Won't You Be My Neighbor w Ian McConnell

In this episode, we start with a simple but disarming question: Who is our neighbor? And we don’t stop there—we flip it on its head and retort with: Who acts LIKE a neighbor?

Using Fred Rogers as a guide, we explore what emotional intelligence looks like in practice—how curiosity, empathy, and emotional awareness can shape the way we show up for one another. We revisit his well-known idea of “the helpers,” asking what it really means to look for them—and more importantly, to be one—in a world that often feels fractured and overwhelmed.

From there, we wrestle with the moral weight of First They Came by Martin Niemöller, reflecting on silence, complicity, and the cost of failing to see others as our neighbors until it’s too late.

This episode holds together tenderness and challenge—inviting us to expand who we include in our circle of care, to resist the instinct to look away, and to consider what it might actually take to answer that question, not just in theory, but in practice.

Ian McConnell is a pastor of The Fabric church in Minneapolis, MN. He is a partner to the platform “Reclaim The Church” with Rozella Haydeé White and Pastor Tuhina Rasche (ReclaimTheChurch.substack.com and @ReclaimTheChurch on IG). You can also find him on TikTok @iangmcconnell.