Mar 12

Written by: Ben Snyder
3/12/2008 3:20 PM

Within the last six months my wife and I have readjusted our lives with a new mission to our simple south Toledo neighborhood. I was at a conference before then where some comments were made about living "missionally". It is a popular buzz word in churches these days - but, the truth of it has changed something in our lives.It is easy to say I care about lost people. It has been easy to pat myself on the back for inviting my neighbors every year to our big services (Christmas, Easter, etc) and think - I am doing my part to "reach the lost". The reality is - I don't know many of them. The truth is I am doing little -if anything- to engage them. Living missionally simply means that I see my neighborhood as a place where Jesus wants to reign, be worshiped, and heal human hearts just as much as he does in our auditorium on Sunday morning. In fact, the timing of this rescue seldom takes place on Sunday morning and doesn't fit into a neat little compartment in my life. It is every day, intentionality of loving those right next door.

Now, don't get me wrong. It wasn't like a light bulb switched on. This process is still just that - a process. But, the other day, my wife and I organized and threw a block part for our street. We believe it has been around 35 years since any such event has taken place on Bronx Dr. Recently she emailed her team about the event...I will let you read it for yourself.

My husband (Ben) and I have lived in our home in South Toledo for about 4 1/2 years. Day after day we drive past the same people, sometimes with a wave, but often without so much as a glance. We finally decided that something had to be done, so we threw a block party! We barricaded the street, pulled out a grill, passed out some fliers, and about 40 people actually came! We discovered that many of our neighbors are single-parent households, many are older individuals who can't get around well, and as far as we could tell, few have a relationship with Jesus. We spent 4 hours eating, playing corn hole, and just connecting with one another. By the time the barricades stopping traffic came down, it was obvious that many barricades that had been preventing relationships with one another had come down as well! Now we have the joy of being able to put names and life stories with faces; we can dream about our next steps in connecting (my daughter, Lydia, is working on some "paintings" that we'll be delivering to single older folks on the street, and I'm even pulling out the mixer to whip up some cookies!); and we can pray specifically for people who need Jesus.

It's easy to get wrapped up in your life, and not see the people around you who need to know about Jesus. It's easy to assume that "mission work" takes place in third world countries. It's easy to forget that we are supposed to start in our "Jerusalem," our neighborhood, our school, our workplace! Each day God lays multiple opportunities to impact people right in front of us . May we live in such a way that we take advantage of those opportunities!!!

So this is the beginning. We are praying for other missionally minded couples to join us in our humble south side street to be the Church for the people on Bronx Drive.

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