The communities in the Southern Philippines are wounded and scarred by the never-ending atrocities between the Philippine Government and Muslim rebel groups who are fighting for their land, their identity and their autonomy. The neighborhood communities between Muslims and Christians are the most affected in the atrocities. It affects the way they live, move and act as neighbors to one another. The neighborliness in the region changes as the landscape of the political and social arena changes. Thus, it is but proper that the healing and reconciliation begins in the same scarred and wounded neighborhoods. This study identifies three narratives of neighborliness in the region; (1) the intentional communities established during the American regime, (2) the neighborliness introduced by the Bishops and the Ulama in response to the document Nostra Aetate, and (3) the proposed neighborliness anchored in the document A Common Word Between Us and You. The Basic Ecclesial Communities and the Ummah are the communities at the frontier of this new neighborliness. These are the communities who are challenged to live the spirituality of reconciliation as they live this new neighborliness.

Do you want to love your neighbor as yourself but don’t know where to start? This practical, accessible guide to bridging the dividing lines of politics, race, and economics, both individually and as the church, will help you amplify Jesus in your community and build God’s kingdom. When asked what the greatest commandment is, Jesus gave a two-part answer: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” and also “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love God. Love others. Jesus’ simple command to love your neighbor can feel overwhelming when your neighbor looks, lives, and votes differently than you do. Racial and economic tensions across the country have resulted in deep dividing lines that seem really intimidating to cross. Docusen breaks down these lines in approachable chapters, including topics like these: how to actively seek out people you can benefit and encourage, what it means to find a diverse and supportive community that fulfills needs, examples of real-life experiences, including highlights and missteps of Docusen’s ongoing journey, and how churches can teach on difficult topics with grace and truth. Neighborliness is a practical guide to bridging those dividing lines and learning to recognize and amplify the beauty of God in our communities. Backed by David’s speaking and training through the Neighborliness Center, this book will help individuals and churches reach out to their neighbors, love them through Christ, and build God’s kingdom.

Neighborliness is a practical guide to bridging the dividing lines of politics, race, economics, and more so we as individuals as well as church bodies can recognize and amplify the beauty of Jesus in our communities and build God's kingdom.

Justice, mercy, and the public good all find meaning in relationship--a relationship dependent upon fidelity, but endlessly open to the betrayals of infidelity. This paradox defines the story of God and Israel in the Old Testament. Yet the arc of this story reaches ever forward, and its trajectory confers meaning upon human relationships and communities in the present. The Old Testament still speaks. Israel, in the Old Testament, bears witness to a God who initiates and then sustains covenantal relationships. God, in mercy, does so by making promises for a just well-being and prescribing stipulations for the covenant partner's obedience. The nature of the relationship itself decisively depends upon the conduct, practice, and policy of the covenant partner, yet is radically rooted in the character and agency of God--the One who makes promises, initiates covenant, and sustains relationship. This reflexive, asymmetrical relationship, kept alive in the texts and tradition, now fires contemporary imagination. Justice becomes shaped by the practice of neighborliness, mercy reaches beyond a pervasive quid pro quo calculus, and law becomes a dynamic norming of the community. The well-being of the neighborhood, inspired by the biblical texts, makes possible--and even insists upon--an alternative to the ideology of individualism that governs our society's practice and policy. This kind of community life returns us to the arc of God's gifts--mercy, justice, and law. The covenant of God in the witness of biblical faith speaks now and demands that its interpreting community resist individualism, overcome commoditization, and thwart the rule of empire through a life of radical neighbor love.