You can be the Best of Friends
Friendship is one of the best things ever created.
It is unparalleled as a building block of society, a universal theme in great literature and film, and has a huge impact on our mental health, wellbeing and happiness. But many of us are lonely or feel suffocated by the pressures of life and quantity of relationships we have to maintain. Now, more than ever, we need better, deeper friendships. We need the best of friends.
Endorsements
“As we work to see change in our streets and communities there are few things more important than friendships. They are the relational glue that hold us together. Phil is such a wordsmith and has written a great book full of humour and wisdom that will help us all deepen our friendships and expand our network. It is a ray of hope that explores how we can thrive in our relationships and be the best of friends to those around us. I’m praying it has a huge impact.”
“We all need friends, yet friendship is something we rarely think about. This thoughtful and thought-provoking book should help all of us to have richer, deeper and more lasting friendships and to use them to build God’s kingdom. Invest time in reading this book: it will be amply repaid! “
“I believe every human is created in God’s image and as such deep relationships are hard wired into us and are needed to reflect Him into the world. There is a desperate need in our world to invest in meaningful, sacrificial relationships and Phil has written a book that not only has a compelling argument but makes the process and steps needed to actually build new friendships outside our Christian bubbles, easy and accessible to everyone.”
“This book helps us recognise the pressures that friendships face in our culture, yet lifts our vision to the God-given potential of all our friendships. Phil Knox distils valuable insights from academic research and everyday life, combining helpful frameworks with highly practical tips. Most importantly of all, we’re brought back to our Creator God, shown how our ordinary friendships are part of God’s wonderful design for human beings, and can delight in finding the Best of Friends perfectly fulfilled in Jesus Christ.”
“Such an important book on a vital issue that’s so often overlooked. We are all built for relationship with one another and with the Lord. This book wonderfully highlights the importance of friendship, the need for us to connect well and to prioritise relationships. Get it, read it, and live it. A real book for our times.”
“Phil is the kind of friend he writes about. He carries joy, enthusiasm, encouragement, and faith into every interaction. As he says in the book, this kind of friendship is costly. I’m so grateful he has been generous in friendship to me, and hope this book will be as helpful for every reader as it was for my own heart.”
“Phil has done a great job of writing a book that speaks to us in this present moment. After the forced disconnection of the covid years the content in this book is so relevant and timely.
It’s well written and made me laugh at times, tear up at times and most of all, appreciate afresh the importance of friendships. Phil encourages and equips us all towards living intentional lives of relational richness. This is a book that needs to be widely read.”
“This is a book about friendship exploring why this biblical community value is so crucial despite the age of technological and communications advancement that still leaves us isolated. With the fragmentation, disintegration and dislocation of our western world that cherishes individualism, friendships rooted in God and community is a critical counter-cultural worldview. Humanity is relationally wired because our architect, that is, God made us to be like him therefore we long for connection. Phil has given us a template in this book on how we can connect with God so that we can learn how to connect with our world. Christians and non-Christians will find this book valuable.”
“Now I know why the Quakers have the best name for a denomination: “A Society of Friends.” You fall in love, but you make friends. This is a book that is timely, challenging, convicting, . . a barn-stormer of a book that shows us how to “make friends” like Jesus did.”
“More and deeper friendships are the need of the hour. In The Best of Friends Phil Knox brings key insights from the sciences into conversation with the life of Jesus to show how you and I can go beyond mere acquaintanceship to meaningful comradery. A recommended read for these disconnected times.”
“Small children are great at making friends, but as adults we’ve often lost the knack. Phil Knox helps us to consider what friendship is for, and how it works, and why it matters. He helps us to explore Jesus’s model of friendship, and see what we can learn from it as we navigate our own relationships. This book will encourage you to be more thankful for the friendships you have, and more intentional about maintaining and developing them.”
“My dear friend Phil has penned a much needed and brilliant book. The reason this book is so good is because it is written by someone who quite frankly is brilliant at being a friend, to those who are believers and those who aren’t. Full of research, story, insight and the Bible, this book will inspire your existing friendships as well as those yet to be formed. I am beyond excited to encourage you to read it.”
“There is a wonderful moment in Phil’s book, The Best of Friends, when he tells us about the time he and his wife Dani bought their first house. They decided to “mark their territory” by scribbling their names on the hallway wall. 14 years later that same wall is covered with the names of friends and family that have eaten there, stayed there, popped in for a visit, or just come over for a chat.
Friendship…true friendship is THE missing ingredient in so many of our lives, and in this extraordinary, and thought-provoking book, you & I get to join Phil & Dani in understanding this powerful and life-transforming gift, and to learn how to put friendship to work in each of our daily lives.
Do we have a place in our lives where other people get to imprint their names and some of their story and leave a mark that lasts and lasts? That’s friendship, and the world is crying out for this intimacy…to know and be known, to love and be loved perhaps more than ever before.
The next couple of years are probably going to be more challenging than most of us have prepared for. But if we have friends, then this season can still be one of beauty, closeness, love and laughter.
Phil is a good friend. So let him walk with you through the pages of this book as we each learn how to find better friends for ourselves, and to be The Best of Friends to those around us.”
“Phil Knox has done us all a huge favour with this thoughtful, easy to read book. Friendships are at the centre of what it means to be human and this book nails why they matter and how they work.”
“Loneliness is at an epidemic level today. Even those of us who know lots of people can feel that our relationships aren’t of the quality we’d like. Phil Knox helps us understand these feelings and provides helpful and realistic steps for how we can grow in more satisfying friendships – not only with each other, but also with the living God.”
Those who read The Best of Friends will find themselves referring to it in discussions and practically using it’s advice for years to come. Phil sensitively offers hope to everyone from the ‘billy no mates’ who don’t even know where to start forming friendships, to the ‘life and soul of the party’ that finds themselves desperately lost and lonely between social gatherings. Phil diligently combines statistical and research data, comments from other writers (not least the writers of the Bible), the example of Jesus and his own authentic reflections from his life of trying to be a good friend and facilitate healthy friendship. The Best of Friends is not just a great read but a mini-textbook on friendship that should be a must-read for anyone serious about having and becoming a better friend.
“As we work to see change in our streets and communities there are few things more important than friendships. They are the relational glue that hold us together. Phil is such a wordsmith and has written a great book full of humour and wisdom that will help us all deepen our friendships and expand our network. It is a ray of hope that explores how we can thrive in our relationships and be the best of friends to those around us. I’m praying it has a huge impact.”
“We all need friends, yet friendship is something we rarely think about. This thoughtful and thought-provoking book should help all of us to have richer, deeper and more lasting friendships and to use them to build God’s kingdom. Invest time in reading this book: it will be amply repaid! “
“I believe every human is created in God’s image and as such deep relationships are hard wired into us and are needed to reflect Him into the world. There is a desperate need in our world to invest in meaningful, sacrificial relationships and Phil has written a book that not only has a compelling argument but makes the process and steps needed to actually build new friendships outside our Christian bubbles, easy and accessible to everyone.”
“This book helps us recognise the pressures that friendships face in our culture, yet lifts our vision to the God-given potential of all our friendships. Phil Knox distils valuable insights from academic research and everyday life, combining helpful frameworks with highly practical tips. Most importantly of all, we’re brought back to our Creator God, shown how our ordinary friendships are part of God’s wonderful design for human beings, and can delight in finding the Best of Friends perfectly fulfilled in Jesus Christ.”
“Such an important book on a vital issue that’s so often overlooked. We are all built for relationship with one another and with the Lord. This book wonderfully highlights the importance of friendship, the need for us to connect well and to prioritise relationships. Get it, read it, and live it. A real book for our times.”
“Phil is the kind of friend he writes about. He carries joy, enthusiasm, encouragement, and faith into every interaction. As he says in the book, this kind of friendship is costly. I’m so grateful he has been generous in friendship to me, and hope this book will be as helpful for every reader as it was for my own heart.”
“Phil has done a great job of writing a book that speaks to us in this present moment. After the forced disconnection of the covid years the content in this book is so relevant and timely.
It’s well written and made me laugh at times, tear up at times and most of all, appreciate afresh the importance of friendships. Phil encourages and equips us all towards living intentional lives of relational richness. This is a book that needs to be widely read.”
“This is a book about friendship exploring why this biblical community value is so crucial despite the age of technological and communications advancement that still leaves us isolated. With the fragmentation, disintegration and dislocation of our western world that cherishes individualism, friendships rooted in God and community is a critical counter-cultural worldview. Humanity is relationally wired because our architect, that is, God made us to be like him therefore we long for connection. Phil has given us a template in this book on how we can connect with God so that we can learn how to connect with our world. Christians and non-Christians will find this book valuable.”
“Now I know why the Quakers have the best name for a denomination: “A Society of Friends.” You fall in love, but you make friends. This is a book that is timely, challenging, convicting, . . a barn-stormer of a book that shows us how to “make friends” like Jesus did.”
“More and deeper friendships are the need of the hour. In The Best of Friends Phil Knox brings key insights from the sciences into conversation with the life of Jesus to show how you and I can go beyond mere acquaintanceship to meaningful comradery. A recommended read for these disconnected times.”
“Small children are great at making friends, but as adults we’ve often lost the knack. Phil Knox helps us to consider what friendship is for, and how it works, and why it matters. He helps us to explore Jesus’s model of friendship, and see what we can learn from it as we navigate our own relationships. This book will encourage you to be more thankful for the friendships you have, and more intentional about maintaining and developing them.”
“My dear friend Phil has penned a much needed and brilliant book. The reason this book is so good is because it is written by someone who quite frankly is brilliant at being a friend, to those who are believers and those who aren’t. Full of research, story, insight and the Bible, this book will inspire your existing friendships as well as those yet to be formed. I am beyond excited to encourage you to read it.”
“There is a wonderful moment in Phil’s book, The Best of Friends, when he tells us about the time he and his wife Dani bought their first house. They decided to “mark their territory” by scribbling their names on the hallway wall. 14 years later that same wall is covered with the names of friends and family that have eaten there, stayed there, popped in for a visit, or just come over for a chat.
Friendship…true friendship is THE missing ingredient in so many of our lives, and in this extraordinary, and thought-provoking book, you & I get to join Phil & Dani in understanding this powerful and life-transforming gift, and to learn how to put friendship to work in each of our daily lives.
Do we have a place in our lives where other people get to imprint their names and some of their story and leave a mark that lasts and lasts? That’s friendship, and the world is crying out for this intimacy…to know and be known, to love and be loved perhaps more than ever before.
The next couple of years are probably going to be more challenging than most of us have prepared for. But if we have friends, then this season can still be one of beauty, closeness, love and laughter.
Phil is a good friend. So let him walk with you through the pages of this book as we each learn how to find better friends for ourselves, and to be The Best of Friends to those around us.”
“Phil Knox has done us all a huge favour with this thoughtful, easy to read book. Friendships are at the centre of what it means to be human and this book nails why they matter and how they work.”
“Loneliness is at an epidemic level today. Even those of us who know lots of people can feel that our relationships aren’t of the quality we’d like. Phil Knox helps us understand these feelings and provides helpful and realistic steps for how we can grow in more satisfying friendships – not only with each other, but also with the living God.”
Those who read The Best of Friends will find themselves referring to it in discussions and practically using it’s advice for years to come. Phil sensitively offers hope to everyone from the ‘billy no mates’ who don’t even know where to start forming friendships, to the ‘life and soul of the party’ that finds themselves desperately lost and lonely between social gatherings. Phil diligently combines statistical and research data, comments from other writers (not least the writers of the Bible), the example of Jesus and his own authentic reflections from his life of trying to be a good friend and facilitate healthy friendship. The Best of Friends is not just a great read but a mini-textbook on friendship that should be a must-read for anyone serious about having and becoming a better friend.