Neighbors House Community Church, which first began in Pastor Matt Harris’s living room in 2023, has grown into three more homes and launched a new outreach to international students in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Pastor Matt discovered a need when he sold a table to a college student from India on Marketplace. During the delivery, Matt stepped into the young man’s apartment and met several other international students. What he didn’t see was furniture. That’s when Matt, and his wife Andrea, decided to bring some household belongings to these young people. Their joy and astonishment were immense. Matt shared about how generous God has been to him and invited everyone to Neighbors House. Three of the students attended the next Sunday evening.
Word spread and more students joined – some Hindu, some Christian. “Every bit of the Bible and Gospel was new information,” Matt says. “It was a joy to introduce them to those stories and watch students put their faith in Jesus.”
A few have since been hired as interns at Neighbors House and developed a website called Campus Compass that helps incoming international students as they transition to life in the US. The interns placed a QR code on bookmarks that are passed around during student orientation at Purdue University Fort Wayne. The website helps them obtain furniture, goods, transportation, information about local resources, and an invitation to Neighbors House. Since its inception, many students have utilized this resource and joined Neighbors House as a result.
“It’s like the mission field has come to our living room,” Matt says. Doing life together has been a blessing to everyone involved. One student even wants to start a Neighbors House in India.
India is one of the world’s most unreached nations. These students come to America for two years, then return home. In that time, God has given Neighbors House the opportunity to witness to and disciple these students, showing them generosity unlike anything they’ve experienced and presenting news of a savior who loves them.
