While mowing the lawn this week, I was warmly greeted by my next door neighbour. Our first interaction three months ago also occurred while I was mowing the lawn, but wasn’t so warm. Why? Because during that first interaction, I was rude to her for asking me to stop mowing the lawn while her kids were trying to go to sleep.
I didn’t sleep well that night, not because of any lawn mower noise, but because I knew that I’d been a jerk in my response. So the next day I wrote a letter to apologise for my behaviour. That was the right thing to do, and she was very gracious in accepting my apology.
The cool thing is that we’ve now had more opportunities to connect with the family next door since the incident! So here’s my strategy for connecting with your neighbours: be offensive.
Just joking. I don’t think we should deliberately cause offense. However, I do think that we should be real with them. Show your warts, but then show how you deal with warts.
Offending your neighbour and then genuinely asking for forgiveness is one way of showing the gospel to them. Don’t pretend to be perfect. Christians are those who recognise that they have offended God and are in need of the forgiveness that comes only through Jesus.
I’m praying that I’d be able to continue building authentic relationships with our neighbours that will lead to more opportunities to show the gospel and share the gospel.
Got any other ideas? Let me know…
Interested in finding out more about the gospel? Here’s one place to start.
