The Neighboring Life Study Guide

Jesus gave his followers two commands which we call the Great Commandment: Love God and Love Your Neighbor (Matthew 22:37-40). What if we literally loved our actual neighbors? Not just the people we might pick and choose, but the people living next door and across from us. Some might start by getting to know your neighbors’ names. For others it might mean praying for their neighbor or serving them. This isn’t an evangelism strategies. In fact, we don’t love our neighbors to win them to Christ. We love them because we are Christians. Think of The  Neighboring  Life more as a spiritual discipline than a ministry project. After all, your neighbors won’t like to be treated like a project anyway. But, everyone appreciates kindness. The study guide and companion video curriculum is designed to help you understand the nature of  neighboring, to inspire you with stories about neighboring, and to motivate you to take action, even if they’re baby steps, in your own neighborhood. No special talent is required. Everyone can be a neighbor!

Rick Rusaw is the Senior Pastor at LifeBridge Christian Church. He is co-author of several books including The Externally Focused Church, The Externally Focused Quest, The Externally Focused Life, and the Life on Loan series. Prior to LifeBridge, Rick served as a Vice President at Cincinnati Christian University. Rick and his wife, Diane, have three children and five grandchildren and reside in Longmont, CO. B R IAN MAVI S is the President of America's Kids Belong and former Pastor of Community Transformation at LifeBridge Christian Church. Brian was the first General Manager of SermonCentral.com from 2000-2005. He has written curriculum for campaigns including Bono's One Sabbath Campaign, Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ; World Vision's Faith in Action and The Hole in Our Gospel. Brian co-authored The Neighboring Church along with Rick Rusaw. Brian and his wife, Julie, have two daughters and reside in Windsor, CO. K E VI N COLÓN is a pastor, coach and mentor who has served in the Denver/Boulder area since 2002. Currently, Kevin works with GlocalNet, a group relentlessly pursuing peace and reconciliation among all peoples in all places for all things. Their work focuses on multi-faith collaborations, city and nations engagement and starting new churches. He is married to Amy and has three teenage daughters. Formerly, Kevin served as the Neighboring Life Pastor at LifeBridge Christian Church. KRISTA PET T Y is a connector and story-teller for neighboring and community transformation movements across the U. S . She has served with Leadership Network, LifeBridge Christian Church, Carolina Cross Connection, Simon Solutions and many others. Krista and her husband, Steve, live in Spirit Lake, IA and have three children and two grandsons.