Tens and Hundreds (25) - Neighbourhood

Apart from the family, the lowest and most important unit in society is the neighbourhood. In the modern world, many factors are tearing the neighbourhood apart. The local church would be a unifying factor, if Christians were to form Tens and Fifties in the neighbourhood where they lived. These Tens would return cohesiveness to the neighbourhood.

• A body corporate might own the street on behalf of the residents. It could take responsibility for garbage and street repairs. It would do these tasks itself, but it would contract the work to specialists.

• The people living in the neighbourhood could decide what services they want. If they wanted to put in underground power wires, they could go ahead, provide they were willing to pay the cost. They would not have to wait for the City Council bureaucracy to decide to do it in forty years time. They could also decide what level of security they wanted.

• State-run social welfare imposed from the top does not work. Social welfare works best at the local level. If churches formed Tens and Hundreds in own neighbourhoods, deacons could work through them to those in financial difficulty.

• State justice is usually bad justice. True justice begins among neighbours and friends. If churches established Tens and Hundreds in the neighbourhood, elders would act as judges and settle disputes between people. If some elders demonstrated real wisdom, they might be called on to act as judges in their broader communities.

Tens and Hundreds (17) - Neighbourhood View

Christian elder A moved into A Street. He knew that P was a person of influence, so he rented the house next door to him. When P’s crippled daughter was healed, he and all his family decided to follow Jesus. Everyone in A Street saw the dramatic change in both P and his daughter. When they asked what had happened, he blurted out the entire story with the gospel sprinkled in between. Those living in the blue houses chose to become Christians. Elder A watched over them to ensure that none got side tracked. He also worked hard on building relationships between them. Their activities centred on P’s house.

This is only part of the story. When A moved into A Street, he did not come alone. His friends R and E had moved at about the same time. They had served together in the church that they came from and knew each other well.

The faith stirred up following the healing of P’s daughter led to the healing of a couple of other seriously ill people at the end of the street. E shared the gospel to many others living in the street and some came to believe. He took responsibility for those living in the houses shaded in green and built relationships between them. R focussed on those living on his side of the street.

For more see Evangelist.