Developing Relationships

 Why People Need Relationships with Others

In the beginning, God created Eve, not only to help Adam, but to share his life. God put this need inside him. God created us to have a relationship with Him, so much so that He wants us to have relationships with each other. A relationship is the process of give and take; we need to give as much as we need to take. Though people differ in their characters and cultures, they still share common characteristics that enable them to build relationships with one another. Though people differ in their characters and cultures, they still share common characteristics that enable them to build relationships with one another. If you are facing difficult situations, or going on a hard journey, you will not feel the suffering as much if you have good company.

How People can Develop Good Relationships with Each Other

So they know and respect each other. For this to happen we must spend time together therefore proximity to each other is important so see each other regularly and spontaneously. We need to have Open and honest conversations with each other. We need to talk about things that are important to both of us. We should enjoy doing things and times together. We should pray with each other.

The key is develop a strong friendship where we listen to each other. There is good back and forth communication. We need to look out for the needs of each other. We should not expect too much of the other, thus avoiding frustration or hurt. There needs to be Borders- where love is not stifling, but there is room for freedom and respect for privacy. We need to be able to confront each other with love and gentleness. You can say no , as we are not always available all the time. There must be trust and transparency with the ability to forgive each other.

Why Relationships are so Critical to Neighborhood Transformation

Relationships are central to Neighborhood Transformation, because without relationships will never get started or succeed. NT is neighborhood based therefore built on neighbor knowing neighbor and have some relationship with each other. We define real community” being all about relationships. Nothing happens in NT without relationships. People must first know each other to develop relationships and if they are going to help their neighbor they need some level of relationship. People only help each other when there is some kind of relationship. A strong Network of people working together only comes through relationships.

Challenge:

Think about the game tic-tac-toe  with your house in the central spot and there are 8 neighbors surrounding you. I challenge you to begin to develop relationships with as many of those eight neighbors as you can. Even if it is only one or two.

Involvement in a Cause

It is important that people find a cause that they resonate with and then get involved at the level of their interest and amount of time they are willing to give. People are involved in different activities based upon their interest in a cause.

• The first level is Expose where people are testing the water to see what the cause is all about and if it matches their interest
• The second level is Engagement where they have tested the waters and there seems to be a fit and people want to become more involved
• The third level is Own which their interest and the cause are in sync and the person knows they want to be involved.

This process can be likened to a funnel

 

Below are ways in which show ways that people can become involved in transforming a neighborhood in each of the three levels. The A indicates activity while L indicates Learn

Expose/Entry Level

Walk in the neighborhood with others, gathering information through senses (A)

Go to neighborhood meeting with someone else (A)

Help prepare for an event (A)

Participate in an event in the neighborhood with others (A)

Introduce NT to church or friends(A)

Do prayer walking in neighborhood with others (A)

Go along with some doing Asset Mapping (A)

Provide administrative help occasionally  remotely or face to face(A)

Create interest in your area of influence to learn more about NT  and to hold an initial training (A)

Input data to set up database for asset responses (A)

Provide needed materials or funds for an event. (A)

Read books about cause from Reading List (L)

Small Group Introduction to NT Principals (L)

Learn about Discipline of Love and create possible list (L)

See movie Bless Child at Home and debrief as group (L)

Engagement Level

Learn why and how to do Asset Mapping (L)

Do Asset Mapping in neighborhood with neighborhood activities (A)

Begin to talk about NT to others informally (A)

Help organize and do an activity or event in the neighborhood (A)

Spend time on their own in the neighborhood (A).

Be involved in organizing a NT training with church & or friends

Input regularly asset responses into database and manipulate it looking for patterns (A)

Teach a small group in the neighborhood something they know well and feel comfortable in (A&L)

Participate in Neighborhood Association meetings (A)

Start Neighborhood Transformation training (L)

Apply Disciplines of Love with chosen individuals (A)

Small group six session study (L)

Own Level

Continue training and start applying what is learned in the target neighborhood (L&A)

Do Asset Mapping door to door, bringing new people with you (A)

Become part of the facilitation team and begin to do ministry in the neighborhood. (L&A)

Lead small group trainings around the groups interests even if new to the facilitator (L&A)

Train potential new workers in segmented training (L&A)

Make presentations on NT to explain what NT is and elicit  people becoming part of NT (A)

Regularly support NT financially (A)

Invite new people to join you as you do some of your activities in the neighborhood. (A)

Look around and decide how you can become involved in transforming a neighborhood, then do something. Don’t just look and wish, make it happen. Get started today!

What is My Passion?

I want to share with you my passion, what has driven me for the last 30 years. It is the cause of:

Lifting communities out of cycles of poverty and disease and facilitating people to faith and maturity in Christ.

The Biblical Basis for my cause?
Participate in God’s mission to restore all creation to wholeness by being a faithful witnesses in Word and Deed through Gods redeeming love and work.
· Lk 10:27 Love God totally in areas of your life which deals with whole person and reach out to your neighbor in love as you would for yourself.
· Lk 4:18 &19, Isa 61:2&3. Deal with the whole person by reaching to them in all areas of their life.
· Lk 9:1,2 & Lk 10, 1,8,9, Reaches sends out 12 and 72 to reach out wholistically to others
· Matt 28:18-10, We are to teach all God has commanded us which is to deal wholistically with people.

The Bible call me to do the following in relation to my cause:
· Love all people and reach out to them don’t wait for them to come to me.
· Love requires a relationship therefore must get to know people can’t just give people things.
· When we do things for people that they should be doing for themselves we actually hurt not love them.
· The goal is a ministry that deals with all areas of a person life thereby transforming them from the inside out and then these people in a given neighborhood are transforming their neighborhood in the same way.

My cause intersects with other people
· Getting people out of their comfort zone and into the neighborhood which is hard
· When do things for people we (which we are inclined to do) we make them dependent on others which is not showing love. We have to equip people with a different worldview of empowering not doing things for others.

This is what first Community Health Evangelism (CHE) internationally, and then Neighborhood Transformation (NT) in urban North America are built on.

What Cause are you passionate about? Why not consider joining and help to lift communities out of cycles of poverty and disease and facilitating people to faith and maturity in Christ?