Loving Your Community: Stephen Viars

When it comes to loving their communities, churches can get a bad rap for saying no until they have to say yes. But three decades as a pastor have made author Stephen Viars reconsider: Their church longs to move into indispensable roles that wrap arms around the entire community. Grab ideas to live in can't-miss ways in your own zipcode. It's, “Go love your neighbor where they are right now. Go find a need and then just see how you can meet that need together, wherever they are.” Then, often, they're going to ask, “Why do you love me like that?” In fact, we want our neighbors to constantly have reason to ask; “Why did you do that for us?” “Well, because we love you.” -- Stephen Viars Show Notes and Resources Connect with Stephen's church ministry at www.faithlafayette.org and stay connected at biblicalcounselingcoalition.org And grab his book, Loving Your Community: Proven Practices for Community-Based Outreach Ministry Check out our mentoring course: Compassionate Mentoring: How to Listen and Love Like Jesus FamilyLife Equip | Find resources to lead others, open doors in your community, and build fulfilling connections Check out the Hartford Hub Check out more of Stephen's podcast on the FamilyLife Podcast Network Find resources from this podcast at shop.familylife.com. See resources from our past podcasts. Find more content and resources on the FamilyLife's app! Help others find FamilyLife. Leave a review on Apple Podcast or Spotify. Check out all the FamilyLife podcasts on the FamilyLife Podcast Network