We all want to love our neighbors, and we are commanded to do so in multiple passages of Scripture, most notably in Matthew 22:39 (ESV), which states, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The challenge often lies not in our willingness but in our lack of resources to turn theoretical concepts into practical realities. I offer a possible solution for your consideration: Look around your community to find God’s people actively fulfilling His mission and partner with them. An old axiom says, “There’s no limit to the amount of good a person can accomplish if they don’t care who gets the credit.”
Historically, our movement has been a network of small churches. We often find ourselves in communities where at least one megachurch exists. The pragmatic reality is that we lack the manpower and resources to compete with the programs they are able to offer. In truth, we are not there to compete but to seek ways to cooperate, collaborate, and come alongside our brothers and sisters who worship nearby. Loving our neighbors well could start with loving our neighboring churches.
Instead of viewing the church down the street as a competitor, perhaps we should see it as our closest ally. Many years ago, I served in the United States Army. At one point, I was stationed on a U.S. naval base alongside sailors and U.S. Marines. Each branch of the military has its own culture, uniforms, ranks, insignia, weapons, tactics, and approaches to achieving the shared mission of defending the nation it serves. Despite their differences, they unite to stand together against a common enemy. This serves as a powerful image of the church in its diversity of expression.
What would this kind of cooperation and collaboration look like in practice? We once became aware of a family shelter for displaced families, all of them struggling to survive and to provide for their households. After speaking with the manager of the facility, we learned that one practical need they had was for supplemental meals. Acknowledging our limitations as a small church, we decided to provide one meal each week for all the residents of the facility. A pastor friend from a larger Foursquare Church heard about our efforts and offered to assist with funding. Since the facility was close to his church, we eventually handed the program off to the Foursquare Church entirely.
A nearby Southern Baptist church has a ministry for international seafarers—hundreds of commercial fishermen from other countries who come to our city to unload fish but cannot leave a fenced compound. While we lacked the resources to support an ongoing ministry of the magnitude they provide, we offered to host a Christmas party for them. We set up a tent, catered food, provided entertainment, and bought individual gifts for each fisherman. This manageable, one-time event was a tremendous blessing to the fishermen, and it blessed our Baptist friends by easing a significant burden on them.
We have often observed relief efforts in disaster-stricken areas where churches come together to provide emergency supplies, shelter, and comfort to communities in crisis. In those moments, believers find ways to pause doctrinal debates and organizational distinctions to collectively be the hands and feet of Jesus to the world around them. Why must we wait for a natural disaster to motivate us to join hands with others who follow Christ? Instead, we should seek opportunities, large or small, to come alongside and join forces when we can do so without compromise.
In addition to interchurch cooperation, opportunities to effectively love our neighbors abound in parachurch organizations and even in some secular organizations that are compatible with our Church of God of Prophecy ethos. Groups like Samaritan’s Purse offer avenues to serve and give in ways that provide tangible evidence of Christ’s love. Habitat for Humanity, which had perhaps the most notable volunteer in the late former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, welcomes volunteers from diverse Christian backgrounds. A challenging question for all of us might be the following: Do our volunteer efforts and opportunities—demonstrations of neighborly love—need to include the name of a church or the name of Jesus in the title to truly reflect His nature and His character?
A good place to start loving our neighbors is to show the world around us that we love one another. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35 NIV). Observing us working hand-in-hand with other believers to show the love of Jesus might just be the best witness our neighbors could see.