OUR CULTURE

Our name was inspired from the story of the Good Samaritan from the Christian Bible as explained by Andy Stanley in his book titled Irresistible: Reclaiming the New that Jesus Unleashed for the World. 

We find Jesus being tested by an expert in religious law about inheriting eternal life.  In relation to following the religious  law, Jesus is asked, "Who  is my neighbour?"

In the story Jesus tells of a local man left in the street after being beaten and robbed.  Two religious men, expert law keepers, walked by the man without stopping to help.  Then a third man, a despised enemy, a Samaritan, stops to help the man and even takes care of him the following day.  

We imagine the crowd around being mesmerised by where this story is going.  Jesus asks the religious leader which of the three he thinks is the neighbour to the beaten man in the story.  He replies "The one who showed him mercy".  

This jarring story is so challenging for us today as we ask ourselves, who is my neighbour? They are the ones we walk past that need our help, the ones we pretend we don't see or feel we cannot help.  They are the ones  who might disrupt our day, our way of life, our well ordered plans.  They are the vulnerable, the ones suffering, the ones who cannot repay us, the ones who need mercy.  

We want the culture of the Neighbourhood to ever chase after Jesus' prompting, to "now go and do the same". 

Surely that world looks like good news for everyone.