105. Ideas for missional Comunities to Cultivate Relationships in their Neighborhoods

This list of ideas has been copiled by some 20 people who have been added to a Google Wave I started.  The purpose of the wave is to brainstorm on creative ideas to build relationships in your neighborhood. I am listing them here for your enjoyment. There have been a lot of really cool contributions to this list by some very thoughtful folks.

• Host a National Night Out
• Facilitate a neighborhood yard sale
• Pass out 9 volt batteries for people to replace in their smoke detector
• Host a back yard theater and show a movie
• Prayer Walk your neighborhood at least twice a month
• Drop off a nice bottle of wine to your neighbor with a note "Love to get to know you guys sometime. Call and well enjoy this bottle together." (ripped from Hugh Halter in Tangible Kingdom)
• Pass out fliers offering free gardening or landscaping help
• Organize a play station/X Box/Wii tournament for the kids in the neighborhood. (If someone has the Beatles Rock Band kit you can even get the adults to play on that!)
• Assemble "doggie bags" with items that homeless people need like food and hygiene products and pass out to those in your community as the need arises or you encounter them.
• Shoot a video of your neighbors responding to the questions "What things do you like about this neighborhood?" and "What things would you like to change in the neighborhood?"
• During the Christmas season, facilitate a Christmas carolling event, inviting your neighbors to participate with hot chocolate and cider at the end.
• Host a front yard/backyard concert with a bring your own meat for the grill.
• Bake some chocolate chip cookies and take them next door....still warm and chewy.
• Take your office to the nearest coffee shop you can find.
• Form a Neighborhood Watch group and volunteer to be the block captain.
• Ask your neighbors if they would like you to stop by once a month to pick up items they may want to give to the local food shelf. Used shoes can also be collected and sent to this organization that has many local drop-off sites nationally: http://www.soles4souls.org/
• Create a "spiritual map" "spiritual map" of your city - and invite other missions-minded people in a process of 1- Discover, 2- Inspiration and 3- Incarnation.
• Host a party on your front yard during Halloween and serve "Hallo-weeners" (hot dogs) to all who stop by.
• Host a ground hog day party on your front yard. Fix different kinds of soup for folks to try out. 

 If you would like to contribute to the list of ideas, leave a comment and I will add it to the final list. I plan to get the word out about this list after the summer is over. Hopefully it will be helpful to some folks who are wanting to engage their local neighborhood in a meaningful way.