Next Door as It Is in Heaven

Next Door as It Is in Heaven

How many of your neighbors could you introduce me to by name? Do you know what their scriptural foundation is based on? Wouldn’t it be nice if we treated the people living next door as it is in Heaven? Don’t you want to see your neighbors in Heaven?

Book Description:

There was a time when neighbors knew each other’s names, when small children and the old and infirm alike had more than their families looking out for them. There was a time when our neighborhoods were our closest communities.

No more. Neighborhoods have become the place where nobody knows your name. Into this neighborhood crisis the words of Jesus still ring true: Second only to the command to love God is the command to “love your neighbor as yourself.”

In Next Door as It Is in Heaven, Lance Ford and Brad Brisco offer first principles and best practices to make our neighborhoods into places where compassion and care are once again part of the culture, where good news is once again more than words, and where the love of God can be once again rooted and established.

About the Author

Lance Ford is the cofounder and director of Shapevine.com, and the former director of the Northwood Church Multiplication Center. With more than 20 years of experience as a pastor and church planter, Lance is a writer, coach, consultant, and an adjunct professor. Ford and his wife live in Kansas City, Missouri.

Brad Brisco is currently the Director of Bivocational Church Planting for the North American Mission Board. He holds a doctorate in the area of missional ecclesiology; his doctoral thesis was on assisting existing congregations in transitioning in a missional direction. He also serves on the National Leadership team for Forge America Mission Training Network. Brad is the co-author of Missional Essentials, a twelve-week small group study guide and The Missional Quest: Becoming a Church of the Long Run. He blogs regularly at missionalchurchnetwork.com

My Thoughts:
In the scriptures we are told to go and spread the Good News of Christ. I believe this starts first in our home and then expands to our neighbors and so on sort like a ripple effect when a pebble is dropped into the water. Our greatest influence is with those that are closest to us and lessens the further distanced we become from the center of our circle.

In this book, Next Door as It Is in Heaven, the authors discuss the idea of intentional neighboring. Start with the people that live closest to you. Do you know your neighbors name? Yikes! I may wave at everyone as I drive or walk past them but could I tell you who they work for or how many children they have? Nope. We, as a nation used to be able to do that with our neighbors.

Now we are all so busy that we barley remember our children’s names! Just ask any of my seven how many names I run through before landing on theirs. Sad, I know.

But if we are to be the hands and feet of Christ, we need to get out there and touch others. What a better source of contact than our neighbors? Reaching out to them and building relationships could have generational impact. Imagine sharing your faith with the person next door and them accepting Christ as their savior. Just think about the impact the changes will be in their life and the lives of their children, grandchildren, and so on. Your being willing to be intentional in being a good neighbor may have an impact on someone else’s eternity.

I enjoyed this book. It had some great tips and ideas for reaching out to your neighbors. I also like books that use real life examples of the authors as in this one.

If you are looking for ways to be more intentional in your personal relationships, this book would be a good read.

You can grab a copy of this book at several of your local book stores as well as on Amazon in both Paperback and Kindle versions.

Don’t have a Kindle? Grab one for yourself. They are so nice to use for reading. I love my Kindle Fire and my little one uses the e-Reader version (just for reading without the added games and internet options).

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