IIn the Bible Jesus instructs us to love our neighbour. But just like the law expert of Luke’s gospel, I want to know who my neighbours are, and not only that, but how I love them. In our typical western culture it is so easy to distance ourselves from our neighbours by our 5ft fences and internal-access garages. We barely need to say “hello”. Yet if it was Jesus who moved next door, I’m sure I would want to be a better neighbour than that.

This is the picture Simon Holt presents in his new book God Next Door.  He highlights the importance of being Christ’s hands and feet right where we live. Simon lives in inner-city Melbourne, but has experienced living in a range of different neighbourhoods around the world, including rural Brisbane, the apartment heartland of Los Angeles and a working-class neighbourhood of London. He also draws on the experiences and stories of others.
 
The first section of the book unpacks the phenomenon of the development of the modern neighbourhood. Here he investigates two questions: What are neighbourhoods of today really like? And, what are the most significant challenges to our neighbourhoods as places of community.

The second section explores the importance that God places on our involvement in our neighbourhood. Simon points out that we are to follow Christ’s example of incarnating in a particular place and embodying the presence and grace of God.

The final section outlines, but doesn’t prescribe, the “how” of neighbourhood mission. Through the disciplines of naming (laying claim to the neighbourhood as a spiritually significant place), celebrating (recognising and rejoicing in what is good about the neighbourhood), nurturing (imagining what the neighbourhood can become), and inviting (pointing the way to Jesus), we can start on the path of engaging with our own neighbourhood, wherever that may be.

It’s a short and easy read, but nonetheless a thought-provoking book that requires an immediate and practical response.  This book is for everyone and anyone. We all live in a neighbourhood. Mission isn’t just something for the sandal-and-socks-wearing missionaries that traipse halfway across the globe to take the gospel to the remote tribes of Africa. We are all called to be Christ’s hands and feet where we live. Read it with your friends, and challenge each other to act!