Neighbourhood Life Gatherings

Here is the first season of Neighbourhood Life gatherings in 2015.  We meet at the YU Turn Center in Lacombe (5025 – 50^th street), unless posted otherwise.  The time we gather is from 4:30 – 6:30 pm and includes a potluck meal, prayer and Scripture. 

January 11 – Nathan/Brittany share their neighbourhood.  Luke 10:25-29  - “Who is my neighbour?”

January 25 - Henry/Joan share their neighbourhood.  II Kings 6:8-23 – “Eating with the enemy”

February 8 – Rick/Joyce share their neighbourhood.  Psalm 23 - “Setting the Table”

February 22 – Brian/Bente share their neighbourhood.  Romans 12:18-21 – “Leaving room for God”

March 6-8  - NEIGHBOURHOOD ENGAGEMENT RETREAT at Camp Nakunum (north/west of Edmonton).  We register as a group.

March 15 – “A tale of three friends” discussion. 

April  5 or 12^th -  Neighbours and the Easter story.

April 17-18 – Inhabit Conference in Seattle, Washington.  See more at www.inhabitconference.com

May 3 – Debrief and brainstorm for the summer months.

May 24 – Prepare for block party month.

June – Block party month.

Neighbourhood Life intentionally seek to build community through God’s love (in us) for the purpose of transforming and renewing our neighbourhood.  This “community-building” includes neighbourhood parties, tournaments, the sharing of material items, and enjoying our unique neighbourhood with our neighbours.  Through this, we value our practice and posture over the program.

We feel called to identify where God is already at work and join His mission, as we seek to alert others to His reign.  Our role in the neighbourhood is to be the new community of Christ, demonstrating His grace and power and inviting our neighbours into His body, the church.  In essence, we “become the church” in the neighbourhood, rather than “attending church” outside of our living space.  The gospel becomes more accessible to those who otherwise would deem it irrelevant, simply because its message is now active among them.

We have embraced “transforming lives and communities in Christ” as central to our vision and mission.  This Neighbourhood Life strategy seeks to embrace this vision by recognizing that one of the communities that needs the transformational presence of Christ is our neighbourhood.  This approach takes seriously a theology of place, in which we are called to “bloom where we are planted”.  At the heart of this model is the call to love our neighbours, the certainty that our neighbours’ lives need transformation, and the assurance that Christ “dwells among us.”