Dave Runyon

I loved the heart of this book. The authors encouraged readers to love their actual neighbors.

"Sometimes the term 'neighbor' is used in its broadest sense. We're called to love all people, everywhere. But it's easy to use this metaphorical definition of neighbor - the world - as our only definition. And if that definition is our default, it probably means that by trying to love many, we actually love very few. Therefore, we should start with our most obvious neighbors - the ones that live nearest to us." (pg. 53)

Since this book was written by two people, and they each tell parts of their story from a first-person narrative, there would be something written along the lines of: "My wife Danielle and I (Jay)...." and then in the same paragraph or the one following there would be: "My wife Lauren and I (Dave)...." and I found it confusing to separate the two voices within the text. I feel it would have made more sense to write their shared sentiments in the "regular text", and then include their respective stories in type that was off-set a little to improve the readability.

There were also a few grammatical errors and quite a bit of repetition - it certainly could have been edited better.

However, I liked the general message, and appreciated that they also did address the issues of setting boundaries (you can't be everything to everyone - and shouldn't be), conflict resolution, and proper motives in being a good neighbor - evangelism as an ulterior motive is not a valid, biblical reason. As the authors put it, "We don't love our neighbors to convert them - we love our neighbors because we are converted."… (mer)

This book looks at what it would be like to take Jesus's command to "love thy neighbor" seriously. Chock full of practical ideas on how to engage with your neighbors, this book is an excellent resource for anyone who is looking to engage with their neighbors and neighborhood on a deeper level. The authors share many personal stories of how they have lived this out and how it has transformed their communities. There is a discussion guide at the end of the book that would be perfect for small groups or just personal reflection.… (mer)