Love Your Neighborhood Article

The Four Ps of Missional Engagement

When churches ask how to truly mobilize disciples for the work of neighborhood revitalization, the answer is not a new strategy, program, or book study—it is a person. 

At the center of the faith that animates the real transformation of neighborhood revitalization is Jesus Christ himself. This is both an encouragement and a gentle challenge to church ministries: Jesus cannot be assumed in our teaching; he must be proclaimed and followed. He is not an optional reference point but the culmination, the telos, of everything we teach and practice. 

Now is the time to make Jesus explicit again, allowing his life, words, and way to reshape our ministries and reorient our outreach to the neighborhoods God has already called us to love in the local mission field.

As disciples of Jesus step into the Way of Jesus and begin engaging in neighborhood revitalization and ministry to marginalized neighbors, a shift in approach should occur. This shift should align ministry more closely to how Jesus went about his ministry to the marginalized, instead of what our local outreach ministries often look like in action today. The ministry of Jesus clearly outlines central themes or practices that should help reshape and reorient our outreach to neighborhoods. 

This is what the Incarnational Ministry of Jesus should look like and how the four P’s should be transforming our engagement in neighborhood work:

Posture

Coming to neighbors as learners instead of experts with solutions. 

Come as a servant, yes, but a servant that reflects Jesus who entered our story, faced our experiences, knelt down into the mess with us, while using his power and influence in the service of others. It is the identification of our need for Jesus that allows our posture to be reciprocal.

Proximity

Drawing near physically to our marginalized neighbors. 

Removing barriers such as tables that create an us/them separation. This is drawing near to those whom society has pushed to the edges and entering into their space on their terms.

Presence

This could also be called ‘perseverance’. 

It is the repeated presence in the lives of our marginalized neighbors that builds trust. They are used to churches and non-profit organizations coming in to fulfill their program, ministry, serve day, etc…and then leaving. 

What they have not experienced as much of are those same people returning to simply be with them, without an agenda.

Place

Going into the neighborhood instead of expecting neighbors to come to our church or our ministry. 

Having a focused area of impact, like a neighborhood, also helps in terms of focus and allows for the above-mentioned repeated presence. These two concepts are the two linchpins of place-based ministry.

A Word of Caution

A quick word of caution: unless a ministry is committed to the first three, they should refrain from the fourth. 

Do not enter the space of marginalized neighbors for one-offs and self-serving ministry opportunities. This merely reinforces the faulty narrative that our marginalized neighbors are people to be used, recipients of broken promises, and are unworthy of true investment. 

However, if a ministry is committed to following the Way of Jesus, they can join with neighbors in the mission field to bring hope and transformation to places.

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