About Our Church

About Our Neighborhood

Where We Began

In January 2017, a group of people came together with the desire to bring a meaningful and loving church to the Fallbrook area of northwest Lincoln, Nebraska. Today, we are a church that believes in a deep and simple approach to loving God, loving ourselves, and loving our neighbors.

About The Name

Early in discussions, the name “Neighbors” was proposed and it quickly stuck with the Launch team. The name implies a shared, foundational belief about the essence of this church. It is intended to teach us to love our neighbor as Christ loves us. However, the idea of “neighbors” surprisingly didn’t just come from the Bible. It came from a neighbor you’ll likely remember from your childhood. Fred McFeely Rogers, aka Mister Rogers of Mister Rogers Neighborhood, was much more than a children’s television host. He was an activist, a Presidential Medal of Freedom winner, a writer, and, most importantly, a minister. He spent decades of his life creating his “neighborhood,” a place in which all people could feel loved and accepted regardless of flaws, fears, or faults. That’s the kind of community we strive to build at Neighbors Church. “Love isn’t a state of perfect caring. It is an active noun like ‘struggle.’ To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now.” – Fred Rogers

Worship Times

Living The Mission In The Neighborhood

Our Beliefs & Values

We follow the early church’s sacred practice of sharing the love of God in small and intimate community; we believe the best way to sustain this tradition of worshipping together is by ensuring that every person from every background feels welcome and is loved, honored, and celebrated for exactly who they are. Neighbors is designed to engage seekers, doubters, skeptics, and marginalized—the unchurched and the de-churched—along with those who have experienced spiritual maturity. We describe ourselves as a deep and simple church—a community based on the teachings of Jesus: to accept how completely we are loved, and to love those around us – all our neighbors – with that same type of love.

Everyone is our neighbor

The world is full of wonderful people. People created by God and people deeply loved by God. Everyone in the world is loved by God and everyone in the world is our neighbor.

We cannot love others until we allow ourselves to be fully loved

When we do not love ourselves, it becomes difficult to define and express love for another. Faithfully believing in God’s love for us, leads us to feelings of being lovable. When we have faith that we are lovable as we are, we grow into a faith of loving others as they are. As Christ loves us and as Christ loves them.

Everyone is fully deserving of unconditional love

Our God is a God of love. To love God, is to love loving. God’s love cannot be a funnel, only reaching a few. It is more like rain, touching everyone regardless of who they are. To deny Gods love for all is like standing outside and trying to dictate where each and every raindrop can fall.

Our actions are an echo of our faith

Jesus served as an Advocate for the forgotten and marginalized. As Christ-followers we are called to do the same. As a community, we advocate for the needs of our neighbors and the vulnerable so we can respond: to be the hands and feet of Christ to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, invite the stranger, visit the imprisoned, share hope with the hopeless, seek justice for the marginalized, and bring light into the darkness.

We embrace the mysteries of faith

As a United Methodist Church, We approach our faith questions with openness and through the lens of Scripture in context, illuminated by tradition, awakened by experience, and explained by reason through the work of the Holy Spirit. We do not shut the doors to questions of faith. We believe grace is transforming, it changes us and brings new life. This movement of grace is what our church is filled with – grace that calls and pushes us to make a difference in our communities, to give voice to the voiceless, to meet the needs of the poor, and to extend hospitality to the marginalized – molded by love and living out love.

If we loved our neighbor as they are; if we saw every person as being special for who they are – not conditional, not “You’d be great if…” – but just loved them for who they are and we heard that every day…that would be a foundation for joy.

– Pastor Trever

Ministry Team

Trever Rook

Founding Pastor

Trever@neighborscommunity.org

I’ve held a variety of jobs including comedian, actor, morning show host, and television news producer before becoming a pastor. I’ve also spent a great deal of time trying to avoid God. Like the apostle Paul, my past is not clean, and I was called by Jesus during a time of struggle.

While in a dark time, I suddenly found myself reading the bible and watching reruns of Mister Rogers Neighborhood. Through the loving messages of Jesus and Fred, I was forever changed. I felt loved for who I was and knew that God loves us all, as we are.

For the past 13 years, this message of love has not only been the driving force in my life, but it has also been my mission. It’ also our mission at Neighbors Church. I pray we can all live in a world of kindness, where everyone feels loved, included, appreciated, and celebrated. The greatest gift we can share with others is the gift of ourselves. Our truly honest selves.

I believe loving God, loving ourselves, and loving our neighbors is what we are called to do as Christians. It’s also a very beautiful gift.

Orion Walsh

Worship Leader

Similar to Trever I have also spent a great deal of time running from God, until He also knocked me on my definite derrière as well. Returning back to my faith I began to lead worship music at First Plymouth Church & also at the People’s City Mission where I have also spent many years serving as an on-call supervisor working with the homeless population in Lincoln. I have been playing music since I was 15 years old & have released nine solo albums, four albums with my previous band, and I have toured extensively in Europe & the USA in years past. I originally helped out with music at Neighbors in the very beginning of the church as I was drawn to the deep & simple approach. I have returned to Neighbors once again & it feels good to be home.