Who Are Our Neighbors?
In the early years of the settlement of our nation, horse and buggy or buckboard were the typical mode of transportation. Probably wasn’t too much fun in the rain or icy weather. Nevertheless, communities tended to form ten miles apart figuring that most people would not travel more than five miles from home to town. Churches formed within that five to ten mile distance from each other. Everyone went to the church closest to their homes.
Now when we drive our cars and trucks to church, we often pass many other churches on the way. Why don’t we worship in one of them? Mostly, we go to a church that we feel most comfortable in and feel that our spiritual needs were being met.
This raises the question for this post – “Who ARE our neighbors?” To whom is Timber Ridge commissioned to reach? Certainly, those in our immediate area, but also, those within 15 miles of us.
Most of our members and guests live within 15 miles of the church. Of course, there are some exceptions. Now for the eye-opener: in most of the Bible belt, 85% of those people will not be attending anyone’s church? WOW! That is almost 9 out of ten people do not go to church, believe in Jesus, and in some cases, even know about Jesus. We live in a mission field!
My own observations indicate some characteristics of our people.
- We have a good mixture of blue and white collar workers. Very few are totally dependent on farm income, but most have employment either in Marshfield or Springfield.
- Our congregation is a wide spread of ages from new born to elderly.
- Economically, we have a number of those who struggle financially, but the majority are stable, middle-income families.
Are we reaching the people in our immediate community? How about those who live in the Marshfield city limits? What are we doing to reach the families in our area with the gospel? Who is our neighbor? (Luke 10:25-36)
Jesus’ plan for Timber Ridge Baptist Church is to reach EVERYBODY with the gospel! EVERYBODY! Paul said that we should take every opportunity to redeem the time because the days were evil. Let’s make 2018 a year for reaching people, inviting people, sharing the gospel with people. How many people will you invite to church this coming Sunday?