“This is What I’ve Been Looking For”: A Sampling of Gifts from GNE Churches
Last Monday, the Good Neighbor Experiment kicked off our Abundance Lab online with several of our Joshua cohort churches. In some ways, it was really one of those “you have to see it to believe it” moments, but all events where we discover each other’s gifts are like that for me. Everyone should experience a room full of people as they start to uncover the hidden treasure that is the gifts that have been there all along.
While they might seem mundane from the outside, such moments can only be compared to Christmas to me. Afterward, everything is just a little brighter. People and their intentions start to seem more positive. A hopeful haze permeates the world, and you start seeing the good even in things that might have offended you before.
And yet, by reading this blog, I hope you will see that just this sampling of gifts we uncovered paints precisely the picture of abundance that we have intended with this lab.
The Abundance lab kickoff works by pairing random individuals from various churches together as partners in what we call “learning conversations.” These are specific types of conversations aimed at discovering the hidden gifts of the other person, and these have extraordinary power in place-based spaces like a residential street, a church congregation, or a neighborhood park. Our goal here is to have participants practice these conversations with strangers before sending them off to have many conversations with neighbors and fellow church members closer to home. They ask each other questions of the head (“What is something you know so well you could teach somebody else?”), hands (“What is something you like to make or do with your hands? If you could start any business, what would it be?”), heart (“What is something you are so passionate about that it moves you to action?”), and spirit (“What is an experience you’ve been through that you could walk somebody else through?”). Then, we have each person brag about their partner!
Here is a sampling of some of the gifts we discovered in just 30 minutes:
Scott runs marathons and triathlons.
Lacey can teach people to refine their piano skills, specializes in centering prayer, and would love to own a coffee shop where she could make sure the vibe is just right!
Brenda is passionate about working with seniors and church work. She said “What we are doing here with GNE is well worth it.”
Peter can teach telecommunications and AV in a way that helps people get their message out, is passionate about revitalizing the church and discipleship, and even transformed a popular discipleship program so that it could be more accessible for seniors!
Easter loves to care for people, provide for their needs, and stand up for the bullied. She lives out a ministry of presence to be there for people emotionally. She also coaches youth basketball, where she inspired a loose bunch of introverted kids to become a close-knit team through her caring presence that she learned from her parents. She was shaped by moving to San Francisco in the 1970s, which immersed her in diversity so that even today, she is great at making diverse groups function well together.
John is a math teacher and connected with Easter because they both teach math and coach recreational basketball. He loves to cook, runs marathons, and encourages others to share their stories of faith!
Malicia is known at her church for having more stories of connecting people in her neighborhood than anyone else. She is passionate about helping people find common ground, is a trusted confidant of her neighbors, and expertly steered her church through a personnel issue. She and her conversation partner, John, were randomly paired despite already knowing each other well! Yet they were surprised by how much they still had to learn about each other!
Another John can establish deep relationships starting with cold calls! He has a great sense of humor, likes public speaking, and mentors co-workers in the healthcare field.
The best part of all this was the connections! Almost everyone said they wanted to connect with their partner or somebody else even after the call! Lacey and Kristopher can connect around coffee, and Peter wanted to connect with Lacey around coffee and mental health. Brenda said she connected with Peter on so many levels. John and Easter both teach math and coach rec basketball. John and Scott both run marathons. And so on!
A couple more quotes from the evening:
Scott: This is what I was looking for in terms of being able to build relationships with people I don’t know that well. This is the most impactful night of the whole cohort!
Brenda: This is what I’ve been looking for! Very impactful…very excited listening to the gifts from everybody involved, to the point where you have a desire to know more!
From here, the churches will spend the next four weeks having learning conversations in their church, around the neighborhood of the church, and around their own homes with their neighbors. All the while, they will compile a “gifts garden” (asset map) so they can visualize, connect, and mobilize the gifts they discover! On November 20th, we will all come together one last time to celebrate and share even more stories of abundance!
