Mission Birmingham

I spent three days last week in Birmingham, Alabama at a workshop. We were trying to learn how to raise financial support for our ministries. One of the ministries represented was Mission Birmingham. Their mission statement says "The Whole Church taking the Whole Gospel to the Whole City". Verdell Stanley who serves as their Coordinator of Community Based Networks told me a sad story that, I'm sure can be told in every city. Verdell said he took some young but committed Christians to a rough part of Birmingham where they met a group of drug dealers. The Christians were able to help one of the dealers come to Christ and everyone celebrated. Later, the new former dealer told Verdell that he was excited to be a Christian but now that he didn't sell drugs, he needed help finding a job so he could take care of his child. Verdell tried to find a suitable job but, with the economy the way it is, he simply came up empty every time. The new Christian was forced to go back to dealing drugs. Six months later, Verdell stumbled onto a church near this location which had a program training young people with the skills they needed to work as an apprentice in various fields. Everyone in the program found a good job after their training.  One of the things Mission Birmingham is now doing is making a lot of individual churches into one Church (big 'C') in Birmingham.  In John 13: 34 and 35, Jesus says we are to love each other. How can we do this when we don't know each other's needs and allow them to go unmet. If we really loved each other, how could anyone stand outside this Covenant community and not want to be invited in?

Teaching Financial Empowerment

We are scheduled to begin teaching classes on a range of subjects related to money and home ownership.  Like any cultural activity, how we spend money is influenced, at least in part, by our ethnic background. In the book "When Helping Hurts" by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert, we are cautioned that starting a relationship with low-income people based on needs like these is like asking them "What is wrong with you?" and "How can I fix you?" They say on page 125 that "starting with such questions initiates the very dynamic that we need to avoid, a dynamic that confirms the feelings that we are superior, that they are inferior, and that they need us to fix them." The founders of our parent ministry, Common Ground Montgomery, determined that even though life-on-life engagement is guaranteed to be messy at times, we were going to try as hard as possible to avoid this old problem that is still a sad part of most well-intentioned, inner-city ministries. Moving into the neighborhood to share equally in the problems is just the first step in being more authentically Christ-like. Maybe the hardest place to begin a relationship with another person is when you start talking about their money.  Preachers know this and jokingly accuse themselves of "meddling" when they slog through their annual stewardship sermon.  So how are we going to teach better money management to people who need help? The first way is by establishing the universal need for this type of teaching. We may point to the 2008 Wall Street meltdown as an example of bad money management at the highest levels.  I will point to my personal need to learn better discipline and do a better job of trusting in God by tithing when my household budget is tight.  I will sit with my classmates and take notes as guest teachers come to the neighborhood.  Other ministry personnel will also take the classes helping to demonstrate the more general need for this information.  It may be helpful to ask from time to time "do you think this principle about money is a universal truth or a cultural practice that has limited application in the hood?"

We have to establish criteria for acceptance into the affordable housing program. A requirement to attend these classes is an obvious example and it may be necessary to administer a test to see whether the information has been learned.  This responsibility to cull neighbors down to those who will receive affordable housing through the ministry is a minefield of broken relationships and hurt feelings.  As mentioned in my last post, the assumption is pervasive in the hood that everyone is entitled to a better house without lifting a finger.  Habitat for Humanity may be successful because people may have been more willing to donate knowing that each family is required to invest 400 hours of their own "sweat equity" to qualify.  As more families receive affordable housing from us, we will turn the most important decisions over to their selection committee so the opportunity for affordable housing is neighbor-driven.  If we put relationships first, I hope the Holy Spirit will show us how to encourage our neighbors in ways that glorify God and provide for their futures.

Entitled

I just read an email that featured an opinion of what really happened in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina visited.  A Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson was listed as the author.  I don't know anything about Rev. Peterson but my suspicion is that his opinion is being passed around on the internet because it says what many people are thinking about "lazy, welfare-dependent" people. And, because Rev. Peterson is black, white people can't be accused of provoking racial hated. This excerpt sums up his argument: "When 75 percent of New Orleans residents had left the city, it was primarily immoral, welfare-pampered blacks that stayed behind and waited for the government to bail them out".  The resulting chaos, death and finger-pointing between governments is simply an example of entitlement run out to its natural end, as some people would want Rev. Peterson to conclude. I am very unhappy with both the culture of entitlement fostered by government and by the racial undertones that cannot be masked by the fact that a black man raised the question here.  If there is an argument to be made for why entitlements are good, I don't know what it could be. However, I know there is an argument against racial association with entitlements.  What I would prefer to see is an argument for a solution that isn't as superficial as 'stop giving out welfare'.  If the Christian Church were to spend as much time coming alongside their dependent brothers and loving them as we profess Christians should do, we may find the that need for entitlements will go away.  Hand-outs from Christians are no better than hand-outs from the government - in fact, they are worse. Our dependent brother expects the government to have no face, no capacity to love and engage in a personal relationship.  He (and God, by the way) does expect us (Christians) to have this capacity.  When we elect to drop off the food and clothing and go back to our comfortable homes in the suburbs, we are saying as plainly as the next five words: you are not worth knowing.  The dark truth that this leads to is the reality that Christians believe this and would rather spend their valuable time arguing the hopelessness of trying to engage in relationships and truly helping our dependent brother than engaging.  Here's some truth: The relationship is worth having. It is the best end we, as Christians, could be seeking so that all the other good can flow out from it: the end of entitlements, the end of abandoned neighborhoods, racial reconciliation, the beginning of obedience to God's laws concerning justice, grace and mercy. 

Will

John Perkins from his book "A Quiet Revolution": people say to me, 'I want to know God's will for my life'. Then I find out that they have already decided what careers they are going to pursue, who they are going to marry, where they are going to live, how much they will earn in salary, how many children they will have and what kind of car they are going to buy. This happens with people preparing for full-time ministry as well as secular vocations. It is not God's will that these people are looking for, it is their own will. They are not asking 'What is God's program on earth and how do I fit in?' Their question is more like 'How does God fit into my life?'

Shelter

A shelter is something that covers or protects us from weather, danger or attack. It is a refuge. It can be a shield. A house is an example of a shelter.  It is a building in which people live.  A home is one's own house.  It is supposed to be a safe place where we can rest.  In the bible, David (of Goliath fame) is pursued and escapes enemies who try to kill him. Once he is safe from them, he writes a song for God with the following words:

     The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
     my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
     my shield and the horn (strength) of my salvation.
     He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior-
     from violent men you save me.

David uses may attributes of shelter to describe God: a fortress, refuge, shield, stronghold and protection from violent men.  There are many under-resourced neighborhoods in this country and around the world where people are forced by circumstances outside their control to live in very poor conditions. I work in just one of these neighborhoods. I see the condition of the houses up close. They can't be called homes because nobody would want to call them their own. They offer little protection from violent men who are all too common in this neighborhood.   The ministry I work with is providing a safe haven for the children where they are learning to see God as David did.  I signed on to provide better housing.  It will need to be affordable - to rent.  Moving families from a hopeless existence to stability and then to homeownership will take much more than two-by-fours and drywall.  It will take the full, combined efforts of people wanting to help, families wanting to grow and God moving among us to see His kingdom demonstrated for His glory.  He will be our refuge and strength. Just getting started.