Book Review: Love without Walls

Love without Walls was written by Laurie Beshore, leader of local and global outreach ministries at Mariners Church in Southern California. The book is part of Zondervan’s Leadership Network Innovation Series. It contains practical ideas for any church that desires to reach out beyond the four walls of their church building and change their communities and the world.

The book shares the journey Mariners Church has taken as their outreach ministry has grown over the past 25 years, allowing readers to learn from their mistakes and successes. According to the book, the foundation for effective outreach must be to understand the community and the culture being served and to develop positive relationships with those individuals. The book mentions that we must listen, learn and love. With that foundation, the world will take notice of the radical love they are experiencing as we seek to share the gospel. The world is need of Christians who truly listen, learn and love as we seek to fulfill the Great Commission. There are many people hungry to experience a true incarnation of God’s love and truth, and we must be the hands and feet of Jesus in the world.

This week, our church has been hosting our annual Vacation Bible School for children in our community. We are a smaller church, but VBS is one of our major outreach events of the year. So many children are in need of positive relationships, knowing that someone cares enough to listen and to love them. But the benefits are mutual. The relationships built during VBS benefit both children and volunteers, and God’s love continues to spread to more and more people. Children too are being developed as leaders, as they learn to reach out with God’s love to their community.

One part of the book discussed developing volunteer leaders, a subject of interest to me. The journey of Mariners Church began with just one volunteer, but their team has since grown to more than 7,000. I was encouraged by how the book mentioned that it all still takes place “one relationship at a time.” Whether your ministry is to a single person or an entire community, you are still changing the world. Keep at it; the work must continue.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book from Zondervan as part of the Love without Walls blog tour.