True Neighbourhood Engagement

Within my thinking, as I work through all the latest missional literature, I cannot get past two inescapable conclusions. We need the neighbourhood church if we are going to effectively see the coming of the Kingdom of God i.e. the church that is sufficiently focussed on the local community in terms of loving it and seeking its welfare. Secondly, we need, having gathered locals into our church gatherings, to send them back to their streets and neighbours, solidified and energised to share the good news of Jesus. This would be in stark contrast to the large church that extracts people some distance from their local contexts and keeps them closeted there in churchy busyness.