EDITOR’S NOTE: David L. Burton serves as chairman of deacons at Ridgecrest Baptist Church in Springfield. He submitted Resolution 3, “On Loving Our Neighbor,” at the Missouri Baptist Convention in St. Charles, Oct. 24-25.
I was at the Missouri Baptist Convention this year and was ready for the debate during the resolutions portion of the meeting. I was ready to argue in favor of Resolution 3 on “loving our neighbors and in support of Missouri Good Neighbor Week (Sept. 28 – Oct. 4).”
But in the end, I never had to take the microphone. The resolution passed quickly and overwhelmingly, but I wonder if pastors and messengers know what they approved.
The opposite of love for your neighbor is not hate. The opposite of love for your neighbor is apathy. Yet, research shows that Americans and Missourians have believed, for too long, that being a good neighbor means being quiet and leaving their neighbor alone. That is apathy.
I would urge Missouri Baptist churches to equip members to become engaged neighbors and use the new Missouri Good Neighbor Week as an opportunity to launch new neighborhood-focused outreach and ministry efforts starting on the doorstep of every Missouri Baptist.
It is essential for the whole church, to take the whole gospel, to the whole city, one neighborhood at a time. This is especially the case after messengers voted to get more engaged with their neighbors and in their neighborhoods.
Research shows less than 30 percent of Americans know the names of any neighbors, and 30 percent do not know the names of any neighbors. Numbers among Christians are the same.
Church members have bought into the cultural idea of being a good neighbor by being quiet and leaving their neighbors alone.
Of course, there are exemptions, and if you are already an engaged neighbor, I hope you will start planning to participate in Missouri Good Neighbor Week (Sept. 28 to Oct 4) next year. (http://missourigoodneighborweek.com)
But if you are less engaged, or your membership is inward-looking, I would challenge you to use this year to preach on what it means to be an engaged neighbor. You might also want to discover existing “engaged neighbor” programs in Missouri (like Neighboring 101 online) and hold yourself and your church leaders accountable to this resolution.
Jesus commanded us to love our neighbors no matter their lifestyle, who they voted for in November, or whether or not they ever attend our church. We are the ones who must demonstrate love, and that requires action.
Thankfully God is giving you lots of time to work this out before Sept. 28 (the start of Missouri Good Neighbor Week mentioned in the resolution).
I am happy to be a resource for anyone interested in pursuing a church-wide neighboring initiative. Or perhaps, you feel called to start with yourself.
The starting steps are simple: learn your neighbors’ names, use our neighbors’ names, and host some social events. After several months, make it a goal to have some positive neighbor interaction every day.
Loving your neighbor begins with the eight people who adjoin your property or apartment. It can expand to more, but it should never be less. At a minimum, you should be developing loving relationships with your immediate next-door neighbors.
That is at the heart of Resolution #3 and the Bible itself.