David Burton

“Our aim must be higher than just to be a good neighbor ourselves. The goal is to create a neighborhood or group of neighbors were by the collective gifts, talents, resources, and caring hearts of many neighbors can join forces when needs arise.”
― Lance Ford, Next Door as It Is in Heaven: Living Out God's Kingdom in Your Neighborhood

“Relationships happen in the margins. When there is no margin. It impossible to welcome others in to our lives. But how do we change this? Perhaps the two greatest helps our, first, affect of alignment rather than addition. In other words, don’t try to add more activities to your schedule but instead look at ways in which you can align your daily rhythms with the rhythms of life of those around you. And second be prepared to prune the activity branches. If you are serious about cream margin in your life, there’ll be times that something will need to be cut off. Furthermore we must be reminded that it is OK to say no.”
― Lance Ford, Next Door as It Is in Heaven: Living Out God's Kingdom in Your Neighborhood

“Roughly two centuries ago, French sociologist Alex de Tocqueville wrote in “democracy in America,” praises the strength of the individual in American society. Yet simultaneously he issued a dire warning: this same potency could mature into a crippling weakness. The combination of individualism, addiction to privacy, and a consumers mind that can become a vault, locking away resources and functionality that are that are essential for a typical community to operate freely and fruitfully on its own.”
― Lance Ford, Next Door as It Is in Heaven: Living Out God's Kingdom in Your Neighborhood

“Two of the most important initiating principles for neighboring are to take notice and to invite others to join you. For a neighborhood to flourish it takes a joint effort of people who care about their neighbors and their neighborhood. Besides being essential, however, this joint effort is fun and brings joy to all who are involved. It manifest and takes us into real life, eternal life. It is how we make a neighborhood worth living in.”
― Lance Ford, Next Door as It Is in Heaven: Living Out God's Kingdom in Your Neighborhood