There are three neighborhoods that I believe are the responsibility of every believer:  The one in which you live, the one in which you work (wherever you do what you do, be that a spread out “neighborhood” like clients of a landscaper or salesperson, or a close “neighborhood” like a cubical based office design, or anything in between) and the one in which you worship.

In The Connecting Church, Randy Frazee gives a list of “Rules to Being a Good Neighbor” that might allow us to build relationships in a way in order to make a difference.  I found them to be fairly significant and I’d like to synopsize them for you here.  Obviously this was written for the neighborhood in which you live, but it seems easy enough to adapt the majority of the list to the other two as well.  You can find the full list on pages 146 & 147.

• Take care of your property.
• Visit your neighbors spontaneously. If they are working on something, pitch in and help.
• If your dog barking is an annoyance, solve it. (Or for the office, if you listen to music in your cubical, get earbuds and wear one in and one out so you can hear your music and the office chatter, for example)
• Borrow stuff from your neighbors, giving you common grounds for a conversation. Return what you borrowed promptly and in better condition.  If it breaks replace it quickly. It would also seem to me that you should be a generous lender as a part of this principle.
• Use common sense.
• “Do unto others as you would have them do to you.”

Any others you might add?