Stepping Out: Part 2

Contributed by:
Eric Dunaway
small groups pastor

Tonight we took the next step toward starting our Life on Purpose group for our neighbors. For a couple of weeks, now, we've had the invitation cards sitting around. A few days ago we actually finished filling them out with our group information. And after putting it off longer than we should have, we finally walked door to door and talked to the neighbors we had felt should be invited to our group.


Our first stop was at the house of a young couple - probably a few years younger than us - who have two little boys. They've only been in the neighborhood for maybe a year, and we had only talked to them one other time - ironically, it was at the Johnny Appleseed Festival.

Our next stop was one that we hadn't even planned to make. But as we made our way from the first couple's house, we notice one of our neighbors cleaning up from a yard sale. He's a single guy who's probably around our age, and so we figured we'd go ahead and invite him, too.

Then we made our way to a neighbor's house where our daughters were playing. They're probably a few years older than we are, but their kids are close to ours in age. Sophie and their daughter are actually in the same class at school. So far, they were the neighbors with whom we were most familiar. That might explain why, as we knocked on the door, Gibson just let himself in.

We still have at least one, if not a couple more, sets of neighbors that we hope to invite. 

As I said in my first post in this series, this is a major step outside our comfort zones. Even as we approached the first neighbor's house, I made a feeble attempt to divert all the "talking" responsibilities to Amanda. I kind of felt like I didn't know what to say!

With each of the neighbors, I'm not sure that any of them are actively going to church. And I know how it probably sounds when "random" neighbors walk up to your door and invite you to a "Bible study." Even as I'm trying to invite them to our group, the following thoughts are running through my mind:

1. I don't want them to think I'm weird.
2. I don't want them to think we only want to be their friends just so we can lure them into our church.
3. I don't want them to think that our group will be a place where we sit around and judge people for their "sin."
4. I don't want them to think I'm weird. ... I think I mentioned that already.

So I stumbled through a few attempts to describe our group, and what it would be like - hoping that it would come across as "safe" and "non-threatening" and something they'd want to come to - but all the time feeling like it was still just a little awkward.

I will say, however, that it was great to talk with them. Even though there was definitely an element of awkwardness, there was still a feeling that it was good to connect with them. I don't know if they'll come to our group. We left them our invitation card with our information and phone number. But they may not show up, and that's fine. Still, it was a point of contact that could turn into something else in the future.

So now we're just praying that God will bring the right people into this group. I'm excited to see where it goes, and how it takes shape. More on this later.