LOVE YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD ARTICLES
What is 'Neighboring?'
Neighboring is central to loving your community. It’s the first step in living out the Great Commandment, and for good reason. We believe that by loving the people around us—whether right where we are or where we’re called as Christians—we can bring restoration, hope, and transformation to our city.
What is Love Your Neighborhood?
The Love Your Neighborhood (LYN) framework starts with the belief that people in challenging areas have inherent dignity and value, deserve access to a quality of life on par with others, and, most importantly, they hold the power to transform their own communities. Our framework, built through years of neighborhood work, follows a simple pattern: listen, align, act, measure, repeat. At its core, LYN sets the ministry and mission of Jesus as our foundation. We follow Him into the greatest command: love your neighbor. Because neighborhoods aren’t just places, they’re full of neighbors.
Building Communities from What's Strong, Not What's Wrong
Real transformation doesn’t start with programs; it starts with people. When we focus on what’s strong instead of what’s wrong, we move from fixing neighborhoods to cultivating them. The gifts, relationships, and leadership needed for change are already present, waiting to be seen, connected, and set in motion.
Listen Well and Often
Listening is central to Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD). It’s the first step in the Listen–Align–Act–Measure process, and for good reason. We believe residents are the experts of their own communities. Their voices, experiences, and perceptions of place matter deeply, and meaningful change begins by listening to them.
Collective Action through Community Organizing
Community organizing rooted in Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) focuses on recognizing and mobilizing residents’ strengths. The Lead Agency’s role is to build trust, connect neighbors, and support resident-led teams that drive collective action. Sustainable neighborhood change happens when communities take ownership and act together from a foundation of collaboration and shared assets.
The Art of Facilitation
The facilitator role of a Neighborhood-Based Organization is perhaps the most important role to play in a LYN Initiative. When done well, facilitation becomes almost invisible, aligning all of the pieces, and leaving behind something far more visible: neighbors connected, resources mobilized, ownership of vision, and collective action.
The Missional Frontier
On the missional frontier, there is less of everything: goods and services, peace and order, community and belonging, etc. The missional frontier is the place and space where the Kingdom of Heaven does not reign. A life lived on the missional frontier can be described as brokenness instead of wholeness, scarcity instead of abundance, and isolation instead of togetherness. Love Your Neighborhood is a framework for engaging in this missional frontier as God’s missionary people. Together as a People of Mission, we can experience a foretaste of the Kingdom of Heaven by joining a God of Mission in the Arena of Mission.
Resident-Led Action
Resident-led action transforms neighborhoods when it is rooted in listening, organizing, and collaboration, ensuring that vision with action drives meaningful change. By embracing the ABCD model, communities focus on assets, associations, and resident-driven initiatives—empowering neighbors to lead, invest, and celebrate progress together. Through direct investments, shared ownership, and servant leadership, this approach shifts power to residents, fostering sustainable transformation from the ground up.
Be Sent
At Community One, we see Neighborhood Revitalization as a platform for the people of God to participate in the mission of God. We believe that God especially cares for the marginalized of society, and His desire is to see them restored to Him. When that happens, it redefines their lives from one of need to one of hope. The Church has the incredible opportunity to join in this mission and be active participants in this restoration of hope. We are called and sent by God to be co-laborers in this work. It is the family business!
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