Walk for the homeless
Tuesday, September 22, 2009 at 11:35PM Last weekend, a few of us participated in the Walk for the Homeless put on by Mission Waco. While the average poverty rate for a city in America is 12%, Waco's poverty rate is over 25%. Mission Waco is an organization that seeks to change that, and the Walk for the Homeless is a symbolic way of people around the community to say that they care (and a practical way to learn about the different services Waco offers to the homeless).
As facilitators of some of the meetings for September and October, Amanda, Greg, Vena, and I felt led to facilitate our church's participation in the Walk.
I do not completely understand what the ideal relationship should be between a local church and the community. Some believe that the church exists to reach out to others. I am not there. I think the church exists to be God's people - to be loved by Him and to love Him. And I definitely think that reaching out to others and showing them God's love is a part of that. But I don't believe it's the driving force. I think the church is God's purpose and that part of that purpose means expanding the church.
However, I also think that a church can get so wrapped up in everything that it takes to be a church that it loses connection with those who do not know God. Let's face it: living with freaks is hard (maybe I will save that for another post). Yet connecting to the community and reaching out is also hard.
Some have a real heart for the church community. Some have a real heart for expanding the church community. Both are needed. Both reflect God's heart for humanity.
One funny thing about the Walk. At the beginning, Jimmy Dorrell (of Mission Waco) asked all group leaders to come to the microphone and share who they were with. Amanda asked me if I was going to go up. I had no idea, but for some reason said yes. After "so-and-so Baptist Church" and "so-and-so school," I went up to the mic and said: My name is Rishi and I represent a church that meets in homes. People had no idea what to do with that. I might as well have said: My name is Rishi and I live with freaks.
We did not have a lot of representation from our church. It was Amanda and me, Greg and Vena, Amy, Erin, Chyene, and Michael and Kim (and kids). I was hoping for more, but I figure the most I can do is to help create the opportunity and show up myself, right? I want this to be God's doing and leading, not mine.
I was both surprised and not surprised that Michael and Kim came...and here's why...
I was surprised because this is not Michael and Kim's thing. Kim even said to Amanda: if left to ourselves, we would not be here. But that's the thing, Michael and Kim aren't left to themselves, and they know that. They are part of a body of believers, and they know that sometimes church unity is greater than personal convictions (or lack thereof). And that's why I was not surprised by their presence. You see, Michael and Kim are two of the freakiest freaks I know. They want Jesus, and they want to see and be part of His expression in the church. And that means more to them than anything.
And here's what really cracks me up. I hear many others talk about social justice and helping the poor more than Kim and Michael. Yet, in the two times that we have really tried to reach out to individuals and help them, it is Michael and Kim, more than anyone else, who have sacrificed their time, money, and lives to help.
I guess actions really do speak louder than words.
Reader Comments (2)
"When God breaks in on a sufficiently prepared people, a new generosity emerges, one that is outgoing, joyous, spontaneous and free. Growth in Christian discipleship manifests itself by compassion for the poor. A new stewardship unfolds, a stewardship that cares deeply for all God's created order, including the earth and its fullness--people, animals and things." Edward Farrell
The Church exists to be God's people indeed, Rishi . . . but God's people are every living, breathing man, woman, and child. This is so hard for me to get my head (and heart) around.
A dear friend, Kelly Shushok, added these thoughts via email to Frank (her husband). I thought they were so good that I had to copy them here (completely without her permission)...
I think Rishi's definition of church is what Jesus thinks of when Jesus thinks of his bride, the Church. But since we-- Jesus' stupid loved ones, do not understand what "loving God and being loved by God"
actually means, and further, since we have not trusted God with ourselves enough to actually have been changed very much by God at all, WE need to boil Jesus' purpose for ourselves down into a very pragmatic "to do" list like "The Church needs to care about poor people." IF, however, the Church actually experienced the love of God and developed a love for God, we ALL would find ourselves BECOMING different people... people who, to our great surprise, woke up one day and found out that we love poor people, and EVEN MORE, that we ARE the poor ones... desperate to be the Church, because that is where the
grace we need is.