My husband Dave and I have been co-leading a small group in our home with 4 other church people. Our Small Groups Ministries director (a paid staff member of our church who oversees all the small groups, the classes, and the small group leaders) encouraged us to study this book. Our main goal as a local church is to make more and better disciples. We are big on embracing Jesus' two commandments He left us with: to love the Lord God with all of our heart, souls and minds; and to love our neighbors as ourselves. This book asks the question: "What if we, as Believers, took the commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves, literally?" as in, our literal neighbors. The ones we live next to.
This is a difficult concept for most Americans, especially those of us who live in the suburbs or large cities, to grasp. This book has definitely been a challenging one.
BOOK SUMMARY
The book is only 12 chapters and each discussion section is centered on two chapters each. (for example: chapter 1 is titled Who is My Neighbor; chapter 2 is Taking the Great Commandment Seriously. After reading the first two chapters, you come together as a group and discuss Section 1 "The Call to Neighboring"). Each chapter is fairly short and as a small group with most members working full time, we decided to meet every other week on a Tuesday evening and we would discuss the Section questions together. Each section has about 5-6 thought provoking questions, based on the reading and on the Scripture portion they provide (mostly from the New Testament) and there are also 2 "Action Steps" to do on your own applying the techniques or challenges that the authors pose within our own neighborhoods.
The chapter titles are:
- Who is My Neighbor?
- Taking the Great Commandment Seriously
- The Time Barrier
- The Fear Factor
- Moving Down the Line
- Baby Steps
- Motives Matter
- The Art of Receiving
- The Art of Setting Boundaries (this and chapter 8 were my faves)
- The Art of Focusing
- The Art of Forgiving
- Better Together
Then there is the Study Guide where, as leaders, we would pull certain questions from that meeting's section. Sometimes we only discussed 3 out of 6 and other times we would discuss all 6. It depended on what our group members were sharing, etc.
There is a place in the back to take notes.
There is also Recommended Resources for your own personal use or for use as a group.
MY THOUGHTS
This made for a wonderful small group study. The Scriptures were very thought provoking and the questions, although mainly self-reflective, led to some very interesting and vibrant discussions. This book made me look at my literal neighbors a bit differently...more with the eyes of Jesus than what I have been doing in the past.
This book is very encouraging about getting out there with the model of Jesus wiht out being pushy or shoving the Bible down someone's throat. It's more about living authentic lives in front of our literal neighbors and using our natural or spiritual gifts to help them, come along and do life with them, or even just get to know their names!! So many of us live near people we don't even know. This book challenges us and gives us tips on how to get to know your literal neighbors.
It takes us from stranger to acquaintance to friend. It explains that whole process.
I loved that there's an entire section about setting boundaries and not enabling needy neighbors to take advantage of those of us who might want to help more yet don't want to be enablers. That was probably one of my very fave sections of the book to read. In fact, Dave and I could totally relate to that section because we've lived it!
The principles found in this book are real and easy. It's basically modeled after what Jesus modeled for us here on earth. It's not so much about converting your neighbors or even inviting them to your church. It's more about loving people where they are, coming alongside them, and being the hands and feet of Jesus so they can see the differences being a Christ follower is.
The author's say that if all neighborhoods could come together and put into practice some of these Biblical principles that the solutions to most of our society's issues, would be solved or more solvable.
Building relationships with our neighbors leads to better communication, better cities, and ultimately...a better world.
I highly recommend this book for a small group study or even just one you could read on your own.
In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 17 and older.
On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 9.
2 comments:
This does sound like a great group study book.
We all loved. Our church was highly encouraging various groups to do it.
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