Neighborhood by Neighborhood

Caught In The Act Of Neighborliness...

noreply@blogger.com (IndyChristian) — Sat, 30 May 2009 18:18:00 +0000

When the Google film-truck came rolling by YOUR church, what did they see?

Gotta love seein' what Google saw at Southeastern Church!

Ordering Angel Food in our community...

noreply@blogger.com (IndyChristian) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 14:23:00 +0000

[an example from my community in Indianapolis...]

Hey is anyone else struggling to even make it INTO this 'middle class' that the politicians keep talking about? Up to $250,000/year??? LOL. That's just crazy-talk. If you're making $250,000, my friend, you are in the 97th percentile in the richest country in the world!

For the rest of us though, here's a great opportunity to save on your family's food bills. Angel Food is NOT a commercial venture or scam -- it's a nonprofit initiative comprised primarily of a lot of faith-based volunteers working together to reduce the collective overhead cost of food. And a new program location has just been approved for the Carmel area, at The ROCC (131st x Old Meridian).

If you'd like to be able to get appx $60-worth of food for $30, click for details. Orders for the next monthly opportunity must be in by October 10th.

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[Do any of YOU know families in YOUR community you could reach out to and help in this very tangible way?]

Gallup: Location, Location, Location...

noreply@blogger.com (IndyChristian) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:35:00 +0000

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IndyChristian Commentary

Question: Who can impact my neighborhood the most?

John McCain
Barack Obama

Answer: Apparently, neither.

Surely each of us is more likely to impact our own neighborhoods... than Washington can. Or for that matter, even the Indiana Statehouse. Or the courthouse in Noblesville.

So if any of us think there will be a great NATIONAL revival that will get the Great Commission done... maybe this suggests otherwise.

Bottom line... doesn't it all come down to local, very local, and my-neighborhood-local?

Y'know, it occurs to me that Jesus really MIGHT have meant... neighbor-neighbor.

Share Your WiFi...

noreply@blogger.com (IndyChristian) — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 21:37:00 +0000

More ways to use 'new media' for ministry... visit Churchsmo.com.

Neighborhood TV goes LIVE !

noreply@blogger.com (IndyChristian) — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 13:34:00 +0000

How about LIVE internet TV is for YOUR neighborhood?

It's way easier than you think. It's collaborative. It's fun.

And it can be an ongoing ability to share life with your neighbors... including eternal life.

Neighborhood Christmas Parties

noreply@blogger.com (IndyChristian) — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 11:52:00 +0000

Thank you so much for your prayers for this last weekend. God answered! (Surprised?)

About 200 people stood to their feet to commit to purposefully PRAY FOR , CARE FOR, AND SHARE CHRIST WITH THEIR NEIGHBORS!
Then, about 100 people signed up to come to one of the THREE MODEL CHRISTMAS PARTIES next weekend! (The way we train churches is by actually hosting a full fleged party, just like the manual teaches, at a church member's home. That way, they will feel exactly what their neighbors will feel when they host a similar party in December. It is a fun, low-threat way to open the doors to redemptive friendships in your neighborhood!)

[Article continued at Loving Our Communities To Christ]

Missional Network: "Canning Hunger"

noreply@blogger.com (IndyChristian) — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 17:05:00 +0000

Timothy Conner
Newton, KS

"Speed the Kingdom and learn more about your neighborhood on a Saturday morning than you have in years living there. “Canning Hunger” will open connections with neighbors ~ in a way that’s natural and comfortable ~ while doing what

America

expects the church to be doing: helping alleviate poverty and hunger."

[continued at TheMissionalNetwork]

[Get to know Timothy at Facebook... join the 'City Reaching Movement']

NHOOD tagged ideas

'Bless Your Block'... in Chicago

noreply@blogger.com (IndyChristian) — Sat, 19 May 2007 10:43:00 +0000

The Plan:

Prayer
Care
Share

The ABC's:

Assess
Bless
Confess

[continued at BlessYourBlock.org]

Neighborhood Maps?

noreply@blogger.com (IndyChristian) — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 15:17:00 +0000

How might we best start mapping our neighborhoods throughout a community?

IndyChristian.NET... is now beginning to toy with the idea in a Web2.0 sort of way.

Your thoughts anyone?

"10 Things You Could Do Too."

noreply@blogger.com (IndyChristian) — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 10:46:00 +0000

Wish you could help transform a community? You can. With the power of the Holy Spirit, everyone can do something to change the world. And your efforts of faith are multiplied if they help leverage the collective Church impact in your city. We call it 'fishing our city together with a net'.

Community Prayer: Here's what one pastor wrote... "Living In A Prayed-For Community". You can pray and encourage others to pray for their neighbors and the community, its leaders, teachers, pastors, and other civic heroes. In our community, we spread the word that the local Friday siren was a great time to stop a few minutes especially to pray for the community. And we let our civic leaders know it was also a signal to remind them they're being prayed-for regularly.

As you look for opportunities for change, consider the tech capabilities now being put in the hands of everyday users like yourself, making it easy to create impact in just a few minutes per day. It's as easy as email !

Neighborhood Website: You can start a free & easy website for your neighborhood. Help people 'share life together'. It could contain neighborhood news, photos, videos, best-in-class resource links you find... and of course, give them readi-access to the best that life has to offer... Jesus Christ... only a click away. Here's one such neighborhood site as an example. And here's a site that helps train Christian bloggers. Perhaps start an email-group among your neighbors. And there are tons of other great neighborhood ideas & resources shown here at Nhood.org.
City Portal/Hub Website: On a citywide scale, you can start or participate in a Christian city-site as a centralized hub of great information. Link to Bible-believing churches & ministries. Encourage their leaders by helping your surfers get to know those ministries and get involved. Consider how such a site could help connect Christ-followers across former dividing lines... especially racial, economic, urban/suburban, generational, denominational lines. Reconnect the Church of your city for greater collective impact. IndyChristian.com is one such city-portal. Or visit Blews.Network to drill down into many such city networking sites among the 50-states.
Hands-on Connecting & Service: And if that's something helpful you can do via the web, it is equally true of hands-on networking & communicating among cityreachers in your city. Again, you could surf the Blews.Network to find the active cityreachers in your city. Or call around, asking pastors nearby, "Who is actively calling Bible-believing pastors & leaders together, for prayer and collaborative impact?" Get in touch with them. Offer to serve as a networker to help make calls or serve at events which help reconnect the Body of Christ in your community. You could even help connect the city-networks together, statewide. Example: Transform Indiana.
Church or Ministry Websites: Or help your favorite church or ministry put up a website and connect with the larger 'Big C' Church in your community. Help them know of great ways in which they can readily be involved in the Great Commission TOGETHER in your city. Btw, because of the digital divide, urban churches are way under-represented on the web -- many would be grateful for your help. Here's the simple website built for a little Christian cafe in the inner-city, which helps serve as a connecting point for urban/suburban Christ-followers to get to better know, understand and work with others NOT like ourselves... for the harmonious cause of Christ in Indianapolis.
Be a Reconciler: Don't know how to begin being an urban/suburban connector? Call around. Ask "What Bible-believing pastors are calling the Church to pull down racial dividing lines?" Here in Indianapolis, Crossroads Bible College has become well-known for their unique ability to create a diverse, multi-ethnic environment in which to train cityreachers for Christ. Learn from ministries like these. Interview pastors/leaders from racial backgrounds NOT like your own. Ask how you can help bring down dividing walls.
Topical Website: Or start some type of business or hobby site based on your expertise in which you can reflect Christ and lead your surfers to the gospel through deed and word.
Got a digital camera? Be an embedded photographer or reporter. Help add compelling content to local sites. Serve your cityreaching team in ways that could help accelerate the Great Commission in your city, on your watch.
Social Tagger: Are you an avid internet surfer? Save great local links not just for yourself, but make them readily available for others to benefit from your time & experience. It's called social bookmarking... or 'tagging'. Here's one such collection of tags. In fact, if you could join other Christian taggers as they tag collectively at DeliciousChristians.com.
Hang with other cityreaching types. Join the 'City Reaching Movement' group at Facebook and just hang-out there 'behind the scenes'. Watch the things they're doing and brainstorming. Learn together. Sharpen one another. Then do what you can do.

There's no shortage of ways to impact your community for Christ. Be creative.

What are YOUR ideas?

Life Factory

noreply@blogger.com (IndyChristian) — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 03:11:00 +0000

[You could run this at YOUR neighborhood site... just as they did in Clay Terrace.]

Home Front Living

noreply@blogger.com (IndyChristian) — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 12:18:00 +0000

[excerpted from Pastor John Hay's BikeHiker blog...]

I developed the following pithy list and called it "10 Ways to Reflect Jesus at Home," drawing from Ephesians 4:17-5:21, and shared it with our congregation. Try these on for size...

[continued at BikeHiker blog]

Ten Surprises About The Unchurched

noreply@blogger.com (IndyChristian) — Fri, 26 May 2006 17:48:00 +0000

Wow. These 10 points are surprising ok!

This is a really helpful article for us all, to reach people the way THEY WANT to be reached.

[hat-tip, 'Pastor Paul' at 'ModelChurch.com']

Discuss DaVinci...

noreply@blogger.com (IndyChristian) — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 15:01:00 +0000

Excellent concept, easily implemented in any neighborhood... DiscussDaVinci.com.

Neighborhood Care Teams... in Indy

noreply@blogger.com (IndyChristian) — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 14:03:00 +0000

Mission: To bridge the gap between our neighborhoods and the Church body by creating and implementing a systematic approach to relational and service evangelism.

How: Establish Neighborhood Care Teams

Neighborhood Care Teams bring Christians together in our own neighborhoods to encourage one another to build relationships with, serve, and share our love for God with our neighbors.
Neighborhood Care Team members will embrace their neighborhoods for Christ with each member committing to pray for, build relationships with, and care for the needs of 5-10 of their neighbors. Care Teams will reach out to their neighbors through a consistent application of the gospel in action via the avenues of relational evangelism – building relationships, serving neighbors, encouraging neighbors to serve alongside you, being open about your faith, and sharing why you live for Christ

How to Start:

[continued at Go4Jesus.org]

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[Congrats, Melissa! ]

Answer Magazine in your neighborhood

noreply@blogger.com (IndyChristian) — Wed, 11 Jan 2006 11:36:00 +0000

Do the math...

$0.35 per copy (per home in your neighborhood).
x 6 times per year.
--------------------------
$2.10 per home, per year.
x 14 homes
--------------------------
$30 / year Yeow Meow!
==================

'Loving your neighbors'... is that worth $30 ?

Barna Research generally describes 7% of the U.S. adult population as "Evangelical" (meaning Bible-believing and evangelistic). That's one home out of every 14.... Probably YOUR home, if you're reading this. Look outside your window and determine if it's worth $30/yr to ensure your neighbors at least get an opportunity to hear the gospel six times per year.

If they are, then work with your local church(es) to get this distribution for your community. If subsidized by you and your $30, the cost to the church is effectively ZERO. They just need you to help get the ball rolling in your church/community.

Will you?

"Light Up The Night"

noreply@blogger.com (IndyChristian) — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 15:07:00 +0000

"Halloween brings all kinds of challenges for Christians today. Do you let your kids trick or treat? What kind of Halloween costume do you allow them to wear? Is trick or treating really safe? What alternatives are there to trick or treating? Is there a way to use this holiday to share Jesus with others? Most of the answers to these questions are a matter of personal choice, but one thing is certain, Halloween can be used to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with others.

Tens of thousands of children, teens, parents, and grandparents enter into a relationship with God after receiving a tract on Halloween..." [continued]

Food pantries feel pinch...

noreply@blogger.com (IndyChristian) — Sun, 14 Aug 2005 12:13:00 +0000

"We are really having a tough time keeping these people going, and the need's getting greater, too," said Nancy Chance, president of Good Samaritan of Hamilton County, which oversees 29 food pantries throughout Hamilton County.

Chance said the solution is simple.

"If everyone would take a bag of food to their local pantry, we might be able to turn this around..."

[continued at Topics.com]

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Christians... W.W.J.D. ?

Here's a golden opportunity to reflect Christ in your neighborhood & community. Regularly collecting cans of food from among your neighbors is a great way to get to know your neighbors and at the same time help meet physical needs -- if not in your community, certainly in communities within driving distance.

Getting to know your neighbors in such a way may also be 'tilling fertile ground' for the gospel in the near future.

Read "Neighborhood Connections".

'Faith, Hope & Love' Week...

noreply@blogger.com (IndyChristian) — Sun, 24 Jul 2005 14:16:00 +0000

An event that you could do in your community...

'Faith, Hope & Love'... is a week long period starting today, July 24... helping neighbors in our community, followed by a festival to celebrate this annual event. [Continue to see how one metro area is doing this, and yours could too.]

Sept/October issue of "Answers" neighborhood magazine

noreply@blogger.com (IndyChristian) — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 10:42:00 +0000

See what's coming to your neighborhood.

[Or is it?]

WWJD? He'd help His neighborhood prepare.

noreply@blogger.com (IndyChristian) — Thu, 09 Jun 2005 17:09:00 +0000

Christian Emergency Network (CEN) was established after September 11, 2001, by several Mission America Coalition partners (a coalition of 500 leaders and 80+ denominations) to respond effectively in a national crisis, giving the hope of Jesus Christ. CEN now has over 1,000 ministry and media partners. CEN provides focus/coordination/mobilization for...

[continued at ChristianEmergencyNetwork.org]

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Commentary by Neil Cox, Co-Editor, Blews.net

But let me go on to say that the goals of the Christian Emergency Network are well-aligned with our mission, as we seek to lay a pervasive set of communications tracks, national-to-neighborhood... to accelerate the Great Commission and the Great Commandment.

We urge all of you to add the CEN logo prominently to your sites. And stay in touch with the EmergencyBlog.com interaction about how to best build-out & equip our increasingly-well-networked folks to be able to handle emergencies the way Jesus would want us to.

We will endeavor to encourage our grassroots, neighborhood groups to plan to take advantage of the available training and kits available through CEN. Show your neighbors you care enough to prepare.

Your thoughts, ideas... and of course, your prayers... will be greatly welcomed.

Faith, Hope & Love.... in Indy neighborhoods

noreply@blogger.com (IndyChristian) — Tue, 07 Jun 2005 15:38:00 +0000

2-minute Drill in Your Neighborhood...

noreply@blogger.com (IndyChristian) — Mon, 28 Feb 2005 01:11:00 +0000

Peyton Manning Always Has A Game Plan.

No real leader goes into the game without a game-plan, right?

And the best of them even have a 2-minute drill, for when the clock is ticking down to zero.

Shouldn't we have a 'Great Commission 2-minute drill' for our neighborhood?

How 'bout a 2-YEAR plan, at least?

Could you optimally present the gospel in Word & deed to 5 houses on your left, and 5 houses on your right... in the next 24 months?

If it would take lots of prayer and care to start with, let's get started. Our neighbors are waiting.

What is the Great Commission in your N'hood?

noreply@blogger.com (IndyChristian) — Mon, 28 Feb 2005 01:07:00 +0000

Is it not the optimal presentation of the (whole) gospel of Jesus Christ, by deed & Word, in order to truly love our neighbors as ourselves?

If you possess eternal life -- ie, peace with God forever, through faith in Christ's payment of your penalty for sins -- and the abundant life here for the remainder of your time on earth...

...Don't you owe it to your neighbor to share it, if you really love them?

N'hood... Where the Great Commission Can Get Done...

noreply@blogger.com (IndyChristian) — Mon, 28 Feb 2005 00:42:00 +0000

Welcome to N'hood.org -- the place where the Great Commission can get done.

Join us as we attempt to expedite the Great Commission by vision-casting and connecting... across the U.S.... and beyond.

Leave comments re your thoughts, great links, and other resources to speed the rate of N'hood reaching for Jesus Christ.