Imagine, if you can, that just a few weeks before the semester ends, your summer plans change suddenly and conclusively. That trip to Zimbabwe you were planning to take to explore missions? Nope, it’s not happening. Sound familiar? Hasn’t a change in plans been our common experience since COVID-19 emerged on planet earth?

Facing disappointment, but filled with this good desire to share the Gospel with a lost and dying world, and wanting to step out in faith to pursue missions, how should you think? God rules over the policymakers who open and shut borders. He is directing your plans. Frustrated plans are an opportunity to Make Yourself a Neighbor.

So who is your neighbor? It’s definitely the people living in your house. It’s definitely the people living next door. It’s your seatmate on the plane, the cashier at the grocery store, your coworker, your exercise buddy at the gym, the Afghani refugee who just moved to your town.

Faced with a summer that is freer than you expected, how should you proceed in Making Yourself a Neighbor? First, pray. Pray for God to grow your compassion for people. Pray that you would correctly perceive people’s hopelessness and search for meaning in life. Pray for relationships to develop with lost people that allow you to speak of Christ. Pray for eyes to see the opportunities God is bringing your way. Pray for your neighbors.

Second, brainstorm. How might God want you to invest your time for the sake of the Gospel? Should you take a Spanish class so you can talk to your coworkers? Pick up a new hobby in order to make contact with lost people? Explore opportunities to intersect with refugees or immigrants through an ESL opportunity or ministry of some type? Find a creative way to share the Gospel online? Participate in your church’s outreach ministries? Practice hospitality with the goal of building relationships and opening up gospel conversations? Plan ways to intersect with your next-door neighbors in meaningful ways? God is shifting your focus this summer to learning to speak of Christ to those closest to you. How can you invest your time for Him?

Third, make plans. Since you have limited time and bandwidth, narrow your focus to just a few things. Pray for God’s mind about what you should do first. Then do it. Sign up for a Spanish class or join a soccer team or book club. Plan a July 4th cookout for your neighbors. Go running once a week with your unsaved coworker. Make a YouTube gospel video and share it on social media. Participate in your church’s Vacation Bible School or outreach ministry. Make a short list of unsaved friends you would like to invite for a meal or get together for coffee. Your goal is to build friendships with lost people for the purpose of evangelistic conversations. Make these plans part of your weekly schedule.

Fourth, pray some more. Pray for God to open your eyes to the opportunities He is giving you. Be prepared as relationships develop to initiate an evangelistic Bible study with your friend. Do you have materials to use? Would you start with reading through a book of the Bible such as One to One Bible Reading recommends? Or would you use a Bible study like The Exchange, Truth or Myth, or Story of Hope? Would you direct a person to apps like The Story, YouVersion, or Read Scripture? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, so direct your friends to the Word.

Fifth, pray again. Pray that God’s Word would fall on good soil and that His Spirit would enlighten your friends’ minds, convict them of sin, and enable them to embrace Jesus Christ!

This, my friend, is how you can Make Yourself a Neighbor!