Local Outreach

LOVING OUR NEIGHBORS

We desire to love our neighbors and make disciples who become worshipers maturing in Christ. Take a look at some of our Outreach Initiatives below and watch this short video introduction.

Consider these questions in your Local Outreach Neighboring efforts:

  1. Who are your literal neighbors, and how can you serve them?
  2. What needs exist in your community that need to be met?
  3. Who can you partner with from your Adult Bible Fellowship or Small Group to minister winsomely to your neighbors?
  4. How can you connect your actions to articulating the Gospel message?

Learn How to Engage Your Community

Looking for creative ideas on how to be a better neighbor? Download the Community Engagement Guide with helpful suggestions for neighborhood service and relationship building. Find 5 Questions to Ask and Answer before you go and 5 Follow-Up Questions to help figure out what worked and didn’t work! This guide will become a process for sharing your faith that will teach you why and how to share your testimony while pairing the Gospel with your unique story.

Community Engagement Guide

Stories About Neighboring

Hosting Neighbors at Home

Authors of the book “Placed for a Purpose” by Chris and Elizabeth McKinney, encourage us to plan for “a sustainable vision for the low and slow lifestyle of neighboring… that builds meaningful, gospel-motivated relationships.”

Consider hosting a few neighbors in your home over the winter months. Plan a simple event and get the word out that you’re hosting a get-together. Determine a place for people to stand or sit, a few games for the kids, and name tags for people to introduce themselves to one another quickly. Consider events like an ice cream social, a cookie exchange, or a fun craft activity.

The McKinney’s said, “in a culture where most people don’t know their neighbors’ names, where we are lonelier than ever, where we don’t know how to talk to people who are different from us, we discovered that we couldn’t live without our neighbors. Since then, we wrote this book for those who want to grow in what Jesus Christ said was the most important thing we could ever do with our lives to love God and love our neighbors.”

Learn more about Chris and Elizabeth McKinney including encouraging videos.

Free Neighboring Resource from Chris and Elizabeth McKinney.

Great for small groups! RightNow Media is free through East White Oak.

Bless Every Home Resources

Bless Every Home

Begin living a Pray-Care-Share lifestyle through this free online prayer tool which is free and confidential. BlessEveryHome.com/EastWhiteOak gives you the tools to become a Light for Christ in your neighborhood. Use your dashboard to review your individual prayer journey with each neighbor. You will even receive optional daily or weekly reminder emails with a prayer prompt and 5 neighbors to pray for as often as you want.

Prayer Resource

Be a Light for Christ in your journey to Making Disciples at East White Oak and begin praying for your neighbors today! Download and print this PDF Resource.

For the Lord has commanded us, “I have placed you as a Light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.” Acts 13:47

Watch this recorded panel discussion with Chris Cooper, the President of BlessEveryHome.com and Dave Runyon, co-author from the book The Art of Neighboring, to discuss the greatest challenges of our age of how the church will respond to crisis, while continuing to practice the command to care for and share the Gospel with others when that often involves our direct, physical ministry to one another and to our neighbors. Don’t forget to sign up for BlessEveryHome.com/EastWhiteOak !

Our Church Plant: Living Stone Communities

In 2006 East White Oak Bible Church began to develop a local outreach ministry—a difficult task for a rural church. Pastor Larry VanGundy, now the Senior Pastor at Living Stone Communities, had joined our staff to lead the effort. Initial endeavors were made in west Bloomington through one-time events (the Bloomington Block Bash) and Children’s clubs (Good News Club, Summer Fun Days, Irving Reading Program).

Our roots began to grow deeper in the area as we adopted Irving Elementary School and established The Hub — Living Stone Communities local outreach center. Through Irving LSC has established programs such as The Treehouse Bible Club, one-on-one tutoring, and support for the Irving Elementary staff. At The Hub they’ve hosted community game nights, movie nights, and classes such as Faith & Finances, Computer courses, Men’s Fraternity, and DivorceCare. A couple of families from East White Oak, including Pastor Larry, moved into the west-side.

Small Gospel Communities on the west side have gradually formed into a Sunday morning church gathering. Weekly services began in April 2018! Living Stone Communities are based on neighbors reaching out to neighbors with the love of Jesus.

We believe that the Lord is on the move in west Bloomington. By God’s grace we are excited to witness the Gospel transformation happening through the ministry of Living Stone Communities.

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