How the Neighborhood Cafe Works
1. Host an Open House for your neighbors
2. Invite them back for Bible Study
Free printable resources are based on what I learned in my own neighborhood and by helping women across the country and around the world. Start a Neighborhood Cafe in your home to love your neighbors—without being weird!
If a Neighborhood Cafe isn’t your cup of tea, that’s okay! Check out How to Love Your Neighbor Without Being Weird for practical, adaptable tips for all personality types.
Invitation
- Time-tested and carefully chosen words are welcoming and effective; lines on the back so you can write a personal note
- Space to fill in your name, phone number, address, the date and time of your Open House
- Prints four per page
Planning Guide
- Booklet leads you step-by-step through the process of starting, leading and growing your Neighborhood Cafe (printing instructions)
- Includes a neighborhood map, calendar, recipes, Open House checklist, icebreakers, Kids Cafe, Bible study selections, Facebook instructions, community service tips and more
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!
The First Neighborhood Cafe
I wanted to obey Christ’s #2 Command to love my neighbors, but it just wasn’t happening. My neighborhood doesn’t have sidewalks where people stop to chat, we don’t have a corner cafe, we don’t have a park where kids play (besides, my teenager doesn’t play at parks anymore).
We don’t “neighbor,” as a verb.
When the women I longed to know didn’t magically appear on my front porch, I realized I was going to have to initiate relationships on my own. Yikes! 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.”
How to Love Your Neighbor Without Being Weird
Any initial excitement soon gave way to great fear, and I delayed and disobeyed as I argued with the Lord. “I don’t have time… I’m not spiritual enough… The church should do this… What if no one comes? What if everyone comes?”
Finally, I invited 80 or so neighbors over for coffee in October, 2008. A group of us met for the next seven years, and continued after I moved away! Once strangers, my neighbors became friends. We laugh and learn together, pray and worship together, work and play together.
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! There are Neighborhood Cafes across the United States from Alaska to Florida, and from Connecticut to Californian – and in Canada, Australia, and Great Britain! My experience in this ministry eventually led to writing a book, How to Love Your Neighbor Without Being Weird, that expands the conversation with practical, adaptable tips and tools for introverts or extroverts who live in big cities or small villages.
