In Mark 12:31, Jesus told His audience, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” In fact, the command to love one’s neighbor appears ten different times in the Scriptures. At Lancaster Baptist Church, we have set aside a special week to devote special attention to following these instructions.
Our strategy is that every member of Lancaster Baptist Church would perform “intentional acts of kindness” to demonstrate God’s love to coworkers, neighbors, friends, and complete strangers.
The idea behind Love Your Neighbor Week is that we would point our community to the Lord Jesus Christ through our actions. With each act of kindness, we follow up with a simple reminder of God’s love—a card that says “God loves you” and has our church’s name and contact information on it.
As a church, we are looking this week for creative ways, as families and individuals, to demonstrate Christ’s love. And we are praying for those who will receive these acts of kindness, that seeds of the Gospel will be planted in their hearts.
Love Your Neighbor Week inspires creative ways to touch people’s lives for eternity—and to have a great time doing it!
(Visit strivingtogether.com for a free download of the Love Your Neighbor card and a handout to give your church family of ideas to love their neighbors.)
Ideas for Children:
Bake goods for a police or fire station
Take stuffed animals to the hospital’s children’s wing
Take coloring books to a doctor’s office
Make bookmarks and hand them out at a library, hospital, or school
Give out free lemonade on the front lawn
Take dog or cat treats to a veterinary hospital
Take dog food or cat food to an animal shelter
Make crafts for local city officials to use as office décor
Ideas for Teens:
Wash windows in a parking lot
Take a pie to an elderly neighbor
Mow someone’s lawn
Rake someone’s leaves
Take up a neighbor’s trash cans
Trim a neighbor’s bushes
Sweep a neighbor’s patio
Host a free car wash
Clean bathrooms at a local business
Volunteer at a nursing home
Volunteer to be a tutor in a public school
Plant flowers in a neighbor’s flower box
Offer to babysit for free
Paint nails or do makeup for ladies at a nursing home
For musicians: give a brief recital at a retirement community or in a public place, such as a park
Ideas for Adults:
Bake goods for someone down your street
Wash windows in a parking lot
Take a pie to an elderly neighbor
Mow someone’s lawn
Take up a neighbor’s trash cans
Pay for the person behind you at a drive-through
Trim a neighbor’s bushes
Sweep a neighbor’s patio
Take baked goods to the office
Fill a coworker’s candy dish
Fill a coworker’s fridge with water
Buy a coworker coffee, a snack, or lunch unexpectedly
Place a tissue box on a coworker’s desk
Take hot chocolate mix and marshmallows to the break room
Take free newspapers to the office
Buy your neighbor a newspaper
Take flowers to work and share them
Treat a coworker to fresh fruit
Paint nails or do makeup for ladies at a nursing home
Clean bathrooms at a local business
Meet the mailman with a bottle of water
Volunteer to be a tutor in a school
Leave an extra big tip for the waiter/waitress
Rake someone’s leaves
Serve refreshments to customers at a retail center
Plant flowers in a neighbor’s flower box
Let your staff leave work an hour early
Offer to return a shopping cart for someone loading a car
Let the person behind you in the grocery line go first
Slip some money to someone who you know is having financial difficulty
Leave money in the vending machine for the next person to get a treat
For musicians: give a brief recital at a retirement community or in a public place, such as a park
For business owners: donate a percentage of revenue for the week to a special cause or serve refreshments to customers
Ideas for Families:
Take baked goods to a fire or police station
Take baked goods to a neighbor
Take stuffed animals to the hospital’s children’s wing
Take coloring books or magazines to a doctor’s office
Take a pie to an elderly neighbor
Rake someone’s leaves
Visit the elderly in a retirement community
Take your dog to a retirement community
Host a free car wash
Host a free garage sale
Take a bag of groceries to a needy family
Make bookmarks and hand them out at a library, hospital, or school
Plant flowers in a neighbor’s flower box