As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord! - Joshua 24.15
A LIFE house...
...prayerfully commits to the following four things as both a goal and a lifestyle.
Loves... God by loving one another.
Love your God. Mt 22.37 Love one another. Jn 13.34
Love ... is patient, kind, rejoices with truth, keeps no records of wrongs, not easily angered, not proud, not rude, not envious, not boastful, not delighting in evil, always hopes, trusts, & perseveres! 1 Cor 13
Invests... in neighbors.
Love your neighbor. Mt 22.39
Put off falsehood & speak truth to your neighbor Ep 4.25
Each of you should please your neighbors for their good, to build them up. Rm 15.2
Forgives... real quick within your home.
Forgive so you will be forgiven. Mt 6.14 Forgive as you have been forgiven. Col 3.13
Encourages... one another daily.
But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. Hb 3.13
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hb 10.24-25
In order to give eternal LIFE to someone else, we all need to experience that eternal/abundant LIFE that Jesus spoke about. We all need reminders as to what the LIFE of Christ lived out in our homes practically looks like. If we are daily hearing from God through His Word and moment-by-moment praying to Him, our lives should reflect His glorious intentions for us. This LIFE acronym serves as a simple outline of what we can expect to happen in our homes if we are hearing from God and doing what He says.
We pray that every household within a faith community will commit to...
...becoming a LIFE House and
...praying the Spirit of God would raise up a LIFE House on every block in the city.
Households in neighborhoods need to be shepherded by servant leaders who lead from their knees in prayerful dependence on God's Spirit.
NEIGHBORHOOD SHEPHERDS
Given a specific group of people usually within a very narrow/specific geography (e.g. 1-2 high rise buildings, 5-25 blocks, or 1-2 mile radius, depending on population density) to nurture the spiritual health & growth through interaction.
Commissioned for & Engaged with people by...
CALLING
...phone, text, email, FB (at least one of these) every week. A Neighborhood shepherd verbally touches base in any one of these media every week with at least every household if not every person.
CARING
...prays with, send Scripture verse to, drop off a greeting card to encourage on birthdays or special anniversaries. Of course, this can include hospital visits, meals within neighborhood, etc.
CONNECTING
...each household with the other households via visiting and hosting monthly or quarterly to encourage each household to know one another.
COORDINATING
...needs & events (for learning or fun) from among the households in the neighborhood. This may include Neighborhood Group meetings, picnics, Jam Sessions, etc.
The Neighborhood Shepherd...
Has immediate access/support of specific/assigned senior/associate pastoral staff
Reports to specific/assigned senior/associate pastoral staff
Meets regularly (monthly/quarterly) with other Neighborhood Shepherds and Shepherds of Shepherds (usually pastoral staff and elder(s))
Can anticipate serving at least 5 hours per week
Neighborhood Shepherds working within a neighborhood will be the catylists to...
SATURATE Cities WITH GOD'S LOVE
Our prayer is that the city would be saturated with God's love manifest through His people loving people as an expression of their love of God. So any neighborhood that does not look like it's been reached by God's love by coming into the fullness of its potential through God's love is unreached. So we pray & work toward a congregation in every unreached neighborhood in our city.
A CONGREGATION THAT PARTNERS WITH NEIGHBORHOOD ORGANIZATIONS & OTHER CHURCHES…
...to breath LIFE into every block of the neighborhood
...gathers LIFE Houses from that neighborhood for worship, word, fellowship, prayer, & resource sharing
...disciples new believers thru simple Bible tools like Abundant Life (or YouTube Visual Bible for non-readers)
...trains leaders thru a common training experience
...plants churches thru a regional, national, or international church planting organization.
...shares interdependent pastoral leadership within the same network of churches
...preaches sermon series collaboratively so congregants can attend a large group ministry in one neighborhood & serve in another