Be A Neighbor

March 1, 2015 /

Ice Breakers

Have you ever had embarrassing moment with one of your neighbors?

Without naming names, what’s your worst horror story of things going wrong with a neighbor (preferably from somewhere you don’t currently live)?

Thoughts on Sunday’s teaching…

Review together Sunday’s teaching on Luke 10:25-37 about the Good Samaritan.

  • Share something new that you learned or something with which you disagreed.
  • Is there a person or type of person that you would have a difficult time helping out if they were in trouble? Tell us about it. What would that scenario look like?
  • What was your biggest take away?

Application

Steve rephrased the issue for us by saying, “the question isn’t who is my neighbor, but how can I be a good neighbor?”

  • Can you piece together some of the ways in which he listed for us to be a neighbor?
  • What are some ways that came to your mind that didn’t make his list?
  • What areas have you already moved into because you felt like Jesus asked you to step into with mercy even though it was uncomfortable?
  • What are potential barriers to us getting involved with people with whom we would rather not be involved? (ie. busyness, apathy, feeling like we can’t make a difference, etc.)

The tension between Jews and Samaritans was a ethnic/cultural divide and prejudice.

  • Our area (the Tri-Cities) is very clearly segregated. Why do you think that is?
  • Is this a problem? If not, why not?
  • If so, what can we do about this?
  • What can we do as a community? What can we do as a church? What can we do personally?

Next Steps

We poked around with several different areas where Jesus may be asking us to get out of our comfort zone… either from Sunday’s teaching, or from today’s discussion of being a good neighbor, or from our discussion about race and ethnicity.

Choose ONE of those areas and talk about what it would look like to take a practical step of obedience.

  • Make it small.
  • Make it specific.
  • Make it sustainable.

Share what you’d like to do with your group and make sure to follow up on it next time you meet!