Live Among the Flock

Peter commands pastors to shepherd the flock that is among them (1 Pet. 5:2). Therefore, actually living among them—and your flock living among one another—is invaluable.

When we planted a church in the outskirts of New Orleans, one of the most significant decisions my family made was to move into the neighborhood. Many of our core team members moved as well.

I, along with more than ten other families, now live on the same avenue as our church. Out of 160 covenant members, more than half live within a couple miles of the church building. Here are three reasons why I would encourage every pastor to teach his congregation the value of proximity.

For Your Church’s Affection

Salvation is a community-creating event. The abundant life Christ offers is lived out in a family of brothers and sisters, living in harmony with one another (Rom. 15:5). Church is not an event you attend but a household you join (1 Tim. 3:15).

Many Americans leave worship on Sunday, return home, close the garage door, and are content not to re-engage their church until next Sunday.

Proximity combats this instinct. By reducing our distance, it increases our opportunities for the one-another commanded throughout the Bible. Organic relationships develop more easily and create a culture that affects the whole.

Pastors can lead the charge by prioritizing proximity themselves, modeling hospitality, and encouraging members to do the same. The community cultivated through this effort will then draw in the lost and lonely to hear the gospel preached and see the gospel lived out in the life of the church.

For Your Neighbors’ Salvation

Paige, Kelsi, and Carly all worked at the po-boy shop at the end of the street our church sits on. They were young adults with little religious background who also lived near our church. With our members’ frequent Friday visits for fried fish and shrimp and persistent invitations to church, one by one, these neighbors came, heard the gospel, and were changed.

Amber was a standoffish stay-at-home mom who lived a few doors down from the church. My wife walked by her house daily for years. She was kind to Amber. She spoke openly about the gospel with her. When life grew difficult for Amber, she walked over to our VBS, heard the gospel, and her life was changed.

Our members’ proximity to our place of worship has opened wide the door for evangelism. When we recognized itsimportance, we began to strategically pitch more church members to move into new neighborhoods surrounding the church.

One mile from our church sits a Muslim community that had been out of our reach. The HOA for the condos behind the mosque wouldn’t allow door-to-door ministry, that is, until our church members bought condos and became the president and secretary of the HOA. Now five families from our church live in that community for the sake of the gospel.

If the Great Commission is our greatest ambition, pastors should certainly cast a vision for choosing one’s home with the mission in mind.

For Your Joy

The communal life is the good life. Living close to where you worship integrates your faith into your everyday living. It protects you from the tendency to compartmentalize spiritual things to certain spaces or times. Disciple-making becomes less designated to a building and time slot and more integrated into your living room, onto your front porch, and at your kitchen table. It’s a joyful thing.

College students often struggle relationally when they graduate and move off campus. It’s difficult to find the depth of community they once had. They can reminisce about the good ol’ college days but they can never recapture them.

At least one contributing factor to the depth of relationships in college is the proximity of campus life. Friends live near each other, eat in the same cafeteria, and fellowship in the same spaces.

Life after college may come with more stress and less free time, but it doesn’t have to be void of community. Living near your church makes deep community more plausible in our hustle culture. My nearness to church community has enriched both my pastoral ministry and my family life.

Conclusion

God is a God of relational intimacy through proximity. He walked in the cool of the garden with Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:8). Jesus ministered through proximity with his disciples. The first-century church was marked by communal living day by day (Acts 2:42–46; 4:32–35).

Not all regions lend themselves to living within walking distance from where a church gathers, but in all situations, we must pastor our churches to fight the cultural bent toward isolation. We should encourage our churches to see the value of living life among one another for the sake of the church, our neighbors, and our joy.