Chapter 1. Who Is My Neighbor?

What if the solution to our society’s biggest issues has been right under out noses for the past two thousand years? When Jesus was asked to reduce everything in the Bible into one command he said: Love God with everything you have and love your neighbor as yourself. What if he meant that we should love our actual neighbors? You know, the people who live right next door.

Chapter 2. Taking the Great Commandment Seriously

Most sincere followers of Jesus want to connect with people around them in a meaningful way, but often they just don’t know how. And this raises some serious questions about our strategies to engage the world. Remember, Jesus talked about a way to be with people that is both effective and powerful, a way to be with them where they are.

Chapter 3: The Time Barrier

Our purpose in life is to love God and love others. That may mean that sometimes we need to forego some good things to devote time and energy to better things, the main things–loving God and loving our neighbors.

Chapter 4: The Fear Factor

Throughout this journey we have often thought, This neighboring stuff is just too messy. I’m just not sure it’s worth it. And being honest here–you may get to a point where you too just want to throw in the towel. But fortunately we are learning the value of leaning in and embracing the tension. All you can do is remember the words of Jesus. Remember that neighboring really matters. and remember that being a good neighbor is something that both changes the people who live around us and changes us as well.

Chapter 5: Moving Down the Line

The first step to taking the Great Commandment literally is to move from stranger to acquaintance in your relationships with those who live nearest to you. Learning a person’s name is the first and easiest step you can take to become a better neighbor.

Moving from acquaintance to relationship is not as clean or as easily defined as the first step. There isn’t a simple tool that can move you into relationship, because it is impossible to program relationships. All of us can, however, create environments where relationships might develop and grow into something significant.

Chapter 6: Baby Steps

We all wish we were a bit more of something–smarter, funnier, or wealthier. Often we have a hard time recognizing what we do have to offer. When it comes to neighboring it’s important to figure out how we can make a difference in the lives of our neighbors. It may not seem that we have much, but when we give from what we have, something sacred happens. God uses the small things that we bring to him and multiplies them into a miracle in someone else’s life.

Chapter 7: Motives Matter

We want to be clear about something when it comes to the art of neighboring. This is not an evangelism strategy. And if evangelism is your only motive, then you won’t be a very good neighbor. However, if neighboring is done with the right posture, then people who don’t know God will most certainly come to know him.

Chapter 8: The Art of Receiving

Great neighborhoods are built on reciprocal relationships on two-way streets. At the end of the day, no one wants to feel like a project. We want to feel like we bring something to the table.

Chapter 9: The Art of Setting Boundaries

As you begin getting in touch with the needs of those around you, you are going to encounter the real-life issues of some of your neighbors. You are going to be reminded of the reasons most people avoid entering into relationship with those who live nearest to them. In short, at times it can feel overwhelming to be in real relationships with our neighbors. You may start to wonder, What have those guys gotten me into?

Chapter 10: The Art of Focusing

The truth is that, when we practice the art of neighboring, we just won’t connect at a deep level with some people. There are a lot of reasons for this, but the bottom line is that we don’t have the capacity to have deep friendships with everyone. After all, there are only twenty-four hours in a day!

Chapter 11: The Art of Forgiving

The realization that a problem exists is actually the beginning of the solution. Often the first step is to acknowledge that there is a problem that needs to be addressed. It’s too easy to downplay sch concerns, and, even though something is truly wrong, we force a smile and say, “Aw, it’s okay. Everything’s fine.” When actually that’s a lie. Things are not fine. If someone is in the wrong, God doesn’t ask us to ignore the offense. What he asks us to do is forgive. Those who follow Jesus have only one choice in response to being offended: forgive. Obviously this is a lot easier said than done.

Chapter 12: Better Together

As one person, you can be a good neighbor. No doubt about that. But at the end of the day, your results will be limited. Yet if many people in your neighborhood come together, all with the same goal, the results will be exponentially greater. When multiple neighborhoods begin to work toward the same goal, cities can actually be changed. And if cities join with other cities, working toward similar outcomes, the results can be phenomenal.

This movement has continued to grow quickly over a relatively short period of time. In the second year of offering the neighboring series, more than fifty congregations participated. And through the website (artofneighboring.com), people were able to connect with like-minded neighbors who were hearing the same message in other congregations.

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