If you’ve been at Pulpit Rock for a while, you may have heard of Pancakes on the Porch. A Pulpit Rock family started this a few years ago as an effort to meet their neighbors and live “sent” into their neighborhood…
When Jesus tells us to be sent “as the Father sent me” (John 20:21), He is not only telling us that we ARE sent but is also telling us HOW we are sent… like Him. Then when you look at Jesus’ life in the gospels you quickly realize He did a lot of teaching and relationship building around tables and food.
So why not pancakes?
With this in mind, and with the example of Kevin and Lydia’s Pancakes on the Porch, I approached some neighbors we know that have a similar love for their neighborhood and people. They don’t attend Pulpit Rock but share common Kingdom values that we do. We decided to launch Pancakes on Willamette (the street we both live on)!
After getting some flyers together and picking a Saturday for the event, we walked the street, knocked on doors, and left flyers for neighbors. We didn’t know if anyone would show up, but we were excited to be intentional in developing neighborhood relationships, hopefully exhibiting the Kingdom principles that mimic Jesus’ life.
Our first Pancakes on Willamette was a hit! We had about fifteen neighbors show up, many of whom had not met each other.
New relationships were formed, life-stories shared, and a new sense of community begun, all around food and friendship. There were comments like, “We should do this regularly.” And so, our next one will be August 7th, which can then lead to Fall gatherings of various types.
Though we hope that these intentional steps will lead to direct conversation about Jesus and the Kingdom of God, our first call is to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Perhaps Jesus knew that leading with love (and pancakes) would help open the door to deeper conversations about life and faith. Regardless, our call is to be sent as Jesus was sent by the Father, and so we’re committed to mimicking our Teacher and the way He loved people…. for us, with pancakes.
If you would like to start a pancake gathering in your neighborhood, or something similar, we’d love to help you!
We can share some steps needed to reach out and love your neighbors, as well as micro-grants to experiment with building community in your context. You host the event and we’ll buy the pancakes. Contact Rowland!
We’d also love to help you launch a community effort through The Pando Collective.
Sometimes loving your neighbor looks like a deep discussion, sometimes it looks like helping them financially or in some practical way, but sometimes… it simply looks like pancakes.
