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Catherine McNiel\xa0writes about the creative and redemptive work of God in our real, ordinary lives. Her\xa0upcoming book,\xa0Fearing Bravely: Risking Love for Our Neighbors, Strangers, and Enemies, just released from NavPress in February 2022. Catherine studies theology while caring for three kids, two jobs, and one enormous garden.If Jesus commands Christians to love their neighbors, why are so many North American Christians taught to fear their neighbors? The US church is known as a people who are afraid, who have been nurtured through fear into hatred, and who have moved from hatred to violence\u2014or at least to neglect. This fear, too often lived out boldly in the name of Jesus, is a false religion.\nIf God instructs Christians to welcome strangers, why are so many US Christians ignoring the scriptural commands that say not to withhold hospitality or help from anyone in need? So why do we fear strangers, especially those needing hospitality, afraid that their presence may threaten what we have?\nIf Jesus taught all of His followers to love their enemies,\xa0why aren't more North American Christians regularly praying and hearing sermons about how to pray for those who actively harm them? Instead, many church-goers in this polarized context, create enemies in their minds, seeing anyone who thinks, believes, looks, or lives differently from North American Christians as dangerous, a threat to their way of living.\nThe Christian community exists to declare and demonstrate God\u2019s love and to follow Jesus in practicing love over fear, even in unsafe times and places. It\u2019s time to call all people of faith to reclaim our brave fear of God and risk transformative love for the sake of our neighbors, the strangers among us, and our enemies.\nChristians are to be people of God's Kingdom, which is a place of flourishing and belonging where all nations, races, tribes and languages are welcome.\xa0Fearing Bravely\xa0teaches us that we have nothing to fear. Instead, we can respond to our fear problem with a brave love that emerges from choosing to let our fear and awe of God overcome our fear of everything else.\nCatherine McNiel writes with conviction, wisely guiding us to recognize our fear and, with God's help, not let it limit us to love courageously all who are among us.\nThe A World of Difference Podcast is brought to you in partnership with Missio Alliance.\nStay In Touch: Connect on Facebook and Instagram with thoughts, questions, and feedback. Rate, review and share this podcast with anyone that would love to listen. \xa0 Find Us Online: @aworldof.difference on Instagram and A World of Difference on Facebook, on Twitter at @loriadbr & on Clubhouse @loriadbr.https://linktr.ee/aworldofdifference or loriadamsbrown.comInterested in one-on-one or group coaching on how to live a life that makes a difference? Check out: https://www.loriadamsbrown.com/coaching\nDid you know that podcasts are a great way to grow your personal and business brand voice?\nHere\u2019s the secret, we all want to feel connected to brands we buy from. What better way to humanize a brand than through sharing your story on a podcast.\nKitcaster is a podcast booking agency that specializes in developing real human connections through podcast appearances.\nIf you are an expert in your field, have a unique story to share, or an interesting point of view-- it\u2019s time to explore the world of podcasting with Kitcaster.\nYou can expect a completely customized concierge service from our staff of communication experts. Kitcaster is your secret weapon in podcasting for business. Your audience is waiting to hear from you.\nGo to\xa0https://kitcaster.com/difference/\xa0to apply for a special offer for friends of this podcast.\nMentioned in this episode:\nJoin Difference Makers\nJoin us in our membership community for exclusive content for only $5/month at https://www.patreon.com/aworldofdifference. We go deeper with each guest, and it makes such a difference.\nPatreon\nDo you want to go deeper?\nJoin us in Difference Makers, a community where we watch and discuss exclusive content that truly makes a difference. Give us $5 a month (the price of a latte), and join in on the conversation with our host Lori and others who want to make a difference. We'd love to have you join us!\nPatreon\nThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacyPodtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices