Do you know your neighbors? Are you praying for them every day by name?
Getting to know your neighbors is not always easy; in fact, it can be hard in some places depending on where you live. Not everyone has a front porch where people gather, and back yard barbeques are usually by invitation only. So, how do we get to know our neighbors?
Why not start with prayer walking? I’ve found that one of the best ways to get to know your neighbors is to walk around your neighborhood. While you’re walking, ask God to help you see things through His eyes and to provide opportunities for you to interact with your neighbors.
Here are a few tips to consider when you are out prayer-walking:
1) Be observant.
Walk slower than usual and pay attention to the little things you might not ordinarily notice. Look for things like toys in the yard, bicycles or a trampoline. This is probably a sign that children live there or it’s a house where children come to visit. Whatever stands out to you when you walk by, think about these things and pray for these people.
2) Ask God for people to be out walking.
There may be someone out walking that God planned for you to meet that day. Pray ahead of time, ask God to lead you to people so that you can begin a conversation, and begin to get to know them. Simple conversations can lead to hearing about specific needs or concerns they have, and ultimately to be able to share about Jesus.
3) Get out often and pray for your neighbors every day.
Find a day of the week and time that seems to be best; after a few times you might see certain times when others are out walking. In my neighborhood, mid-afternoon is the best time to see people out and talk with them. Create a list of the homes you’re praying for, the names of the people you’ve talked with, and how you are praying for them.
There are several websites and tools to help you with this, the one I use personally is Bless Every Home. This website gives me names and random houses in my neighborhood to pray for each day. It’s free and you can sign up at https://blesseveryhome.com.
For your church, through your partnership with the Baptist Resource Network, we can also help you get a bigger picture of your community with a demographic tool that we use from the Mapping Center for Evangelism & Church Growth.
This tool allows us to generate a report that will provide you with names, addresses, age groups, marital status, presence of children, education levels, ethnicities, language spoken in the home, length of residence, affluence and more. This is a great tool, and we would be glad to provide you with a report and help you develop a strategy for reaching your neighborhood based on the results.
Bottom line is that there are people all around us that need to know the love of God and hear the Good News of Jesus, and we want to help you meet them!
If there is any way we can help, please let us know. Praying for you!
