How do I love my neighbour?

There are two things that I have recently reflected on. The first is that a lot of older people live on my street. The second is that at my church there are many older Christians who may be frail (not all are!) but who are real “prayer warriors”. Recently I was grumbling to my 99 year old friend Betty, about my children waking me up at 530am in the morning, and Betty, without a hint of piousness said she was up praying at 530am every morning. Often older Christians are praying gems!

All of the above is why I was delighted to announce recently, a partnership between Faith in Later Life and the Neighbourhood Prayer Network. We (Faith in Later Life) have a focus on wanting to see older people reached with the good news of Jesus, but we also know that older Christians often play a key role in praying for their families, friends, and neighbourhood.

Since 2012, the Neighbourhood Prayer Network has been calling Christians to look at how they can pray for, care with and share the Gospel, as appropriate in their neighbourhoods. According to 2011 statistics, there are 260,000 streets in the UK, and that number is set to rise.

Since its launch, the Neighbourhood Prayer Network has seen over 5,600 streets committed to prayer. I am really excited about the common Kingdom goals that Faith in Later Life and the Neighbourhood Prayer Network share. The first output of our partnership has come quickly, but is an excellent call to action- and prayer. “Neighbour Sunday” is happening this Sunday the 17th and is an opportunity to prompt us to join together with Christians across the UK to pray for their neighbourhood. Perhaps, this “Neighbour Sunday”, you could start praying for those who live around you?

The Lord Jesus said, we must love our neighbours as ourselves. That’s a bold challenge, but one we must step up to.

For more information about “Neighbour Sunday” and a downloadable toolkit of helpful resources, please visit www.neighbourhoodprayer.net/projects/neighbour-sunday/

Carl Knightly
Director, Faith in Later Life