During the Christmas season, we encouraged our people to spend the next year building relationships for the purpose of sharing Jesus. The central message of the Scriptures is this, God coming to us by becoming one of us. Jesus came to open the way for us to be friends with God. For those who follow Jesus, one of the most important ways we can be like Him is to intentionally build relationships with those in our neighborhoods. Now, only Jesus is truly God with us. He is our only Savior, and the only one who can bring redemption and restoration. Still, when Christ saves us He puts the Holy Spirit within us, and sends us into the world. This means that in an entirely different way, we have the presence of God and are sent by Christ (John 20:21). This means we can live incarnationally, as people who take the presence of God into our neighborhoods and offer the opportunity for the people we know to meet the One True God.
What I have learned over the years, though, is that we need practical and applicable ideas to make this happen. So we plan to publish 12 ideas in 2018, simple ways to help us build relationships in our neighborhoods so we can be friends with people and share Jesus.
The idea for June is to set up a lemonade stand. It might be best to include some kids in this one (having adults with a lemonade stand might be a little weird). But the idea is to find a place where kids and families might frequent in your neighborhood, maybe a city park or busy intersection. Pick a time when kids might be out playing or families are going on walks or out in their yards. Hand out lemonade (of course, no cost) as a service to those who are there. Another option would be to hand out bottled waters. Or, you might move around the block. Put your drink cooler or bottled waters in a wagon and walk around the neighborhood handing it out. Use it as an opportunity to greet people, get to know them, and share a bit about the Living Water with those who get a drink. You may even print up some labels for the cups with the Genesis website on it.