LOVE THE NEIGHBOR: HOW HPU TEACHES COMMUNITY TRANSFORMATION.

• Author: Blosser, Joe
• Position: EXTRAORDINARY EDUCATION

How do you show love to your neighbor?

The question is harder to answer than it first appears.

There is a time for immediate charity and giving things away, but when we treat every instance of need as a crisis, we create dependence, which demeans both our humanity and that of our neighbors.

Truly loving our neighbors requires that we learn to listen, recognize our own biases, and work together for the kind of community that helps us all live full lives.

My job--or rather my calling--is to walk students through this process of self-discovery, to help them recognize how they can use their gifts, their creativity, their skills and their knowledge to change the world--to show true love of neighbor.

It usually starts with a simple volunteer project. But soon we help students follow their passions. And before they graduate, we watch them begin to apply their HPU education to the real world.

They become change agents. They learn how to lead.

They learn that loving their neighbor requires more than charity.

It requires vision, it requires hard work. It requires transformation.

A Way of Life

"What started as volunteering has become a way of life," Jasmyn Alexander, a senior Bonner Leader, told me recently. "I see how I can use research to find innovative ways to improve peoples' lives. Working for justice is more than giving things away; it's about committing every day to listen to others and work with them to change the world."

Jasmyn started out as a freshman playing with the kids of immigrant and refugee families who were practicing their English. Soon, however, she was helping to run programs at Macedonia Family Resource Center.

Now as a senior, Jasmyn is using what she's learned as an exercise science major to change people's lives. She meets weekly with a group of immigrant women, helping them with cooking, grocery shopping and physical fitness. Jasmyn secured fitness trackers for the whole group to allow each participant to follow their exercise and engage in some friendly competition. And she's studying the effects of such a community-based approach to health.

In recognition of her innovative community impact, Jasmyn was named a Newman Civic Fellow for 2017.

Jasmyn will graduate from HPU in 2018 with more than a degree. She'll have real world experience. She'll know what it takes to transform lives.

Jasmyn and the 40 other Bonner Leaders are low-income students who commit to serve 300 hours a year for four years in a local non-profit...