Above: The Rev. Dr. Beth Creekpaum ’10 (right) traveled with PTS’s World Mission Initiative to Turkey (2011)
I grew up going to the New Wilmington Mission Conference, and from an early age, I heard the call to love God and love neighbor. I distinctly remember a drama performed before I was even old enough to attend as a delegate without my parents. We were called to each be a missionary to our own school, and the program graphic ended up in my desk as a reminder of that call all year round. Looking back, it should be no surprise that, in my adult life, I have found myself called to serve in various short-term missional capacities—from a week-long work trip stateside to leading a group of college students for a summer at the very same conference.
Being a Neighbor at Home and Away
As I look back on those experiences, I cannot help but contrast the experience of being neighborly when I am away verses those of being neighborly in my life at home. When away, time seems to slow, despite whatever work or agenda is set for us. There is a greater awareness of God’s presence as I am out of my comfort zone, and there is a bit of extra time to see and say hello to everyone I come across. I remember walks and games with children I did not know. They held my hand, and we laughed and played. I remember conversations with hospital employees after unfortunate circumstances brought me there with a team member. It was extremely common to stop what I was doing to talk to a host, a visitor, or even a casual observer. I remember being present and somehow more capable of being neighborly.
It is a sad self-observation that it is easier to be neighborly when I am not in my own neighborhood. Life speeds up. My powers of observation are significantly dulled by church agendas and children’s schedules, commute times and to do lists. It is extremely easy to travel between my private home and my private office, all the while withdrawing either into my introvert bubble or my circle of familiar, like-minded friends.
It is thanks to my children, not some gracious faithfulness to the command of Jesus to love neighbor, that gets me out of my blind stupor. Years ago, my church challenged its members to invite a friend to our annual church family Thanksgiving. It was my oldest, who was about eight years old at the time, who suggested that we invite a girl from the neighborhood who had very little parental supervision or guidance to come with us. That invitation became a weekly journey to her house to bring her to our church. It has been hard. She is not my child, so we cannot parent her or expect the same things from her that we do of our own kids. We have felt the call to welcome and accept this young neighbor—accept her as she is while also inviting her into the behavior that no one else in her family understands, let alone practices, of following Jesus. If we are honest, this has been time consuming, emotionally exhausting, and also beautiful. And there are times when I confess that I want to shut my heart and my door and say, “Enough with being neighborly!” We are far from having “arrived,” but amidst all the challenges, this young woman, without the blessing of her parents, requested to be baptized.
The journey continues as we try to continue to grow into the kind of neighbors we are called to be. We have done this imperfectly. But I do wonder what life would look like if we all behaved in a more intentioned way—the way I do when I am out of my own neighborhood.
Register for the 2026 WMI Conference and W. Don McClure Lecture!
Join us for the World Mission Initiative Conference and W. Don McClure Lecture as we explore what it takes to love our neighbors in meaningful, tangible ways. Inspired by the question, “Won’t you be my neighbor?”, this gathering invites honest reflection, connection, and action.
Featuring keynote speaker Dr. Ruth Padilla DeBorst
Oct. 16-17, 2026, in person and online
Keynote lecture free and open to the public
Registration for the WMI Conference includes access to the following workshops:
- The Art of Theology: Creating a Neighborly Vision of Justice, Lakeisha McCoy Aquino
- Wild, Loud, and Rude: When Neighbors Become Family, Dan Wonneberger
- The Price of Proximity: Neighboring and the Cost of Showing Up in 2026, Monica Ruiz
- Re-Membering the Neighborhood: Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood as Model for Reparative Ecclesiology, Dr. Clarence E. Wright
The Rev. Dr. Beth Creekpaum ’10 is pastor of Sandy Lake Presbyterian Church, where she has served since 2010, and director of presbytery advancement and mission at the Presbytery of Shenango. She holds an M.Div. from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and a D.Min. in leadership and change from Fuller Theological Seminary.