The issue of soul care has gained increasing attention in recent times, with several books on the subject coming out in 2024 and more expected in 2025 and 2026. One of this year’s noteworthy publications is Care: Loving Your Church by Walking through Life Together by Dwayne Bond, Lead Pastor of Wellspring Church in Charlotte, NC, and former Director of Pastoral Care with the Acts 29 Network. In it, Bond sets out to challenge churches to move beyond “mere surface-level interactions” and toward “an authentic culture of understanding, kindness, and generosity” (p. 13). His aim is to help churches fill in critical gaps in the watchcare that is taking place between church members.

As Bond is aware, several obstacles need to be overcome for this aim to be achieved. The reality is that material like this is often overlooked by both church leaders and church members. The need to learn the “whats” and “hows” of caring for one another is simply not appreciated in many Western churches. There is also the problem that many who are motivated to read this book will do so because they already care about the subject. But this book is written precisely for those who are not yet at a place in their Christian lives where they understand the call to care for fellow church members.

Another obstacle this book could face is that some readers may dismiss it too quickly because of Bond’s focus, particularly in chapter 2, on the theme of idolatry. The author, of course, is entirely correct that disobeying the command to “love your neighbor” is ultimately due to our loving something other than God (p. 29)—e.g., being more concerned to get home to watch a football game than to build the Lord’s church. There are also forms of the sin of partiality that infect people’s decision-making. At the same time, chapter 2 could have gone further. For instance, there is no attempt to discuss the fact that some people struggle to serve others because of fear. Most people are aware that the issues in people’s lives are complex and multifaceted. Stepping into those issues means risking some part of your own life getting complicated and messy. “What if I make it worse?” “What can I do?” “I’m sure there are better people to help.” My point is that Bond’s approach could be strengthened by showing how fear and idolatry are connected and by suggesting some diagnostic questions: “Is the reason you are afraid to help that it could be messy and might spill over into your life?” “What is it that you find so important to protect that it makes you reluctant to care for this fellow church member?” “Could that rightly be called an idol?”

Nevertheless, Bond’s book is biblically-based and the Scriptures are handled well throughout. In chapters 3 and 4, for example, the scriptural motivations for members to care for one another—essentially because our Father has commanded us to and because of the grace that has been shown us in Christ—are clearly and consistently laid out. It is a difficult task to keep the balance between being motivated by understanding God’s love for us and by understanding that sometimes it is simply about doing what God has called us to do. But Bond does this well, especially in the “help” and “hindrance” section in chapter 8.

Chapter 7 shifts the book’s focus from cultivating care within the church to encouraging outreach. Bond’s treatment here is more of a call to evangelism and to letting outsiders see the kind of love that should mark relationships between believers. He builds his case on the incarnation of Jesus and shares stories and tips on how Christians can show their love to non-Christian neighbors and look for opportunities to share the Gospel. While there’s nothing in the chapter to disagree with, it might have felt more connected to the rest of the book if Bond had tied it to passages like Galatians 6:10 and others that call us to do good to all. Without that bridge, the chapter feels disconnected from the book’s central focus.

Along the same lines, chapter 6 could prove more of a distraction than a help. Racism is certainly a topic that needs to be addressed by churches, whether it’s overt or subtle. But the chapter does not feel like it fits or, at the very least, there is not enough content to make it fit in this book. That said, while some forms of partiality, like racism, undeniably contribute to church segregation, it is also true that many Koreans, Latinos, and others attend ethnically specific churches because, as Bond notes, “every ethnic group and culture interprets life through their own grid” (p. 86). That reality can make it challenging to integrate. There are certainly practical challenges, as he points out. But for some, it might simply be more helpful to sit under the teaching of someone who is from, or at least understands, the spiritual challenges specific to that culture. At the same time, the author hits on something vitally important in this chapter. The problem of tokenism. In the current American culture, people attain a sort of self-righteousness if they have friends who are, or are in a group that includes, members of ethnic minorities. The desire to be in a multiethnic church should come from our theology, not from a hunger for cultural approval.

Lastly, the book has action steps at the end of each chapter. Most of these are very helpful and are also very doable. Making lists of the spiritual fruit evident around you is a good way to remind yourself that God is actively working in other people’s lives. It can be easy to lose sight of that and become discouraged, or allow ourselves to become what Bond warns against in chapter 1, people who are friendly in person but gossip behind closed doors. However, there are a couple of times when the action step is vague. For instance, looking for ways to “move closer” to others in church is a good goal. But there are those in the church who genuinely do not know how to do that. Providing a few specific suggestions would have been helpful.

Despite these limitations, Bond’s work makes a valuable contribution to the conversation around soul care. The action steps are useful not just for individuals but also for small groups wanting to discuss what needs to be done in their church or cultural context. There are also extra discussion questions at the end of the book. The brief but insightful section on how a divided culture tries to defeat unconditional love (pp. 68–69) is one of many reasons this book deserves careful reading and reflection.