Great question from a friend of ours at Bridge Church, reflecting upon her families journey into incarnational living in suburban St. Tammany Parish. Evan and Angie McGinty have partnered with two other couples (Jeremy and Elizabeth Butler and Josh and Jenna Norris) to throw a monthly block party in their neighborhood designed to be an intentional effort to get to know people, build community, and have fun.

Check out the entire story here at Angie & Evan’s blog.

And ask yourself, how am I BEING the church in my neighborhood, workplace, community, etc.?

Here’s Angie’s challenge:

Are we taking on the flesh of Christ daily, even when it is inconvenient with our time schedule. Are we missing opportunities that could be used to show other’s love? Jesus didn’t always wait for people to come to him, He went to them… He loved on and hung out with the people that no one else would.

The real challenge comes when you are just “on the way” of life.  Will I make it a point to go out of my way for others in the little opportunities that come along, or will I let them pass me by? I continue to be challenged in this, but on those occasions when I do rise up to meet that challenge…wow….what a difference it makes!

Here are a few tangible and easy ways to show others love:

• Bring baked goods to a neighbor for no reason or to police and fire departments to say thank you.
• visit an old folks home (most of those people don’t get visitors)
• pay for someone else’s: coffee, meal, etc and do it anonymously (like the car behind you or the table across the room)
• cook a meal for someone who could use a break or help
• use your talents: our church has built lots of wheelchair ramps for elderly people who can’t afford it.
• babysit for someone free of charge and offer to do it
• leave an AMAZING over the top tip for your server
• write a kind note to someone

Those are just a few ideas…there are soooo many opportunities to give of ourselves EVERY day, it’s just a matter of DOING IT!

Thanks to Evan and Angie for showing us the way into incarnational living!

What are other ideas and ways to BE the Church in our communities?