Another GNE Cohort in the Books, But the Neighboring Continues
I could not be happier with the way the Joshua cohort of the Good Neighbor Experiment (GNE) turned out. I knew from the beginning that this was a real savvy group. They just got it- from day 1. They brought a curious, passionate, and infectious energy every single time we gathered. To be honest, I had a rough day on November 20th, the night all of our churches were supposed to come together to celebrate the cohort wrapping up. I wondered whether I could muster up the celebratory passion that has always been so easy for me in neighboring work. But as soon as the call started, I was fully engaged for an hour and forty-five minutes. By the time the call was over, all that had me so upset just a couple of hours before disappeared. Instead, a deep gratitude to God for this cohort, these people, this job, and for the beautiful messy humanness of everyday people trying to get to know and love their neighbors took over.
Needless to say, our Celebration and Storytelling call was a joyous celebration to wrap up the cohort, full of all sorts of amazing stories. We had churches from Kansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee in this cohort and it is worth sharing some of their stories in full.
Michael, from Stokesdale UMC in North Carolina said:
“We have lived here 6 years and struggled to make a connection with our neighbors. We did the 8 front doors [challenge from GNE], and took mums at the start of Fall with contact info and info about ourselves, daughters, and pets. My wife got a text from a mom 3-4 houses down asking if our teenager could help babysit. My wife is now on a text thread of moms in the neighborhood. We fellowshipped with them at a neighborhood gathering…We rarely have any trick or treaters and this year [after making these connections] we had 30 kids!”
He went on to say that many of those were just the neighbors’ kids staying around and doing their trick or treating on the street. Michael and Heather are still not on a first name basis with all their neighbors, but “the door is being opened”.
The cohort also helped Stokesdale focus on the houses next to their church building. They had always kept their Trunk R’ Treat pretty isolated from the community, but this year they decided to take treats to each of the surrounding houses, warning them about the temporary chaos of the parking lot and thanking them for being patient. After that success, they are now talking about ways they can reach out to those neighbors regularly.
Brenda and Stefanie at Metropolitan UMC in Greensboro, North Carolina shared the story of how they made the cohort their own, specifically the week focusing on filling in block maps of the names, contact info, and gifts of the people in the 8 closest front doors to one’s home:
We had a big win with this process. We were a little reserved and fearful but as we went along, we got going. After the last meeting we talked about abundance. So Metro did an experiment with the church focusing on relationship. The pastor started with a mini-sermon on spiritual disciplines and we came behind using the block map. It was a great activity. I set the stage. Another member of the church put together a skit where someone started up front by themselves stirring a big pot, other members came through putting ingredients in the big pot, circling back around. They talked about relationship and someone held up signs with “joy”, “relationship”, and “abundance” ingredients to put in the pot. They stirred it all together…We actually served real soup during this. You could smell it!
We then introduced the block map. Fifty to fifty-five people participated in a small congregation [of about 75]! It was as if we were in school. The young people participated and were excited. People got out of their seats!! We told them: “if you are gonna meet somebody you can’t meet them in your seat; we had people moving around. It got loud, people got excited. We thought it was an incredible activity.
Stefanie then explained what people needed to do. She introduced the block map, explained [the progression from] strangers to acquaintances to relationships and had people concentrate on the [people who were in the] first two [categories]. Everybody got involved and told us to introduce it again for people who couldn’t make it…A lot of members learned each others’ names and info. [Even within the church], we are moving from strangers to acquaintances to relationships with each other.”
Metropolitan is now incorporating the block map in their new member process. They believe that during the 3-4 weeks of New Member classes, the block maps and pew maps will help them get connected to people in the community and in the church.
John from Forest Hills UMC in Brentwood, TN shared that after the abundance lab kickoff, some were still hesitant to ask people their gifts and passions, but when they took the step, they found that people really appreciated being asked about what they were good at. The other John said he met more neighbors in one week walking his dog than he ever had before.
Malicia from Forest Hills invited her next door neighbors to serve with her at the church’s Room at the Inn nights when they host homeless individuals on really cold nights. Word spread and she ended up signing up “her whole neighborhood” to take over a night of service there.
Rose Hill UMC in Rose Hill, Kansas is making neighboring a key component of their identity for next year in their strategic planning as they pursue grants from the conference to aid in their neighboring.
The clearest conclusion after the Joshua cohort is that every church had some clear, actionable experiments that they want to dive into to keep the neighboring going. There is a sense that our 19 weeks together was really just getting our feet wet. I can’t wait to see all the ways that these churches and individuals embrace neighboring and ABCD as part of their identity going forward!
