THE QUICK SUMMARY 

Many of us don’t know our neighbors. 

If we do know them, we aren’t sure how to grow the relationship or talk about our faith with them. Placed for a Purpose provides a theologically rich framework for neighboring that helps people live missionally where God has placed them. 

Authors Chris and Elizabeth McKinney seek to provide a sustainable vision for the “low and slow” lifestyle of neighboring and supply practical tools that help people invest in their communities, value each step in the process, and build meaningful, gospel-motivated relationships with their fellow image-bearers right next door. 

A SIMPLE SOLUTION 

Authors Chris and Elizabeth McKinney ask a very needed question: What if God not only wants to provide healing and restoration for you at home but for your neighbors as well? And what if your neighbors are a means of grace in your life to heal and restore you? 

Perhaps you’re excited or cautiously optimistic about this whole neighboring thing. Maybe you’ve sensed a growing desire to get to know your neighbors and see God’s Kingdom come in your neighborhood. 

Here’s a wise reminder from the authors: Neighboring is much more like a crockpot than a microwave. Although microwaves are a wonderful invention, neighboring thrives in the world of marinades and slow cooking. Over time, you will get to experience the rich development of sustainable relationships that bear a lasting impact. 

We get it. We need our homes to be places where we can rest, heal, and recharge. But what if we were to expand our belief that home is primarily a place to escape? What if we developed a mindset that home can also be a place to engage?

We must sow with purpose, patience, and great expectancy, knowing that God is at work through seemingly small actions.

Over the years, we’ve noticed that now of the biggest hinderances to embracing ultimate motives and a sowing mindset can be found in the four-letter word just. 

We say, “I’ve just prayed.” “It’s just a wave.” “It’s just dinner.”

When we use this kind of language, we minimize God’s work. And what we’re really saying is “What difference could any of this make anyway?”

Jesus reminded us that small seeds make a big difference. Perhaps he was taking shade under an overgrown tree or shrub when he shared one of the most powerful analogies in Scripture, the Parable of the Mustard Seed, found in Mark 4.

Reading closely, you see that Jesus took an interest in “the smallest of seeds.” Of course we know he’s speaking in hyperbole and that the mustard seed wasn’t truly the smallest seed, but when you’re holding a mustard seed in your hands, it sure feels pretty small.

Maybe that’s part of his point. When we’re neighboring in God’s story, many of our actions feel so small and so mundane that they might as well be the smallest of seeds we could plant for God’s kingdom. Yet we forget that this is precisely the means of grace used by God to produce the large, fruit-bearing, shade-making, nest-providing growth that we see years after it’s been sown. 

Chris and Elizabeth McKinney, Placed for a Purpose

A NEXT STEP

Authors Chris and Elizabeth McKinney believe there are no insignificant tasks. It’s never “just” a prayer, “just” a wave, “just” an Easter egg hunt, or “just” learning a neighbor’s name.

Removing the word “just” from our neighboring vocabulary is imperative if we are going to engage in the low and slow process of seeing the kingdom of God shoot up in our neighborhoods and flourish in our neighbor’s lives.

The McKinney’s have suggested a three-step process of what they refer to as “breaking up the ground” in the process of reaching your neighbors. Use their following ideas as starters, and add to them, putting them into practice on a regular basis.

Initiate

Taking initiative is one of the simplest, most powerful things you can do as a neighbor. It doesn’t have to be anything mind-blowing. Consider these suggestions:

• Pray for your neighbors, your neighborhood, and for yourself as you neighbor.

• Wave to neighbors as you walk and drive through your neighborhood.

• If you see a neighbor outside when you get home, instead of pulling into your driveway and going straight inside and closing the door, try coming out, saying “Hi,” and asking a question that could lead to a short touchpoint.

Engage on your neighborhood’s social media pages or create one.

• Reintroduce yourself to a neighbor whose name you’ve forgotten or to someone you’ve lived by for a while. It might feel awkward or “too late” to ask, but it’s a powerful step to take and worth it to reestablish a relationship with them.

• What can you add to this list to “Initiate” a connection in your neighborhood?

Serve

Do something to better your neighborhood. Ask yourself, “If I were to move, would I have left my neighborhood better than when I found it?” Why is this important? Our neighborhoods have real needs. Serving is one of the most important things we an do as neighbors. Try some of these suggestions as a way to serve your neighbors:

• Create a tool-sharing list.

• Pick up trash as you walk.

• Coordinate a food, coat, or backpack drive (or partner with a school or church to do so).

• Offer to organize meals for neighbors in need (after surgery, death in family, etc.).

• Routinely perform random acts of kindness in your neighborhood.

• What can you add to this list to serve others in your neighborhood? 

Cultivate

What activity could you plan in order to meet your neighbors? What’s something that fits your season of life and your neighboring context? Here are a few ideas for you to try or translate to your neighborhood:

• Host a dinner or dessert. Keep it simple and ask/allow people to bring something. This helps everyone feel a sense of ownership and participation in the get-together.

• Walk with a neighbor or set up a walking group that meets at specific times during the week. Invite other neighbors to join.

• Ask for help with physical needs (borrowing yard, home, or kitchen tools, landscaping, moving furniture, needing sugar or eggs, etc.).

• Get an inexpensive, portable fire pit and invite some neighbors to hang out and make s’mores.

• Organize a neighborhood block party.

• What can you add to this list to cultivate deeper relationships in your neighborhood?