I wanted to love my neighbor, but didn’t know how to leave the comfort of my living room and approach the homes on my street.
When the women I longed to know didn’t magically appear on my front porch, I realized I was going to have to initiate these relationships on my own. That’s when I first had the crazy idea to start a neighborhood Bible study.
It was going to be called The Rosewood Café because we lived on Rosewood Drive. I opened my journal and drew a little logo, jotted down what I would say on the invitation, and even set the date.
There was only one little problem with my plan to start a neighborhood Bible study: I did not know my neighbors.
Initial excitement gave way to great fear as I argued with God. “I don’t have time! I’m not spiritual enough! What if no one comes? What if everyone comes?”
After months of delay and disobedience, I invited 89 neighbors over for coffee. A group of us met every-other Friday morning for the next seven years, and they even continued after I moved away! Once strangers, my neighbors became friends.
The Neighborhood Cafe
As the last neighbor left the first Cafe, I thought to myself,
“I could teach people how to do this.” I kept notes on what worked well and what failed miserably – and The Neighborhood Cafe was born!
This crazy idea of knocking on neighbors’ doors grew into an international ministry where I coached countless women across the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, and Australia to overcome their fears and fulfill their calling in their communities.
I come alongside women and show them how to love their neighbor in ways that never feel weird or awkward.
You can do it, too!
How the Neighborhood Cafe Works
The Neighborhood Cafe is where you get to know your neighbors over coffee at your kitchen table – the best place to deepen old friendships and make new ones. Here’s how it works:
1. Host an Open House for your neighbors
2. Invite them back for Bible Study
There are a million questions between Step 1 and Step 2, and I’m here to answer every one of them. You are not alone in your neighborhood! Practical tips and tools come with prayer and partnership. I will answer your questions, calm your fears with truth, help you develop a plan for your unique personality, and pray with you for God to open doors in your community.
Let’s get started! Your neighbors are waiting.
Everything you need is packed in this free Neighborhood Cafe Kit loaded with resources based on my experience and the women who have come before you. We’ve made every mistake so you don’t have to! And we’ve learned what works and are eager to share it with you.
Download a free Neighborhood Cafe Kit
Invitation
- Time-tested and carefully chosen words are welcoming and effective; lines on the back so you can write a personal note about your Bible study
- Space to fill in your name, phone number, address, the date and time of your Open House
- Prints four per page
Planning Guides
- 1-page worksheet keeps it simple or the full booklet leads you step-by-step through the process of starting, leading, and growing your Neighborhood Cafe
- Includes a neighborhood map, calendar, scripts, recipes, Open House checklist, icebreakers, Kids Cafe, Bible study selections, Facebook instructions, community service tips and more
Small Group Guides
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My Small Group Resources for “Can I Borrow a Cup of Hope” make it easy to bring your cups to the table, pour out your wisdom, and receive a refill of Living Hope in Jesus Christ.
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Each chapter of the book has discussion questions that lead deeper into Scripture and real-life application
Thinking of You
- Follow up with a note to your Guests
- Makes it easy to send a personal greeting and develop deeper friendships
- A self-mailing, full-color greeting card—just print, sign, fold, and mail!
More Free Resources
Download a Guest List, Snack Sign Up, Neighborhood Commitment, Planning Map and so much more!
Bible Study Recommendations
Can I Borrow a Cup of Hope?
How to Find Faith for Hard Times in 1 Peter
by Amy Lively
Are you facing the end of the world as you know it? The apostle Peter knows what it’s like when all your hope is gone. He watched as his hope was arrested, crucified, and buried, and Peter publicly failed every test of his faith. Peter—and his elusive, unnamed wife—also show us how God relieves our harshest suffering and redeems our heaviest regret. Working sequentially through the tiny but mighty book of 1 Peter, you will discover:
- How to express what you feel, identify what is real through the filter of God’s Word, then wisely determine how to deal with life’s challenges.
- A prayer that never fails to reframe anxiety and uncertainty into hope and purpose.
- How to make sense of pain that seems endless and pointless by understanding God’s timing and intention.
- Ways to react to chaos and confusion with a calm, clear-headed, Christlike response.
- Five simple and effective coping strategies to survive for the end of the world as you know it.
- If you can really shed the shame of past mistakes and share your story for God’s glory.
A ton of free Small Group Resources make it easy and fun to lead a group of neighbors through this book (after all, it was written for my own Neighborhood Cafe!).
Heaven: When Faith Becomes Sight
by Jennifer Rothschild
Heaven. Who goes there? Where is it? What will we do there? Questions like these arise when we consider an eternal future beyond this physical life. How can we know the truth about what comes next? In this 7-session video-based Bible study workbook, Jennifer explores the subject of Heaven from a biblical perspective. She will separate what’s true about Heaven from what’s based on legend, media depictions, and hopeful guesses.
Seeing God in the Ordinary Things
by Linda Acker
Do you long to feel the Lord in even the simple things of life? Have you taken for granted the miraculous hand of God in your everyday affairs? Day after day, He is constantly creating, sustaining, and providing for us in ways that we should never overlook. Linda hosted a Neighborhood Cafe for ten years, and she’s here to help us discover the presence of our Heavenly Father in seemingly insignificant daily experiences. This book offers 90 short devotionals to choose from that gently guide spiritual conversations.
Sabbath Soup
by Kathi Lipp
Could you use a break from cooking (and everything else) once a week? Not only is rest vital for your mind and body, it’s good for your soul too. God designed us to enter into Sabbath rest one day per week, but as you know, meals still need to be made. Your family still needs to be fed. Sabbath Soup includes convenient, seasonal meal plans that take the guesswork out of shopping and cooking. Kathi provides a guide to establishing a weekly rhythm and routine of meal planning and prep that allows you to have a true day off.
Rest Assured
by Rachel Booth Smith
Do you feel heavy or anxious? Work, kids, finances, the future, the past, the state of the world can all threaten your joy, hope, and trust. Using archaeology findings, language discoveries, and biblical study, Rachel shares theologically rich insights that bring us into the rest we need, the rest we crave—the rest for which we were made. Bible study teacher and lifelong student Rachel Booth Smith helps us focus on the who (not the how) of Creation so that we can find meaning and rest for our souls.
Welcome to the room where it all began.
My first book, How to Love Your Neighbor Without Being Weird, provides even more practical tools, prayerful encouragement and powerful inspiration so you can embrace the people God has carefully placed around your home—the best place for forming new friendships and deepening old ones.