FocusOnTheFamily

Loving our neighbours

Written by Denis and Martha Bourget

As Focus on the Family Canada’s regional director in Quebec and Atlantic Canada, I have the privilege of speaking to groups large and small in both of our country’s official languages. Oddly, though, witnessing one-on-one about my faith is still not easy for me.

There I am with sweaty palms and my heart pounding, knocking on doors to invite my neighbours to a special presentation at our church. Beside me stand my three kids following their “brave” dad. You’d think I would be comfortable doing this by now.

The Lord and I have spent many hours together, discussing my “fear of evangelizing,” which is really less of a discussion and more of a desperate plea for help. Many times, His answers to my prayers are revealed to me through my wife, Martha.

Like many human experiences, the theory is much easier than the practice. “Easier said than done,” they say. But here are some creative ideas my faithful wife has spearheaded that just might inspire you to get out there and do it, too!

• Hold a birthday party for Jesus: Martha created invitations for our Mississauga neighbours for Jesus’ “birthday party,” complete with clown, balloons and a skit with our kids.
• Organize an outdoor puppet show and mime: Martha invited the local Christian school’s missions team to present the dramas they had performed on a recent trip to Estonia. We had a mess of Kool-Aid® and popcorn to clean up, but it was always worth it: more than 20 children eventually gave their lives to the Lord in that townhouse complex over the four years we lived there.
• Invite your neighbours for dinner: Martha devised a plan to invite the neighbours into our home to get to know them. Most of them came when they were invited over another four-year period, and five of them accepted Christ as we loved them and helped to meet their real needs.

The Lord says He has made all His disciples “fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). We are to go “fishing” every day. If we walk with the Lord with an expectation further to his command, surely He will set up the circumstances for us to witness. Of course, I still need a lot of prayer and courage to talk to the person seated beside me in an airplane, but God is responsible for the results; all we have to do is obey His commands.

© 2008 Focus on the Family (Canada) Association. All rights reserved.