Dear friends,

In my new book Reviving the Golden Rule, I tell some of the story of how the Neighbor-Love Movement (NLM) began in Ethiopia. Most simply, NLM is an invitation to see and treat “others” as precious neighbors – not as inferiors or enemies. It’s a way of life that can bring healing to ourselves and our world.

Unlikely Inspirations

NLM had some unexpected inspirations.

Eyob was a 13-year-old boy in the streets of Addis. He a terrible head wound but the most beautiful heart of love. He embodied how the neighbors we so easily overlook or exclude may have the most precious gifts to share. I tell more of his moving story in chapter one (read a free excerpt here).

Ferdosa was a passionate high school student near Ethiopia’s border with Somalia. She had never heard the words “Love your enemies” before. But when she heard me give a talk in her city, she found new hope in this way of being human. In fact, she came up to me, grabbed my hand, and promised to love her enemies – almost like she was making an oath or covenant. This was a light-bulb moment for designing the Neighbor-Love Covenant soon after. I tell more of Ferdosa’s story in chapter four.

As I write in Reviving the Golden Rule,

“Neighbor love is far more than momentary pity or random kindness. It’s a chosen way of life that intentionally transgresses the boundaries of othering and actively recognizes the divine value of others, including those we have been conditioned to see as strangers or enemies.”

A Love Covenant 

At the heart of our movement is a Covenant to love our neighbors as ourselves. A covenant is more than just another choice. It’s a sacred commitment that we intend to shape all of our other choices. When we enter into a covenant, we say “yes” to God’s heart, and we ask for God’s love to be present in all that we desire, say, and do.

This is why NLM’s covenant is connected to seven practices, which I’ll also share below. Neighbor love isn’t an abstraction for our assent or a dead dogma. It’s a lifestyle we seek to embody. The goal is simple and radical: for our lives to become imperfect but tangible presences of love in our world.  

As we grow in this practice, neighbor love is no longer “something else” that we do, like a hobby. It becomes the heart of what we do in all that we do, similar to breathing. It animates the way we see with our eyes, listen with our ears, talk with our mouths, work with our hands. It gets woven into the most basic ways we show up in the world with others in God’s presence. 

Jesus gives us an amazing promise: “Do this, and you will flourish” (Luke 10:28). This is God’s side of the covenant. It’s God’s sacred commitment to us: when we embody love with others, we will come fully alive, even when it’s challenging and painful.

As Reviving the Golden Rule makes its way into the world, I invite you to spend a moment with our covenant and practices: 

‍‍Our Covenant‍ ‍Today I covenant to love my neighbor as myself. Every woman, man, and child is my neighbor across every boundary and identity. I choose to see and treat my neighbors with value, respect, and practical compassion. Today I say Yes. I am an ambassador of neighbor-love. Our Practices Eyes See others as your neighbors – people with precious value – and smile at them. Resist overlooking, labeling, or dehumanizing others. Ears Listen to your neighbors with patience and empathy, even when you disagree. Resist closing your ears. Mouth Speak to your neighbors with truth, respect, and kindness, even when you disagree. Resist speaking words of insult, generalization, or hatred. Ask for forgiveness when you make a mistake. Hands Serve your neighbors with justice and compassion in little and big ways. Resist using power to exploit or hurt others. Heart Open your heart to your neighbors’ joy and pain. Pray for others and bless them. Release envy, grudges, curses, and desire for revenge. Feet Move toward outsiders and enemies and build relationship. Walk with people who are different than you. Resist staying in your own circle.

Brain Reintegrate what you believe and how you live. Resist separating your values and lifestyle.

An Invitation to Embody Love 

As othering escalates in our culture, we see more and more people being labeled “enemies” and even less than human. This is a time crying out for a covenantal life of love.

If you desire to practice this covenant with your body, would you sign it here? If you already have, consider renewing your commitment today. Doing this is not a claim to moral perfection! It’s the opposite: a humble act of recentering love as our basic intention and inviting God’s help. Consider downloading the covenant (scroll down here) and putting it in a place where you can see it in your everyday life.

The Neighbor-Love Covenant is a tiny expression of a healing movement of love that has been unfolding across history for thousands of years. My book Reviving the Golden Rule tells some of this story. I hope you’ll check it out and explore how you can be part of this movement of love in our time.

Yours with love,

Andrew