I. The Art of Creating Connection Opportunities
- After 6 pm make everything you do relational in nature.
- Open your door, step out or let people in as often as possible.
- Take a walk around your neighborhood. Start with your block.
- Pray for each house.
- Keep a pad and pencil with you to jot down the names of people you meet.
- Pray at meal time for people you have met so you can remember their names.
- Have a potluck. It doesn’t matter whose house you use.
- Just relax and have fun. Don’t try so hard.
- Borrow a tool, swap DVD’s. Be creative.
- Don’t watch TV alone. Invite people over to watch your favorite TV show or go to their house.
- Create a neighborhood cookbook.
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II. The Art of meeting people you don’t know
This is one of the most important skills the church needs to master in order to connect with people. It’s a lot of fun once the skill is learned. People all around you will have hope for the first time because you took the time to meet them.Many of the problems you face today will seemingly disappear overnight when you learn how to use a simple word. It will also bring amazing opportunities into your life you never thought possible.
Here is the crash course. – Guaranteed to work and it will save you years of effort. Follow these instructions and you become a pro very quickly.
Smile and say ” Hi ” …..
- Find the largest and busiest shopping center and/or place where people congregate.
- Walk from one end to the other and say “Hi” to everyone you pass by. Don’t wait for an answer, just keep going. You’re not done yet.
- Come back the other way and do it again and this time stop and listen when someone says something back.
- If they want to know what you’re doing just tell them you are learning how to say hello to people.
- If they continue the conversation mostly listen.
- At the end of the conversation smile and say “It was nice talking to you” or “It was nice meeting you”. (Do not say goodbye.)
- Make it a regular practice at home, work or grocery store and you will see amazing things happen.
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III. What People want
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To love and be loved.
- To celebrate and be celebrated.
- Someone to listen.
- To have meaningful relationships.
- To have a purpose.
- To be respected.
- To feel secure.
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IV. The message we should convey to our neighbors
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They are intelligent and have great value.
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They are worth listening to.
- They are significant.
- They care as much as we do.
- We all have the same challenges and fears.
- We have answers they need.
- They have answers we need.
- Jesus has the answers we all need.
- We need Jesus. Lets pursue him together.
V. Tips on interacting with our neighbors.
- Smile when you listen, talk or greet someone. It’s like sunshine and brings much joy.
- Practice listening to people, instead of trying to get people to listen to you. You will get better results when it’s your turn. Listen much, act much, talk little
- Put people as a higher priority than a clean kitchen and what they will think of you. They will be comforted to see you have the same challenges as they do
- Use your words wisely – Speak affirming words about yourself and affirming words about others whether they are present or not and whether they deserve it or not. If you do this, People will confide in you without worry and believe you have confidence in them no matter where in life’s stage they are.
- Keep your word and commitments.
- Don’t make assumptions before having the all the facts. Give people the benefit of the doubt.
- Don’t take things personally.
- Give grace to people when they make mistakes or struggle with poor habits. We are all in the same boat.
- Serve people you do not influence and you will soon influence the people you serve.
- Acknowledge leaders in the neighborhood and look for opportunity to serve them or ask them for help in creating community
Here are some suggestions if you feel hurt by someone’s words.
1. Pause and count to 5.
2. People want to feel safe when expressing themselves and hope you will acknowledge them even when they are at their worst.
3. Most of us don’t have the skills to say the right things all the time. What we say are based upon our perceptions, not thiers.
4. Try a phrase like this. ” What you are saying is important. Is there a different way of explaining what you wish to communicate that would be easier for me to hear? or “It’s going to be okay. Things will work out.”
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V. Things to Avoid.
- Avoid political arguments. Deal with heart issues.
- Avoid sounding religious. Just be yourself.
- Don’t let an agenda or opinions get in the way of loving people.
- Avoid doing home business parties.
- Avoid partiality. God loves everyone and so should we.
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VI. Remember who we are.
Let people see the “Church” in action where we live.
