent to a place causes a different outlook. We believe
we are called to not just take up space on a street or in a
building. Nowe have been assigned to make this place
worth living in, to help others make a good life here.

Sent Together

Shortly after we moved into our neighborhood, a young

couple moved in next door. Jon and Alissa served as
pastors in a local church and felt the same call to the
neighborhood my wife and I sensed. It was great to know
we were sent together. One of the first things Jon and
I did was to begin sharing lawn tools. It didnt make
sense for us each to buy a lawnmower, weed whacker,
leaf blower and snow blower. So we went in together on
those tools. We eventually began blowing snow from our

The gospel of Gods

kingdom reign is not only
good news in and of itself,
it is good news because it
creates a new people that
are good news.
elderly neighbors driveways and sidewalks, and sharing
our tools with whomever needed them.
We took notice of Dan, an eccentric old man living behind us, who the neighborhood had labeled as
mean and crazy. We approached him, befriended him
and invited him for meals on the holidays. We quickly
discovered he was neither mean nor crazy. He was just
lonely and shut out of the life of the neighborhood by
those who had never taken the time nor risk to get to
know him. After a couple of years, Shirley, one of our
neighbors, told Alissa, Im ashamed to say it, but the
way all of you have treated Dan has caused me to see
him as a human for the first time. I think this is what
Christianity is supposed to be about. Shirley was doing
exactly what Jesus said would happen when we become
salt and light for our neighbors.
Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your
good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
(Matt. 5:16)
It is up to pastors and church leaders to open the imaginations of their church members to see the mission field they
are currently living in and to recognize the tremendous
opportunities at hand to be evangelists. We are Gods
good-news people, sent with him, to love our neighbors and
neighborhoods with the awesome and abundant love he has
poured out on us.
Lance Ford is part of the national leadership team for Forge
America Missional Training Network. He is the author of
several books, including Next Door as It Is in Heaven: Living Out Gods Kingdom in Your Neighborhood, co-authored
with Brad Brisco.

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