As we prepare to close on a new home at the end of the month I have been praying about how we can best use this place to love like Jesus. In Gen 18:1-21 we see Abraham loving three strangers with an amazing enthusiasm that carries over into the NT as shown in Heb 13:2. The Old Testament custom of hospitality was so ingrained that strangers waited at the city gate, well, or market place until they were invited in. Bread and water was given and the guest feet washed and their head anointed with oil. Now I don’t know if we will be anointing anyone with oil but I want our home to be hospitable.

In searching for a home we found ourselves trying to be intentional about finding a place that could be used for multiple purposes. We have designated the basement as our main gathering space. Once rehabbed this will be a large space capable of holding a community of 30+ people where we will eat together, worship together, and encourage one another. We also hope to use this space as an indoor playground for those cold Baltimore winters.

The property also has a building (an old Jewelry store) detached from the home itself. This building we would like to reclaim and turn into a “man room” place for guys to gather together, watch games, have deep conversation, learn to be better men, and grow in relationship together.

Our hope is that our home would always be a place where people can come, feel comfortable, and feel loved. It’s not about creating a large space to keep up with the Joneses, it’s about creating space where we can love the Joneses.

On friday we will be hosting another great night with 20 couples for dinner, conversation and games. This months gathering is taking place in a local coffee shop. The owner will be opening after hours and preparing individual flat bread pizzas, salads, and bread for our dinner together. Everyone will bring a bottle of wine and we will enjoy dinner in groups of 2-3 couples per table. After our meal we will retire to the couches where we will continue our conversations over a cup of coffee, eat some dessert, and maybe even play a few games that encourage us to get to know one another.

So some of you will read this and say yes! That is a great way to connect… Others will say… what, wine? Still others might say, how is this church planting?

In Mark 2 while Jesus is at the table, “many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples.” And as the Pharisees began to complain and ask why Jesus would eat with “these” people Jesus responds, “Those who are well have no need for a physician, but those who are sick.  I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

I am reminded weekly that the people in Baltimore are not opposed to God or put off by Jesus Christ…  As we live like Jesus and love others like Jesus and invite people to eat with us, play with us and be in community with us we are finding an openess to the Gospel.  The good news of Jesus Christ is for all people.  Jesus loved us (sinners), and so we must love others!

Proximity is defined by dictionary.com as nearness in place, time, order, occurrence, or relation. Webster calls in “closeness.” And still others define it mathematically as one objects relation to another.

Over the last few months I have been faced with the importance of proximity neighborhood discipleship. Although I knew that Baltimore had a lot of very specific communities I didn’t realize the impact and importance of proximity until I began living it. I guess ultimately the word “proximity” alone doesn’t do justice to what I have learned… Instead I now believe that “life proximity” is an essential part of city church planting.

Life proximity is going through the same line at the grocery store every couple of days and getting to know your regular checker. It’s having a cup of coffee every morning in the same local shop and running into the same crowd of people. It’s meeting other parents regulary at the local “walk to” play ground. It’s stopping in for appetizers in the same little pub around the corner every friday night. It’s walking with our kids to the same pharmacy and talking to the same clerks. It’s joining the neighborhood pool, supporting the neighborhood deli, and jogging the same path morning after morning. Life Proximity is not just living close to where you want to plant a church, it is living within and taking part in the community you want to reach. It’s not about creating a new community, its about finding a community and engaging with it.

Life proxoimity in itself is nothing special, it doesn’t make disciples, and it doesn’t plant a church.  All it does is recognize the importance of being on mission in our everyday relationships and local.  It is a means to and end and the ultimate way to enjoy life and develop lasting relationships. more on this later…