Transformation is about reaching our full potential as people and communities in relationship with God, in whom we live, and move, and have our being. How better can this be demonstrated than in a transformed neighbourhood!
Just think how “fear” came upon a bible times community all because an old women (Elizabeth) had a baby, and together with her husband dared to break cultural norms when naming their child. Luke writes that the issues surrounding this family were being talked about all over the hill country by ‘concerned neighbours’. Everyone’s mind was focused on the mystery of these events, and the ultimate destiny of this particular baby.
The only conclusion they could come to was: whenever God shows up (and evidently He had with the coming of baby John), things are going to be different!
It has been said that you don’t know who you are until you know whose you are! The same can be said of our neighbourhoods. They often reflect a distorted identity of what God really intended them to be. But when they fulfill their redemptive purposes for which they have been called, they shake up the world!
If by faith you or your church is stepping out and believing for change in your neighbourhood or community, then here are some fundamental principles and values worth considering:
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Recognize the value of people
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Understand and respect local cultures
- Believe in your neighbour’s capacity to contribute and determine the neighbourhood’s future
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Realize that poverty can be found even in “good neighbourhoods” and includes physical, material, spiritual and social dimensions
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Approach neighbourhood engagement in a way that Christ’s kingdom life is demonstrated
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Approach from the recipients’ worldview
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Realize that God is already at work in the community
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Believe that transformation in a person comes through a relationship with Christ
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Recognize that the ekklesia as foundational for sustained and abundant transformation