Northside Gathering
Posted: Friday, March 4, 2011 Filed under: 2k11, Northside Gathering | Tags: All Souls Presbyterian, barton heights, Gathering, Northside, prayer, Richmond, RVA Comments Off on Northside Gathering
Rediscovering Richmond’s Barton Heights
Posted: Thursday, March 3, 2011 Filed under: 2k11 | Tags: barton heights, NPR, Rediscovering Richmond, RVA, WCVE Comments Off on Rediscovering Richmond’s Barton Heights
Earlier today, NPR’s local radio station – WCVE aired a short commentary (less than 5 minutes) on Barton Heights ~ Rediscovering Richmond’s Barton Heights (click for link to archive). Brooks Smith described the United States’ first “streetcar neighborhood” – my very own community ~ Barton Heights! Take a listen! I, too, encourage you to come on over and take a look at all the wonderful things that Barton Heights has to offer!
Go to the people Live among them….Chinese Poem
Posted: Friday, February 25, 2011 Filed under: 2k11 | Tags: bob lupton, CCDA Immersion, chicago, Chinese Poem, john 4, John M Perkins 1 CommentLouis and I are going to Chicago the first week of April to attend the Christian Community Development Association’s (CCDA) Institute called Immersion. Following the week-long program, we, along with a small group of about 50, will be certified in Christian Community Development. We have been doing a lot in our community at a grass-roots level and are looking forward to gaining additional knowledge! Financially, this a big commitment for us, but we are so grateful to God to have received a CCDA Scholarship that will assist us!
I just learned Friday, that there are 10 (yes…I said 10, ten, diez, dix, zehn) books were are to read before we get there. They have shipped them to us. So…I guess you know what I will be doing between now and when we leave on 4.2! (And…what I will probably be writing on! Thanks for letting me process with you!!) I’m hoping I have read some of them, at least! One that I have had on my shelf for a while now is called Restoring At-Risk Communities: Doing It Together & Doing It Right, which I started reading Saturday night. It’s the “Official Handbook of the Christian Community Development Association”….so I am hoping, expecting and praying that this one is on their list, because I’m about half done!
Dr. John Perkins and some other urban ministry gurus like Bob Lupton, Noel Castellanos, and Mary Nelson share their wisdom gained from decades of experience.
In chapter 1, Perkins asks and answers the following question…
…How do we affirm the dignity of people, motivate them and help them take responsibility for their own lives? By beginning with the people’s felt needs we establish a relationship and a trust, which then enables us to move to deeper issues of development. This idea of beginning with people’s felt need is what is called the felt need concept. It is summed up in a Chinese poem…
Go to the people
Live among them
Learn from them
Love them
Start with what they know
Build on what they have:
But of the best leaders When their task is done
The people will remark “We have done it ourselves.”
Then, Perkins describes how Jesus engaged the Woman at the Well story located in John 4. How Jesus started by talking to her and asking her for help — demonstrating she had something of value that she could share with him–Jesus affirmed her dignity and broke down the wall of distrust–before he talked with her about who He was or anything about himself.
Some however sometimes go in like this…
Go to the community with an agenda Observe the people (maybe) Tell them what to do Enable, manipulate and take advantage of them Even lie to them Start with what they don’t know Tell them what YOU think they should know But the worst of leaders will do things TO the community instead of WITH the community The people will ask “What have they done to us?”It’s easy for some of us to come into a situation with all the answers…because although we would never want to admit it…we see ourselves as smarter, more educated, more experienced, more whatever…fill in the blank. We often think we know what is best for a community. We force our opinions, thoughts, ideas, etc on a community. When in fact, we do more harm to the community than help. The community isn’t transforming or coming together, but being torn apart instead.
I’m excited about what we will learn in Chicago…and grateful that we have the opportunity to attend this year. It’s been on the bucket list for a while…and this is the year! Praying that we will continue to learn how to see our community and our city through the eyes of Jesus.
Prosperity Gospel = B.S.
Posted: Sunday, February 20, 2011 Filed under: 2k11 | Tags: john piper, Mother Teresa, prosperity gospel 3 CommentsOK….Day 3 of talking about money…spending….saving…giving….and your faith.
First, in How Rich are You and I? we talked about how much money we really have compared to other people in the world…and all the stuff we have…and what God is calling us to do with it.
Then, in To Give or Not to Give, we read the wise words of Bob Lupton and others on the subject of giving money to panhandlers. Which is a regular question in my world. Thanks for those you have commented. Let’s keep the conversation going!
Today, I came across the following video by John Piper, Pastor for Preaching at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota…on the topic of what is called the “Prosperity Gospel”, which basically teaches that God blesses those he favors with health, wealth, and material possessions like cars, houses, and other stuff that money buys. This gospel is preached in impoverished areas in Africa….by people coming out of America. Yes…THIS is the Gospel that is often preached to people who live in low-income communities (including mine!) right here in the US,
I love the way that John Piper provides his thoughts on the subject….and TOTALLY agree!! Prosperity Gospel/Theology bottom line…makes me SICK! God must really shake his head at the people who preach this mess. That God sent his Son, Jesus, to die on the cross to make us rich and healthy! Really? I guess someone forgot to tell Mother Teresa that!
that’s elevating the gift above the giver…as stated by Piper in the video.
Take a look…let’s hear what you think.
“To Give or Not to Give?” Bob Lupton
Posted: Saturday, February 19, 2011 Filed under: 2k11 | Tags: bob lupton, Christianity Today, Highland Park, panhandlers, Richmond, RVA 9 CommentsYesterday, I posted How Rich are You and I?. At the time, I didn’t know that this would be a series on spending and giving. This question always comes up! My friend and ministry partner, Charles Fitzgerald (who spent 33 years on the streets doing everything under the sun) and I were having that discussion just last night while running ministry errands and meeting his new neighbors in Highland Park. Do you or do you not give money to the “homeless” or rather…panhandlers on street corners? Now that I have read this, I can say that although I understand all 3 points of view, Charles and I agree with Ron Sider’s approach presented below. What about you? Do you choose to give, or not to give?
February 2011
by Bob Lupton, February 2011
Should Christians always give money to street people who ask for it? That’s what Christianity Today recently asked three veteran ministry leaders known for their commitment to the poor.
“Yes, freely!” answers Gary Hoag, known as the Generosity Monk whose passionate mission is to encourage Christian generosity. To him it is very clear in scripture: “Freely you have received; freely give.” It is not our place to judge others, to evaluate them as worthy or unworthy of our assistance. God is the judge, not us. What they do with our aid is between them and God. We are to love and give unconditionally. Gary’s theology of generosity is summed up in his quote from contemplative priest Brennan Manning: “God’s call for each of us to live a life of unlimited generosity is rooted in his limitless love and care for us.” Through our free and generous giving “the postmodern world will see Jesus in our generosity.”
Andy Bales, CEO of Union Rescue Mission in Los Angeles, sees it quite differently. “Giving cash to someone in need is the least helpful and most temporary solution and should only be a last resort,” he says. His years of experience with street people has taught him that most panhandlers are not really homeless at all. Most are scammers who may collect $300 a day from kind-hearted passers-by and at the end of the day walk a block or two to their cars and drive home. When someone approaches Andy for money for food or a place to stay, he gives them his card and invites them to his mission where they can get not only food and shelter but other support as well. Very seldom does he give money, and then only when there are no other alternatives. Like Hoag, he too has scripture to back his position. His biblical example is the lame man who asked Peter and John for some money. They offered no money but rather something better – healing! “People experiencing homelessness and poverty need a community,” Andy says. “People need permanent help in becoming strong. They need a connection with Jesus Christ and a faith community.”
Absolutely not! So says Ron Sider, president of Evangelicals for Social Action and author of best selling Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger. A quick donation is cheap love. There is simply no way to tell whether a story is legitimate, or if a person will spend the money on drugs or alcohol. Supporting immorality, laziness or destructive behavior is simply irresponsible and clearly not a loving act. Scripture demands that we stand on the side of the poor but it certainly does not tell us to give irresponsibly. Rather than give money, Sider suggests taking the homeless person to lunch and listening to his story. “People almost always need love even more than money,” he says. Generous giving should be directed toward effective, holistic programs equipped to deal with the deeper socio-economic issues, ministries that share the love of Christ and “truly empower, liberate and transform.”
Andy Bales certainly has the most direct experience with the homeless, living and serving among them for decades. His “last resort” giving position is shaped by years of personal involvement, watching con games on the street, seeing first-hand the long, up-and-down battles of those trying to break free from addictions. Pragmatic experience has taught him that healing is far more likely in a supportive community environment than struggling alone on the street. Of course he believes it is better to steer street people toward a program like he runs. He has committed his life to it.
Ron Sider understands poverty from a systems perspective. He pores over statistics, scrutinizes legislative motivation and decision-making, holds up a biblical standard of justice by which to evaluate public policy and practice. He is a prophet to a nation that has subsidized poverty, eroded a work ethic through dependency-producing entitlements and decimated the family structure of the poor – all in the name of doing good. He knows better than most theologians the vast number of scriptures that deal with God’s concern for the poor. And theresponsibility of God’s people to care for the widows and orphans and strangers. His plea, like the prophet Amos, is to “let justice roll down like a river.” The quick donation, whether for expediency, sentimentality or guilt-relieving, is cheap love that is neither merciful nor just. Prophets are not pragmatists. They speak in absolutes. Understandably, to Sider, irresponsible giving is just plain wrong!
How Rich are You and I?
Posted: Friday, February 18, 2011 Filed under: 2k11 | Tags: David Platt, Faith, Global Rich List, money, Radical, saving 2 Comments
I, along with a number of my friends and about a gazillion other people, have been challenged by Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream by David Platt. I first wrote on it in August, 2010 in my post Happy 5th Anniversary to Me!!!. 6 months later, this book continues to come up in conversations with friends and family. Platt states things like…
- Today, over a billion people live (and die) in desperate poverty (less than a dollar a day).
- Close to two billion others live on less than two dollars a day.
- 30,000 children today will breathe their last breath due to either starvation or a preventable disease.
How do you and I feel about that? Do we believe it? It’s hard to make those kinds of statistics real. I just stumbled on a a new website…Global Rich List. According to their formula, if your annual income is $50,000 (US$) you are in the top 1% of the richest people in the world (yes…I said WORLD!!!). That means that out of 6,775,235,741 (that’s 6.775 BILLION!!) people in the world….you are # 59,029,289 (that’s 59 MILLION) At $125,000 (US$) it jumps to the top 1/2 percent; and you are # 29,907,929 (that’s 29.9 MILLION).
So, what are we called to do with all this money? Buy a bigger house? Buy a fancier car? The latest smart phone?? Guilty!!! I am soooo tempted now that Verizon and iPhone are working together!!! It’s getting harder and harder to hang on to my stuff; and I am getting ready to give it all away…in a reactionary way….wanting to purge myself of stuff that I feel like just weighs me down. Not to mention, I have to step over it, dust it, move it to make room for more, etc. It just makes me tired…really tired! Thankfully, Louis is slowing me down (so I don’t do something TOTALLY radical!!!) as we continue to pray through what God is calling us to do. Jumping into the deep end can be scary….so I think we will wade in. So…watch for us to have a big ole yard sale this spring. Our goal is to use the proceeds for the community. We have a small “sock fund” that we use to meet needs in the community ~ treat the kids to ice cream, pizza, or after school snacks, school supplies, Bibles, community meals, hats, gloves, and socks for those in the cold, etc.
On a more practical side…we have already been taking steps to decrease spending, out of necessity…with my corporate job ending and making a move to more community work (which has been a long time coming!). But, also out of a sense of calling…to be good stewards of what God provides us. A few examples…
- Why should we give over $100/mo. to Comcast when we watch only…maybe… an hour or 2 a week? So…we are now on the basic cable plan! It meets our needs…thanks to free programs like Hulu and inexpensive plans like Netflix!
- Got new bids on our home/car insurance and saved a TON of money there!
- Returning to coupon clipping…altho it seems they are never with me when I go to the store! Gotta work on that one!
- Louis continues to drive his ole “beater”. (I’ve called it that after it was totaled by our insurance company after it was vandalized multiple times by a neighborhood kid who acted out at us.) We want to pay cash for a new new-to-us (also known as used or previously owned) replacement. Or maybe we will continue to share the other car. I’m learning how to navigate the Richmond’s public transportation system! It’s been years since I rode the bus!
So…a lot of us are either being forced into reducing expenses due to economic downturn, or are choosing to cut back or do with less, maybe out of an urging from the Holy Spirit. What steps are you taking? What ways are you making that move? Would love to hear from some of you. Would love to hear more ideas on ways to save and ways to give more or do without.
Pray for Trust…not Clarity
Posted: Thursday, February 17, 2011 Filed under: 2k11 | Tags: brennan manning, john kavanaugh, Mother Teresa, Oh Happy Day, prayer, ruthless trust, trust Comments Off on Pray for Trust…not ClarityWhat a year it has been! And…how quickly it has come and gone! A year ago today, I started the Miss Marti’s House blog. I spent some time this morning, reviewing some of my 120 posts….summarized below…
February, March and April ~ I started the blog as a Lenten project documenting the story of how I moved to SBH, the people I met along the way, the way my life has forever been changed, how I met the other half of my pair…in ministry and life….Louis, Frank getting shot 9 times and living, to name a few.
May ~ Well…May was a slow writing month! It was a time of introspection, which I didn’t always feel like making public! But, 2 posts stand out…Live Like You Were Dying and OH.HAPPY.DAY stand out! How encouraging it is to read them again at this time! I needed to be reminded of what God was saying to me in May 2010!
You might say I have been a little bit of a funk lately ~ adjusting to the new…slower…different pace of unemployment, death of a friend, illness in my family, change as a whole, etc. and this often causes everyday struggles and disappointments to appear ginormous!! It also serves to distract me from what I have been called to do!
But, after reading these 2 posts, like I was taking a look in my journal, I was reminded of my calling and his many provisions. And…as I read Ruthless Trust by Brennan Manning for the second time in a month, I also remember him saying this on page 5 ~
In first century Palestine the question dominating religious discussion was, How do we hasten the advent of the Kingdom of God? Jesus proposed a single way: the way of trust. He never asked his disciples to trust in God. Rather he demanded of them bluntly, “Trust in God and trust in me” (John 14:1. Trust was not some feature out at the edges of Jesus’ teaching; it was its heart and center. This and only this would bring on speedily the n of God.
When the brilliant ethicist John Kavanaugh went to work for three months at “the house of dying” in Calcutta, he was seeking a clear answer as to how best to spend the rest of his life. On the first morning there he met Mother Teresa. She asked, “And what can I do for you?” Kavanaugh asked her to pray for him.
“What do you want me to pray for?” she asked. He voiced the request that he had borne thousands of miles from the United States: “Pray that I have clarity.”
She said firmly, “No, I will not do that.” When he asked her why, she said, “Clarity is the last thing you are clinging to and must let go of.” When Kavanaugh commented that she always seemed to have clarity he longed for, she laughed and said, “I have never had clarity; what I have always had is trust. So I will pray that you have trust God.”2
So, that’s my prayer for 2011 and beyond. That I will trust God. On page 6 Manning shares,
“We ourselves have known and put our trust in God’s love toward ourselves” (1 John 4:16). Craving clarity, we attempt to eliminate the risk of trusting God. Fear of the unknown path stretching ahead of us destroys childlike trust in the Father’s active goodness and unrestricted love.
I can’t tell you how many times I have prayed for and asked for prayer for clarity. Now…my prayer request is…that I will trust God…and that I will learn to Enjoy the Journey, another reminder from a April 2010. Join me…in praying for Trust!
Prayer for Trust
O Christ Jesus,
when all is darkness
and we feel our weakness and helplessness,
give us the sense of Your presence,
Your love, and Your strength.
Help us to have perfect trust
in Your protecting love
and strengthening power,
so that nothing may frighten or worry us,
for, living close to You,
we shall see Your hand,
Your purpose, Your will through all things.
(By St. Ignatius of Loyola, 1491-1556)
Follow-up to MissionSHIFT – Pt 1 ~ What WAS I thinkin’?
Posted: Tuesday, January 18, 2011 Filed under: 2k11, books | Tags: Hesslegrave, missiology, mission, MissionShift, Stetzer Comments Off on Follow-up to MissionSHIFT – Pt 1 ~ What WAS I thinkin’?So…this is a follow-up from my post yesterday, MissionSHIFT – Pt 1 ~ What WAS I thinkin’?
In yesterday’s post, I was not apologizing for being simple-minded and intimidated, but I was just being real. Ya’ know…there is something to be said for both…keepin’ it real and keepin’ it simple. Most people can spot ‘fake’ a mile away, so I do my best to be real and sincere. Some people pontificate (how’s THAT for a big word?!?!?) on their thoughts and beliefs; and I have been known to do that a bit! But, I have also been told that my communication is often brief and simple. Regardless, I was honored that my words were selected to be used in Ed’s follow-up blog post. Too bad they weren’t all my words! LOL But, I am grateful for my dear friend and mentor, Don Coleman, who keeps it real, and simple, with me.
But, I would much rather hear your thoughts on the idea of Mission, especially after reading Ed’s thoughts on the results from yesterday’s discussion.
MissionSHIFT – Part 1 ~ What WAS I thinkin’???
Posted: Monday, January 17, 2011 Filed under: 2k11, books | Tags: Ed Stetzer, mission, MissionShift 2 Comments
A month or so ago, I (along with a few dozen others) agreed to participate in an online book discussion of MissionSHIFT: Global Mission Issues in the Third Millennium, a collection of essays edited by David J. Hesslegrave and Ed Stetzer. After reading the introduction, written by Ed Stetzer, you will find 3 essays:
“ESSAY 1: “Mission” Defined and Described” Charles Van Engen
An essay where Van Engen writes on “Mission in the Past” followed by 4 responses by Keith E. Eitel, Enoch Wan, Darrell L Guder, and Andreas J Kostenberger.
“ESSAY 2: The Gospel in Human Contexts: Changing Perceptions of Contextualization” Paul G. Heibert
An essay where Heibert writes on “Mission in the Present” followed by 4 responses by Micheal Pocock, Darrell L. Whiteman, Norman L. Geisler, and Avery T. Willis Jr
“ESSAY 3: The Future of Evangelicals in Mission” Ralph D. Winter
An essay where Winter writes on “Mission in the Future” followed by 4 responses by Christopher R. Little, Mike Barnett, and J. Mark Terry
Each essay and its responses is also followed by a response by Ed Stetzer; and the book concludes with Chapter 20 – “CONCLUSION: A Scientific Postscript – Grist for the Missiological Mills of the Future” written by David J. Hesselgrave.
After receiving the book in the mail and reading the first part of it, I immediately asked myself….WHAT IN THE WORLD WAS I THINKING?!?!?!? I MUST TRULY HAVE LOST MY MIND! I have absolutely nothing to say…and in no way can I “hang” with these intellectual thinkers and writers! This type of reading and reflection is certainly for the “heady” types, like my husband, Louis (with his 2 masters and 1 doctoral degrees). Admittedly, I was tempted to ask Louis to craft a response, but I refrained! I am not too embarrassed to say that I am not a “deep thinker”, but am quite frankly pretty simple. Therefore, my response will be somewhat simple as well. No big multi-syllable word. Just me being me, feeling somewhat insecure and intimidated about it, but fulfilling my commitment to join the discussion, none-the-less.
So, with that disclaimer behind me, I will now provide my thoughts after spending some time in prayer about what I read.
I will lead with a question. Why is there soooo much talk and discussion about “mission” and being “missional” yet we aren’t talking about the doing? I could easily end there, but feel compelled to expand the thought a bit more. I am what most would say “new” to the “missional movement” discussion after attending 2 conferences (Verge and Exponential) and reading countless books, articles and blogs on the topic of church/gospel planting and missional communities. I don’t believe that on this side of heaven we will ever agree on the “right definition” of Mission or the “right way” of doing it because we are human. Those who walked with Jesus and talked with him directly and got the Word from the horse’s mouth (no disrespect intended!!!) didn’t get it right. What makes us think we will get it right?
When my husband and I first met 3+ years ago, he talked about “organic” church, “simple” church, “emergent” church, etc. I’m like “What are you talking about???” It truly sounded like a foreign language to me. In some cases, I still think that. We can get so caught up in language and verbiage that we miss the point entirely. I can boil it down to 3 words. Do.The.Bible. (As taught to me by one of my mentors, Don Coleman.) Do what the Bible calls us to do. Do what the Spirit leads me to do in the way the Spirit leads me to do it…which may be different than what He leads another to do. Do it prayerfully. Do it in accountability with others. Do it as a way of life individually and as THE church, not A church.
You see…I guess I was already being “missional” before “missional” became cool. I just didn’t call it that, neither did anyone I know. It’s the way that I live. It’s the way I roll. It’s what I do…every day. And, I don’t understand why we have to come up with a name for it or dissect it. I am being Jesus to those I interact with. For me, that meant moving into a high crime, low income area just a half-mile from the largest project between Philly and Atlanta. This was not an intentional decision on my part…to move in, be incarnational, and serve the “least of these”. But, it was through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Frankly, if I had known what God was calling me to do, I just might have fought against the move a bit harder. For me, it was being in relationship with drug dealers, prostitutes, homeless, fatherless kids, single moms, and jobless while I was at home. For me, it was being in relationship with the multi-millionaires with jobs, homes, spouses, kids, soccer games, etc. while at work. Keeping my eyes and ears open for the “person of peace” I could share the love of Jesus…both at work and at home. Don’t ruin it with titles, definitions, and explanations. On a side note…I’m trying to figure out what is next…due to job elimination, I faced the unemployment line starting 1.1.11. So, I continue to follow the Spirit’s leading with people who I come in contact with. Some…intentionally, after prayer. Others…more by happenstance. I call it obedience. What would you call it?
So, I digress a little…back to the book and the discussion…
When Van Engen is asked about his definition of mission, on page 27 he writes…
I’ve been working on that for about 40 years now. Thus far in my own search for a definition, I have arrived at the following tentative attempt: “God’s mission works primarily through Jesus Christ’s sending the people of God to intentionally cross barriers from church to nonchurch, faith to nonfaith, to proclaim by word and deed the coming of the kingdom of God in Jesus Christ through the Church’s participation in God’s mission of reconciling people to God, to themselves, to one another and to the world and gathering them into the church, through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, by the work of the Holy Spirit, with a view to the transformation of the world, as a sign of the coming of the kingdom in Jesus Christ.”
Now it’s your turn…
How would YOU define mission? Let me know your thoughts by commenting to this post.
For more thoughts on the topic, you can read some great stuff on Ed Stetzer’s Blog, specifically his 1.17.2011 post Monday is for Missiology: Mission, Described and Defined: A Discussion around MissionSHIFT. Be sure to read the comment section for others’ thoughts as well!
Peace!
Miss Marti's House 