Love Your Neighbors: Discipleship Rooted in Mission
One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” – Mark 12:28-31
As disciples of Jesus, we search the scriptures for guidance on how to be better followers of Christ. In Mark 12:30-31, in response to a question about what the “greatest commandments” are, Jesus says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus is clear that his disciples are to love God, love themselves, and love their neighbors. There are many ways to live into that call. The First United Methodist Church of Inglewood, California, is growing in its discipleship journey through a campaign to build sixty units of affordable housing and a community hub on its site. Affordable housing has been integral to Inglewood First’s community engagement and outreach journey; it is a cornerstone of the congregation’s spiritual formation and worshiping identity as well.
Inglewood First has served in the Inglewood community since 1905 and has been based at its current site since 1941. A smaller membership, multiethnic church, the congregation’s discipleship through its housing justice journey began in 2017 when the congregation joined LA Voice, a multiracial and multifaith community organizing network, and the Uplift Inglewood Coalition, a local federation of small business owners, mom and pop landlords, and religious congregations that organized for a rent stabilization ordinance in the city of Inglewood. At the time of the campaign, rents had increased 31% in six years, and residents were being priced out of their homes. Inglewood First UMC discerned that one way to live into Jesus’ call to ‘love our neighbors’ was to fight to help their neighbors afford to stay in their homes. After winning rent control along with their partners and neighbors, the church began to discern whether it could do more by working with a developer to convert two-thirds of its buildings into affordable housing units.