On Thursday evening I attended A Night of Inspiration at the Priory Grand Hall on the north side of Pittsburgh. The event benefited White Fields Foundation, a group of Christian men who build relationships with one another through Bible Studies and missional serving opportunities. Many of the men have served kids in the Homewood community through basketball and baseball outreach. LAMP is also developing a partnership with WFF to provide mentoring for at-risk youth in Homewood. Check out the WFF link on this blog to find out more information about the great work they are doing in Pittsburgh and around the world.
One of the things that struck me while I was at the event was a concept I often discuss with my wife called the butterfly effect. The basic concept is that something as small as a butterfly flapping its wings can eventually have an impact on events that happen half way around the world (google it to find out more). As human beings, every single thing we do in our lives, no matter how small, can have huge ramifications in this world... for either good or evil. One small conversation, or a single moment in time, can send echos into eternity. Our lives do matter. God has set things up that way. So, it's a wonder that so many American Christians are plodding through life with no real purpose other than elevating themselves and trying to live the American Dream when the ultimate purpose in life is found in the small things of life and in Christ's downward mobility (the opposite of the American Dream). The small details of our lives matter. God works in the lowly things of this world, the seemingly insignificant things, the achieve his purposes of redeeming all of humanity.
The butterfly effect was in full effect at the WFF event on Thursday night. A guy named Tim Gaertner happened to be seated at my table of ten people. He now lives in New York, but when I was in high school he was one of my youth leaders. He had an amazing influence on my life, in terms of drawing me closer to Christ, in just a relatively short period of time. Those seeds that he planted in me helped me to weather the storm of college, where I struggled greatly as a 17 and 18 year old kid. The Lord's strength helped me hold it together until when I was 19 everything seemed to finally click for me. Right at that point, I ran into a girl named Julie Gowan and I mustered up the courage to ask her out on a date. From that one small moment in time, I found a best friend for life in my beautiful wife and the incredible mother of our two daughters. Julie was seated at my table on Thursday night next to Tim Gaertner. Long ago, during high school, Tim had introduced me to his brother, Brennan, who founded White Fields Foundation. I bumped into Brennan at a men's breakfast a few years ago, and he invited me to a Tuesday morning WFF Bible Study. By Brennan taking the opportunity to invite me to that, I have found deep, meaningful community with lots of Christian men from all over the city. The leader of that Bible Study, Leo, is a pastor on staff with WFF. He asked me if he could hang out with me in Homewood one day, and from that one visit hundreds of kids in Homewood have been reached with the gospel message of Christ through baseball and basketball outreach events. On Thursday, Leo introduced me to the keynote speaker at the Night of Inspiration, Joe Ehrmann. Joe delivered an amazing message about what it means to be a man who follows Christ. He is a former NFL player and a current pastor at a church in Baltimore where he has a background of 25 years in urban ministry. In my conversation with him, it turns out that he was mentored and greatly influenced by Ray Bakke. And now I have been mentored and influenced by Ray Bakke. It was amazing to see how God has worked through Ray to impact two men from different generations in different cities.
Life is all about relationships. We can do great harm to other people through our relationships, or tremendous good. It's up to us to choose. And we must choose daily to build loving, intentional relationships with God, with our friends and families, with people we don't even know yet, and even with our enemies. Every relationship matters over time, and God works through those relationships for his purposes. Every little thing we do matters. God's ways are mysterious, but the butterfly effect is a good analogy to describe how God is in control in this world and we are not. Let's live every day like every little thing we do matters.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Failure to Launch
I read a great article recently about a relatively new category of young men that is emerging in American society. Nobody has really settled on a universal term to call them yet, as far as I have noticed. The article I read used two terms: post-adolescence and pre-adulthood. Pop culture may call it failure to launch. Whatever the label eventually becomes, the point is that there are many young American men out there in their twenties and thirties who have emphatically decided not to enter into the next stage of the masculine journey. The issue is defined by passivity. They may still live with their mommy and daddy, or they may have ascended to the lofty height of the bachelor pad with some other boys trapped in mens' bodies. They may date, if they can muster up the energy, but they never commit and often try to fully immerse themselves in the hook up culture if possible. Even if they use restraint and avoid the temptation of easy sexual conquests, they sometimes enter into loosely defined "relationships" in order to avoid commitment. Women don't know what to make of them, but there seem to be slim pickings out there so standards are lowered in order to be able to somehow connect. And women wonder where all of the real men have gone. These guys may be able to make a lot of money at their jobs, but a lot of that goes to beer, pizza, video games, or the latest tech gadgets. They spend their time, talents, and treasure on themselves without much regard for anyone else. They've arranged for their life to just work out that way.
I know this sounds like a pretty harsh criticism of these guys, but it is very frustrating to watch young men be taken out by the worldy culture around them. Who knows what the root causes are? Maybe their parents hovered over them too much and taught them how special they are and that the world should somehow revolve around them. Maybe they have bought into what the American culture has tried to hold up as the new version of masculinity. Maybe feminism took its toll on men. Either way, this is a huge problem in our society. Young men who choose not to grow up leave a huge void in society. It leaves some of us guys to have to pick up the slack and carry around tremendous burdens due to their many shortcomings. It leaves many young women wondering what to do now. The lifestyle choice leads young men down a path of self destruction. And, worst of all, these guys fail to live out the unique calling that God has given them in his mission to redeem all of humanity. I may joke about it, but it does harm to our world in many different ways.
All is not lost, though. There are still pockets of young men who are bravely choosing to live out their callings in life. They are moving out of their mommies' homes. They are beginning to think about people other than themselves. They are living full lives as single men, or getting married, having children, and doing their best to be the husbands and fathers that God intended them to be. They are stepping into leadership positions at their jobs, in their churches, and in their families. Leadership comes with a great cost, but that his how God set up the masculine journey. The journey is full of adventure, risk, and danger. It will cost us everything that we have. But God has designed us, as men, to give ourselves away to others for his sake. Life is not found in passivity, or settling for the smaller stories that the world wants us to live in. Nor is life found in misguided overaggression where men might try to control their lives and everyone around them. Our calling in life is to pour ourselves out for others, to spend ourselves for the sake of Christ. Life is not meant to be lazy and irresponsible, although American culture makes quite a sales pitch for guys to settle there. A life unlived is a sad thing, and it's up to the men who do know the way to speak into the lives of the younger generation of men who may have lost their way. Sometimes we all need a little nudge from some older men in our lives to step into the next stage in the masculine journey.
I know this sounds like a pretty harsh criticism of these guys, but it is very frustrating to watch young men be taken out by the worldy culture around them. Who knows what the root causes are? Maybe their parents hovered over them too much and taught them how special they are and that the world should somehow revolve around them. Maybe they have bought into what the American culture has tried to hold up as the new version of masculinity. Maybe feminism took its toll on men. Either way, this is a huge problem in our society. Young men who choose not to grow up leave a huge void in society. It leaves some of us guys to have to pick up the slack and carry around tremendous burdens due to their many shortcomings. It leaves many young women wondering what to do now. The lifestyle choice leads young men down a path of self destruction. And, worst of all, these guys fail to live out the unique calling that God has given them in his mission to redeem all of humanity. I may joke about it, but it does harm to our world in many different ways.
All is not lost, though. There are still pockets of young men who are bravely choosing to live out their callings in life. They are moving out of their mommies' homes. They are beginning to think about people other than themselves. They are living full lives as single men, or getting married, having children, and doing their best to be the husbands and fathers that God intended them to be. They are stepping into leadership positions at their jobs, in their churches, and in their families. Leadership comes with a great cost, but that his how God set up the masculine journey. The journey is full of adventure, risk, and danger. It will cost us everything that we have. But God has designed us, as men, to give ourselves away to others for his sake. Life is not found in passivity, or settling for the smaller stories that the world wants us to live in. Nor is life found in misguided overaggression where men might try to control their lives and everyone around them. Our calling in life is to pour ourselves out for others, to spend ourselves for the sake of Christ. Life is not meant to be lazy and irresponsible, although American culture makes quite a sales pitch for guys to settle there. A life unlived is a sad thing, and it's up to the men who do know the way to speak into the lives of the younger generation of men who may have lost their way. Sometimes we all need a little nudge from some older men in our lives to step into the next stage in the masculine journey.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Boundaries in Incarnational Living
Last night, I plopped myself down on the couch after a long weekend to watch a movie with my daughters. Right at that moment, two boys from the neighborhood stopped over to visit us. I invited them in, they ate dinner with us, we chatted for a while, and then I gave them "the boot" so that I could continue to connect with my daughters for the rest of the evening. The boys wanted to stay and watch the movie, but I made sure to protect the quality time with my daughters on this particular occasion.
This scenario is one of the most challenging parts about urban, incarnational ministry. The people we are trying to reach as a family all live within walking distance of us. The kids can stop past any time they want, and we always welcome them even if it is just to say hello and grab a quick snack. Sometimes kids are in our house for hours at a time, and sometimes they're here for a minute or so. It all depends on where we are at as a family on that particular day. Sometimes we need space, and sometimes we have margin to invite people into whatever we are doing in our lives.
Jesus modeled for all Christians how to engage with people and also how to have boundaries. We cannot be all things to all people at all times. Nobody has that kind of capacity. But we can be good neighbors, and love people well, within the boundaries that provide healthy space to experience community. It's a fine line to walk, but it's worth it to be willing to fulfill the calling that God has given our family.
This scenario is one of the most challenging parts about urban, incarnational ministry. The people we are trying to reach as a family all live within walking distance of us. The kids can stop past any time they want, and we always welcome them even if it is just to say hello and grab a quick snack. Sometimes kids are in our house for hours at a time, and sometimes they're here for a minute or so. It all depends on where we are at as a family on that particular day. Sometimes we need space, and sometimes we have margin to invite people into whatever we are doing in our lives.
Jesus modeled for all Christians how to engage with people and also how to have boundaries. We cannot be all things to all people at all times. Nobody has that kind of capacity. But we can be good neighbors, and love people well, within the boundaries that provide healthy space to experience community. It's a fine line to walk, but it's worth it to be willing to fulfill the calling that God has given our family.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
What Does it Mean to Follow Christ in America?
The American Church really struggles with our role in this world. Just what does it mean to follow Christ in a land which has generated by far the most wealth and influence in human history? During Jesus' lifetime, three groups of religous people completely missed the point of why Jesus came and just how it is that we are supposed to be living this one life that we are given. Today, those same three types of religous people almost completely miss the point of what it means to be a Christian. Two thousand years ago during Jesus' lifetime, there were generally three groups of Jews. The escapists tried to distance themselves from the world, and all of the problems in it. They withdrew to their own private Jewish silos in the desert and in their own neighborhoods. The conformists were a second group of religous people who basically assimilated to the pagan Roman society that was all around them. They adopted the worldly culture instead of conforming to the ways of God. The third group, the zealots, were fundamentalists who wanted to overthrow the Romans and establish a Jewish state and ruling religous system once again. The escapists, conformists, and zealots all missed the point of why Jesus came. In their search to find life, they instead found frustration and dead ends. Instead of orienting themselves in the Kingdom of God that Jesus ushered in, they chose to settle for their own smaller stories to live in.
In modern America, those same three groups of religous people still define and shape what the religion of Christianity looks like. The escapist Christians are still trying to escape the world by building Christian bubbles for themselves. They live in places that buffer themselves from the poor and from people who they perceive to be too broken to interact with. Their friends are all Christians, they send their kids to Christian school or home school them, their music is Christian, and their breath mints are Christian. Yet, they are missing the point of what it means to be a follower of Christ. The conformist Christians in America are alive and well. Their divorce rate looks exactly the same as the populare culture. Becoming a Christian did not alter their lifestyles, and they continue to live as though they have the assurance of eternal salvation but that does not really apply to their lives. Things just seem to go better if you're into that whole Christian thing. Being a Christian shouldn't really cost you anything. It should improve your life. There are plenty of churches in American lined up to offer the self help gospel or the prosperity gospel message to people who are looking to be upwardly mobile during this lifetime. Hey, maybe God will give us that house, or that car, or that luck in the stock market for our retirement accounts if we just be nice little Christian people. And there are plenty of American zealots in modern times, from both the far left and the far right. The culture war in politics in America is a hot topic, and they are fully committed to their causes. The love of Christ becomes lost in the culture war, though, and we end up falling back on our own flawed worldviews to try to prove to people how right we really are instead of being Christlike. The problem is, the Kingdom of God has nothing to do with escapists, or conformists, or zealots. Those worldviews completely miss the point of why we choose to follow Christ.
So, why should we follow Christ? What does that really mean for our lives? Maybe we heard a good sermon at church this weekend, but how do we translate that over to our day to day functions as followers of Jesus? Our lives do matter. God is on mission to redeem the world. If we choose not to engage in that mission, then we lead lives of disobedience. We become lost. We find LIFE in Christ! God has a unique role for each of us to play in this life. Our life comes with a cost. Christ calls each of us to give our lives away for him. Once we choose to follow Christ, we die to our selves and we embrace our costly role in the mission of God to redeem the world. We cannot fulfill that role as an escapist. We cannot fulfill that role as a conformist. And we cannot fulfill that role as a zealot. That is why God says the path to life in Christ is a narrow path. Few will find it. Still, we cannot give up the search. God will meet us and guide us on that path if we intentionally give up control of our lives. We must choose to step out of the story of the American Dream. We must choose to stop elevating ourselves, and die for the sake of Christ. Our lives here on earth are a mist, and then they are gone. In the long run, it will not matter how nice our houses were, or what kind of cars we chose to drive, or how much money we chose to retire on and leave for our children. We must live every day with the purpose that is found in God, and we cannot afford to waste time. We cannot afford to get caught up in all of the sins that this world has to offer, or all of the distractions, or the busyness, or the smaller stories of escaping, conforming, or selling out to fundamentalism. God is on a mission, and we can only find our life purpose in him. Let's live like that this week!
In modern America, those same three groups of religous people still define and shape what the religion of Christianity looks like. The escapist Christians are still trying to escape the world by building Christian bubbles for themselves. They live in places that buffer themselves from the poor and from people who they perceive to be too broken to interact with. Their friends are all Christians, they send their kids to Christian school or home school them, their music is Christian, and their breath mints are Christian. Yet, they are missing the point of what it means to be a follower of Christ. The conformist Christians in America are alive and well. Their divorce rate looks exactly the same as the populare culture. Becoming a Christian did not alter their lifestyles, and they continue to live as though they have the assurance of eternal salvation but that does not really apply to their lives. Things just seem to go better if you're into that whole Christian thing. Being a Christian shouldn't really cost you anything. It should improve your life. There are plenty of churches in American lined up to offer the self help gospel or the prosperity gospel message to people who are looking to be upwardly mobile during this lifetime. Hey, maybe God will give us that house, or that car, or that luck in the stock market for our retirement accounts if we just be nice little Christian people. And there are plenty of American zealots in modern times, from both the far left and the far right. The culture war in politics in America is a hot topic, and they are fully committed to their causes. The love of Christ becomes lost in the culture war, though, and we end up falling back on our own flawed worldviews to try to prove to people how right we really are instead of being Christlike. The problem is, the Kingdom of God has nothing to do with escapists, or conformists, or zealots. Those worldviews completely miss the point of why we choose to follow Christ.
So, why should we follow Christ? What does that really mean for our lives? Maybe we heard a good sermon at church this weekend, but how do we translate that over to our day to day functions as followers of Jesus? Our lives do matter. God is on mission to redeem the world. If we choose not to engage in that mission, then we lead lives of disobedience. We become lost. We find LIFE in Christ! God has a unique role for each of us to play in this life. Our life comes with a cost. Christ calls each of us to give our lives away for him. Once we choose to follow Christ, we die to our selves and we embrace our costly role in the mission of God to redeem the world. We cannot fulfill that role as an escapist. We cannot fulfill that role as a conformist. And we cannot fulfill that role as a zealot. That is why God says the path to life in Christ is a narrow path. Few will find it. Still, we cannot give up the search. God will meet us and guide us on that path if we intentionally give up control of our lives. We must choose to step out of the story of the American Dream. We must choose to stop elevating ourselves, and die for the sake of Christ. Our lives here on earth are a mist, and then they are gone. In the long run, it will not matter how nice our houses were, or what kind of cars we chose to drive, or how much money we chose to retire on and leave for our children. We must live every day with the purpose that is found in God, and we cannot afford to waste time. We cannot afford to get caught up in all of the sins that this world has to offer, or all of the distractions, or the busyness, or the smaller stories of escaping, conforming, or selling out to fundamentalism. God is on a mission, and we can only find our life purpose in him. Let's live like that this week!
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Getting Stuck on the Road to Mentoring
Over the past five years, I have been involved in providing training sessions for new mentors at a rate of about once every month. With LAMP, we offer mentoring training to help people to be prepared and equipped for building a long term relationship with a child and cultural training to help people understand how to build cross-cultural relationships effectively. The trainings are valuable, and an integral part of the success that we have experienced in many of the matches that have been made. Still, for some reason few people who sign up for LAMP ever actually make their way to the mentor training sessions. Probably six or seven hundred people from my church have signed up to get involved in mentoring children in Homewood since the program was launched five years ago. Just over two hundred people have actually completed both mentoring and cultural training, and gone on to actually mentor a child.
There are many different reasons why so many people sign up to volunteer as a mentor, and so few people actually follow through with it. People often sign up to volunteer when they are emotionally moved by the compelling need to reach struggling children. Being "moved" is an important first step, but often people seem to forget about the desperate needs of children over time. Complacency sets in. People become disinterested, or too busy. Often in American culture, volunteerism is tacked on to the end of our busy schedules (family, work, and personal recreation usually come first). We become exhausted, and giving ourselves away to others through service is usually what gets squeezed out of our time. Another thing that gets in the way of Christians becoming mentors is spiritual warfare. As soon as people step up and want to make a difference in the life of another person, it seems that the bad things often happen to them to keep them from following through. A job is lost, or an unexpected illness sets in.
All of this creates a unique tension for me as a person who is charged with finding mentors for the kids in my neighborhood who desperately need mentors. I know mentoring is not for everybody. It requires quite a relational time commitment. It requires people to give themselves away to others. It comes with a cost, and many people feel that that cost is too high of a price to pay. We value our time, our talents, and our resources. I can't force anybody to follow through. However, I have seen how amazing mentoring can be for mentors and mentees. When volunteers press through all of the reasons that usually take them out, they discover that the mentoring experience grows them in many profound ways and also helps to lead to dramatic transformation in the lives of the young people that they mentor. And as Christians, God wants us to give ourselves away to others. And that service to others does not simply involve our family and friends. God wants to help all Christians to find a transcendent purpose in life, a way of living on the edge and doing hard things so that God's mission to mankind can be fulfilled through his Church. It is our greatest joy, our most important role in this life. And we cannot experience that joy if we are too busy, or too distracted, or too complacent, or too unfamiliar with spiritual warfare. It's not something that we do on our own. God leads the way, and we follow in humble obedience. Great meaning is found in life in those areas of reckless abandon to God while giving ourselves away to other for his sake. Mentoring is one great way to experience that.
There are many different reasons why so many people sign up to volunteer as a mentor, and so few people actually follow through with it. People often sign up to volunteer when they are emotionally moved by the compelling need to reach struggling children. Being "moved" is an important first step, but often people seem to forget about the desperate needs of children over time. Complacency sets in. People become disinterested, or too busy. Often in American culture, volunteerism is tacked on to the end of our busy schedules (family, work, and personal recreation usually come first). We become exhausted, and giving ourselves away to others through service is usually what gets squeezed out of our time. Another thing that gets in the way of Christians becoming mentors is spiritual warfare. As soon as people step up and want to make a difference in the life of another person, it seems that the bad things often happen to them to keep them from following through. A job is lost, or an unexpected illness sets in.
All of this creates a unique tension for me as a person who is charged with finding mentors for the kids in my neighborhood who desperately need mentors. I know mentoring is not for everybody. It requires quite a relational time commitment. It requires people to give themselves away to others. It comes with a cost, and many people feel that that cost is too high of a price to pay. We value our time, our talents, and our resources. I can't force anybody to follow through. However, I have seen how amazing mentoring can be for mentors and mentees. When volunteers press through all of the reasons that usually take them out, they discover that the mentoring experience grows them in many profound ways and also helps to lead to dramatic transformation in the lives of the young people that they mentor. And as Christians, God wants us to give ourselves away to others. And that service to others does not simply involve our family and friends. God wants to help all Christians to find a transcendent purpose in life, a way of living on the edge and doing hard things so that God's mission to mankind can be fulfilled through his Church. It is our greatest joy, our most important role in this life. And we cannot experience that joy if we are too busy, or too distracted, or too complacent, or too unfamiliar with spiritual warfare. It's not something that we do on our own. God leads the way, and we follow in humble obedience. Great meaning is found in life in those areas of reckless abandon to God while giving ourselves away to other for his sake. Mentoring is one great way to experience that.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Monster Truck Jams, Not Cubicles
I'm looking forward to a great weekend. Tonight I am going to experience monster trucks with some of my mentees at the Consol Energy Center here in Pittsburgh. I know it's going to be a blast! Then, on Saturday morning I'll be training a group of new LAMP mentors at the Faison Primary School in Homewood. I'm also on call for North Way on Saturday, which means if anyone in the congregation of 4,000+ people need anything I will be the first responder. Finally, after church on Sunday afternoon I'm facilitating a meeting of current active LAMP mentors to encourage them and build community with one another.
It's important for ministry leaders to spend time building relationships, in many different contexts, with a wide variety of people. The world is an extremely diverse place, and the Church should reflect that. So, for me, whether it's the noise of monster trucks in an arena or the quiet halls of a church building, I know God is always moving and always at work in many different places in this world. It's my job to show up where and when he asks me to show up. And I can't do that if I'm too busy sitting on my couch watching TV, or maybe even sitting in some cubicle somewhere pretending to do church work. Jesus never had a cubicle, and things seemed to work out pretty well for him. Just saying.
It's important for ministry leaders to spend time building relationships, in many different contexts, with a wide variety of people. The world is an extremely diverse place, and the Church should reflect that. So, for me, whether it's the noise of monster trucks in an arena or the quiet halls of a church building, I know God is always moving and always at work in many different places in this world. It's my job to show up where and when he asks me to show up. And I can't do that if I'm too busy sitting on my couch watching TV, or maybe even sitting in some cubicle somewhere pretending to do church work. Jesus never had a cubicle, and things seemed to work out pretty well for him. Just saying.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Living in God's Story
There are many great books out about passionately living the Christian journey, which is filled with danger and risk, or life on the edge as some call it. Lately, I've heard many heartfelt pleas from preachers to live a full life that serves God as we give ourselves away to others in need and through authentic community. There can be so much richness and joy to being in full surrender in Christ, but there is also a lot of pain and struggle in this life. We hear God's voice calling out to us in many ways, but we also try to suppress it and pretend that it does not exist. We become inspired on Sunday morning at church, and then all seems lost by Monday morning. Back to the grind. We wonder, why does life have to be so hard? And so we settle. We make agreements with the little things of this world that bring us temporary joy, or sometimes additional pain as the consequences of our sins. Instead of living life on the edge, in a dangerous, risky battle for the redemption of billions of people living on this planet, we play it safe and flip on the TV to watch other people living out their own pretend adventures in front of the camera. Or we seek cheap thrills. So, why does all of this happen?
God calls the adventure of following Christ in this life the narrow path. Few will find it. The narrow path is a lifelong journey with many twists and turns and ups and downs. We often settle for living out what other people's expectations are for us instead of perhaps what God has planned for us. John Eldredge writes, "Without a deep and burning desire of our own, we will be ruled by the desires of others... The damage, of course, is a life lost unto itself. Millions of souls drifting through life, without an inner compass to give them direction. They take their cues from others and live out scripts from someone else's life. It's a high price to pay. Too high." - The Journey of Desire
The stories that other people come up with for us, to try to define us, are too small for us to live in. The stories that the world generates for us, the latest tech gadget or concert or TV show or fad, are too small for us to live in. We must learn to not allow the world to provide meaning to our journey. Sometimes other people will contribute to making our journey more meaningful, but we should not be defined by the expectations of others. This is life! We have so much to live for! We can only find the narrow path to life by living full out for Christ, embracing risk as the central theme to making sense of things this life has to offer. God wants to meet us in that place, but we must give up control in order to connect with God. This life is not about the human story. This life is about God's Story!
God calls the adventure of following Christ in this life the narrow path. Few will find it. The narrow path is a lifelong journey with many twists and turns and ups and downs. We often settle for living out what other people's expectations are for us instead of perhaps what God has planned for us. John Eldredge writes, "Without a deep and burning desire of our own, we will be ruled by the desires of others... The damage, of course, is a life lost unto itself. Millions of souls drifting through life, without an inner compass to give them direction. They take their cues from others and live out scripts from someone else's life. It's a high price to pay. Too high." - The Journey of Desire
The stories that other people come up with for us, to try to define us, are too small for us to live in. The stories that the world generates for us, the latest tech gadget or concert or TV show or fad, are too small for us to live in. We must learn to not allow the world to provide meaning to our journey. Sometimes other people will contribute to making our journey more meaningful, but we should not be defined by the expectations of others. This is life! We have so much to live for! We can only find the narrow path to life by living full out for Christ, embracing risk as the central theme to making sense of things this life has to offer. God wants to meet us in that place, but we must give up control in order to connect with God. This life is not about the human story. This life is about God's Story!
Saturday, February 12, 2011
The Struggles of Poor Urban Neighborhoods in America
I care deeply about my neighborhood, Homewood, and sometimes I wonder why it is so difficult to get other people in Pittsburgh interested in doing something about the injustices that go on here at a remarkably high level. There are close to two and a half million people living in the greater Pittsburgh metropolitan area, and only around 10,000 of those people live in Homewood. I have noticed that, in general, most people try to avoid my neighborhood. The systems and institutions that are characteristic of a healthy community seem to ignore Homewood. Nearly half of the homes are vacant. A strong underground illegal economy seems to have all but replaced the good jobs and businesses that once prevailed in Homewood. There are signs of hope, good people that remain in the neighborhood, resilient people that are trying to make a difference here, but still, in general, Homewood gets written off as a poor neighborhood that should be avoided by mainstream society in America. And that is why I struggle so much with what I do. My job is to somehow convince people to care about the high risk young people in Homewood. As a resident of Homewood, my hope is to passionately work toward the transformation of my neighborhood. It's tough work, but it is worth it.
My struggle, and the general struggle of the people and places in Homewood, is not a new phenomenon in America. Nearly every city seems to have a "high crime and low income" area that the mainstream culture tends to ignore and neglect. This happens in spite of many people and institutions in America that have attempted to do something about the poverty and blight in the inner cities in our nation. In American Project, Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh writes, "Creating and sustaining local spaces for healthy development of individuals and families is a core concern of Americans. It is a challenge that is ingrained in the American way of life, whether in a rural farm town, a suburban tract, or a public housing development. It is at the heart of the American dream, deeply intertwined with other national principles such as unrestricted mobility and the freedom of individual expression. The capacity of Americans to live in decent homes and neighborhoods has become such a matter of national interest that examples of troubled or successful communities rise quickly in the popular discourse to reflect on the state of the nation overall. Indeed, the high-rise public housing complex has become a contemporary mirror for American self-examination; the ardent conservative, the mawkish liberal, and the hopeful progressive are all equally bothered by the persistence of these pckets of social and economic deprivation in a country experiencing great prosperity."
In that context, Homewood should grab the attention of the residents of the greater Pittsburgh metropolitan area. People should be greatly disturbed about violence and brokenness in our world. And perhaps that's where the problem starts in Pittsburgh. Everyone made a big uproar when orphans from Haiti were brought to Pittsburgh following the aftermath of the earthquake there last year, but the plight of children struggling in poverty in our own city goes largely unpublicized... except when a child from Homewood dies violently. Those incidents seem to get some brief media coverage, but it tends to go away quickly. And I'm not just blaming the media, as many well-meaning folks are quick to do. Churches in Pittsburgh, and Christians in the region in general, seem to know about the struggles in Homewood but they largely ignore the plight of my neighborhood. In my mind, Christians should be the first responders to complex, urban issues that result in poverty and pain in our American cities. Instead, most Christians in Pittsburgh avoid the problems in Homewood. That is sin. Ignoring the struggles of people in need in Pittsburgh is not a sin of commission by Pittsburgh-area Christians. It is a sin of ommission. And God does not see a difference between the two. Sin is still sin. Evil still causes pain in this world, and it is our role as Christians to intervene and do something about it. Sadly, many American Christians are too busy building bigger barns for themselves to care about the needs of the urban poor in our country. Homewood should be a mirror for complacent, comfortable people living in Pittsburgh. Instead, our mirror seems to be more closely tied to the ups and downs of our local sports teams. People are losing sleep and getting angry over Super Bowl losses and ticket scandals when there are children in Pittsburgh suffering from the effects of crushing poverty and urban blight. That's sad. But, hey, we can always flip the TV channel. We can always look forward to the next sports season. There are plenty of distractions in Pittsburgh to keep our focus as a city off the children who are dying violently from a lack of hope. As followers of Jesus, will we seek the shalom of our city for people who have been marginalized by mainstream society, or will we pretend that everything is going along just fine. That's not just a decision for a few dedicated residents of Pittsburgh. That's a decision for every single resident of the city... especially those who claim to have faith in Jesus but do nothing to help their brothers and sisters who are hurting right in their own city.
My struggle, and the general struggle of the people and places in Homewood, is not a new phenomenon in America. Nearly every city seems to have a "high crime and low income" area that the mainstream culture tends to ignore and neglect. This happens in spite of many people and institutions in America that have attempted to do something about the poverty and blight in the inner cities in our nation. In American Project, Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh writes, "Creating and sustaining local spaces for healthy development of individuals and families is a core concern of Americans. It is a challenge that is ingrained in the American way of life, whether in a rural farm town, a suburban tract, or a public housing development. It is at the heart of the American dream, deeply intertwined with other national principles such as unrestricted mobility and the freedom of individual expression. The capacity of Americans to live in decent homes and neighborhoods has become such a matter of national interest that examples of troubled or successful communities rise quickly in the popular discourse to reflect on the state of the nation overall. Indeed, the high-rise public housing complex has become a contemporary mirror for American self-examination; the ardent conservative, the mawkish liberal, and the hopeful progressive are all equally bothered by the persistence of these pckets of social and economic deprivation in a country experiencing great prosperity."
In that context, Homewood should grab the attention of the residents of the greater Pittsburgh metropolitan area. People should be greatly disturbed about violence and brokenness in our world. And perhaps that's where the problem starts in Pittsburgh. Everyone made a big uproar when orphans from Haiti were brought to Pittsburgh following the aftermath of the earthquake there last year, but the plight of children struggling in poverty in our own city goes largely unpublicized... except when a child from Homewood dies violently. Those incidents seem to get some brief media coverage, but it tends to go away quickly. And I'm not just blaming the media, as many well-meaning folks are quick to do. Churches in Pittsburgh, and Christians in the region in general, seem to know about the struggles in Homewood but they largely ignore the plight of my neighborhood. In my mind, Christians should be the first responders to complex, urban issues that result in poverty and pain in our American cities. Instead, most Christians in Pittsburgh avoid the problems in Homewood. That is sin. Ignoring the struggles of people in need in Pittsburgh is not a sin of commission by Pittsburgh-area Christians. It is a sin of ommission. And God does not see a difference between the two. Sin is still sin. Evil still causes pain in this world, and it is our role as Christians to intervene and do something about it. Sadly, many American Christians are too busy building bigger barns for themselves to care about the needs of the urban poor in our country. Homewood should be a mirror for complacent, comfortable people living in Pittsburgh. Instead, our mirror seems to be more closely tied to the ups and downs of our local sports teams. People are losing sleep and getting angry over Super Bowl losses and ticket scandals when there are children in Pittsburgh suffering from the effects of crushing poverty and urban blight. That's sad. But, hey, we can always flip the TV channel. We can always look forward to the next sports season. There are plenty of distractions in Pittsburgh to keep our focus as a city off the children who are dying violently from a lack of hope. As followers of Jesus, will we seek the shalom of our city for people who have been marginalized by mainstream society, or will we pretend that everything is going along just fine. That's not just a decision for a few dedicated residents of Pittsburgh. That's a decision for every single resident of the city... especially those who claim to have faith in Jesus but do nothing to help their brothers and sisters who are hurting right in their own city.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Getting Away
I've escaped from Pittsburgh this weekend to do some reading and writing far away from daily activities of urban ministry in Homewood. One of the unique aspects of living incarnationally in the city is that people stop over at our house all the time, and it is sometimes difficult to carve out time to just be "off duty." God has been placing many creative ideas in my head and on my heart recently, and I have been craving some extended quiet time alone so that I can get those ideas out of my head and onto paper. Thankfully, Julie picked up on that and she offered to take on all family responsibilities this weekend so that I could get away. She's such an amazing wife!
I'm hoping and praying that the words will flow this weekend. Most importantly, I simply hope that I can connect with God and have him refresh me so that I can be prepared to jump back into the great work that is going on in Homewood. 2011 is going to be a strange year... probably the only year of my life that I will actually write a doctoral dissertation. It's a big mountain to climb, but I think I'm up for it!
I'm hoping and praying that the words will flow this weekend. Most importantly, I simply hope that I can connect with God and have him refresh me so that I can be prepared to jump back into the great work that is going on in Homewood. 2011 is going to be a strange year... probably the only year of my life that I will actually write a doctoral dissertation. It's a big mountain to climb, but I think I'm up for it!
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Visitors to Homewood
This past week I've had the opportunity to show people around Homewood for the first time. I've introduced them to kids, invited them into my house, shared about the history of the neighborhood, and discussed assets and needs in the community. For each of the visitors, they had presuppositions about Homewood before they got here. Their friends and family had told them they were crazy for going to Homewood. They each had some fears about what things might be like here, but they left Homewood with the feeling that things are not as bad as everyone on the outside makes them out to be. The kids in Homewood are just kids. The people are just people. There are some amazing people here. And there is a lot of great work going on in Homewood to transform the community.
All of us have presuppositions in the way that we interact with the world. Our worldview is shaped by many different perspectives and experiences. Often times we build up biases or fears based on false premises or ideologies. The important thing is that we are open to change, and to learning new things and trying new experiences that might adjust our worldviews for the better. There are many people who build their worldviews on fear, and then those fears are fueled by things such as the media or friends and family who reinforce negativity. As leaders, it is important to play a role in helping people overcome their fears and presuppositions. Bringing new people into my neighborhood is just one example of that. I love to show people the amazing things that God has shown me in these five years of living and working in Homewood.
All of us have presuppositions in the way that we interact with the world. Our worldview is shaped by many different perspectives and experiences. Often times we build up biases or fears based on false premises or ideologies. The important thing is that we are open to change, and to learning new things and trying new experiences that might adjust our worldviews for the better. There are many people who build their worldviews on fear, and then those fears are fueled by things such as the media or friends and family who reinforce negativity. As leaders, it is important to play a role in helping people overcome their fears and presuppositions. Bringing new people into my neighborhood is just one example of that. I love to show people the amazing things that God has shown me in these five years of living and working in Homewood.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Radical Community
My friend, Pastor Kent Chevalier, taught a great sermon at North Way Christian Community this weekend called Back in the Day: Part 5. If you did not happen to be at North Way this weekend, please go check out the video or audio file at http://www.northway.org/. God really worked through Kent to share a powerful message about how followers of Christ should develop community and be a part of God's mission to redeem the world.
American Christians need to recover our faith from the American Dream. Most of the American Dream is a lie of the world. We should be living in God's Story! There is great joy to be found in the epic adventure that is God's grand narrative. And what joy can we expect to find in the American Dream story? Not much. A lot of dead ends and disappointments. There is never enough in the world to satisfy what we are all searching for, even though America is making quite a push to see if it's even possible to replace God with a bunch of elaborate idols. But in the end, our human plans and luxuries will never surpass the joy and purpose in life that is found in orienting ourselves within God's Story. God is on mission to redeem the world. We each have a unique role to play in that mission. And, that mission most definitely does not involve arranging for more and more stuff for ourselves so that our lives might somehow be more comfortable and easy.
American Christians need to recover our faith from the American Dream. Most of the American Dream is a lie of the world. We should be living in God's Story! There is great joy to be found in the epic adventure that is God's grand narrative. And what joy can we expect to find in the American Dream story? Not much. A lot of dead ends and disappointments. There is never enough in the world to satisfy what we are all searching for, even though America is making quite a push to see if it's even possible to replace God with a bunch of elaborate idols. But in the end, our human plans and luxuries will never surpass the joy and purpose in life that is found in orienting ourselves within God's Story. God is on mission to redeem the world. We each have a unique role to play in that mission. And, that mission most definitely does not involve arranging for more and more stuff for ourselves so that our lives might somehow be more comfortable and easy.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Pitcairn Community Ministries
I couple days ago we had the opportunity to spend some time with Gary and Carol Agate from Pitcairn Community Ministries. Please check out their website through the link on my blog if you get a chance. God is working through them to do some great things in their community where they intentionally moved last summer to live incarnationally. A big part of their story is that they are empty nesters, and after raising a big family on a farm in a rural area they decided to move into a very nice townhouse in a good neighborhood. After just a little while there they started to feel like God was calling them to something a little more radical. They decided to move to Pitcairn to give themselves away to others in an amazing outreach ministry that they built. Their website has more details, but as I reflect on our time with them I noticed the following:
1. It's never too late to stop trying to achieve the American Dream (an unbiblical lifestyle that many American Christians have been deceived into finding their life purposes in). As followers of Christ who happen to be living in America, we all should give up the American Dream in order to live in God's Story which has been shown to us as the way to live life for thousands of years. The American version of retirement is just one example of what I'm talking about... it's not biblical, and it doesn't bring retirees the kind of joy that can be found in finishing strong on the edge for Christ instead of comfortably isolated from people in need in this world.
2. When we take the step to give ourselves away to others for the sake of Christ, it matters how we do it! That's why it is so important to read books related to the type of ministry that people are called to. The Agates were reading books like Radical, The Hole in the Gospel, and Crazy Love. Those are all great books that give a clear biblical foundation for how Christians can choose to live in God's Story.
3. Another family is already in the process of moving to Pitcairn with them. The concept here is that it is important to bring other folks along with us in the journey of life. There are no solo missions in the Kingdom of God. We were made for community, and our lives should be built around authentic relationships with God, our selves, our family and friends, and with people in the world.
Gary and Carol are in Haiti this week. Please pray for them, and specifically for the church that they are trying to build there.
1. It's never too late to stop trying to achieve the American Dream (an unbiblical lifestyle that many American Christians have been deceived into finding their life purposes in). As followers of Christ who happen to be living in America, we all should give up the American Dream in order to live in God's Story which has been shown to us as the way to live life for thousands of years. The American version of retirement is just one example of what I'm talking about... it's not biblical, and it doesn't bring retirees the kind of joy that can be found in finishing strong on the edge for Christ instead of comfortably isolated from people in need in this world.
2. When we take the step to give ourselves away to others for the sake of Christ, it matters how we do it! That's why it is so important to read books related to the type of ministry that people are called to. The Agates were reading books like Radical, The Hole in the Gospel, and Crazy Love. Those are all great books that give a clear biblical foundation for how Christians can choose to live in God's Story.
3. Another family is already in the process of moving to Pitcairn with them. The concept here is that it is important to bring other folks along with us in the journey of life. There are no solo missions in the Kingdom of God. We were made for community, and our lives should be built around authentic relationships with God, our selves, our family and friends, and with people in the world.
Gary and Carol are in Haiti this week. Please pray for them, and specifically for the church that they are trying to build there.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Mentoring: Focused on People and Processes
Mentoring is based on relationships with people, and it leads to a process of transformation over time for both mentors and mentees. There are a lot of great outcomes that result when efforts to impact the world focus on people and processes. In When Helping Hurts, authors Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert point out that when it comes to helping people, "The goal is to see people restored to being what God created them to be: people who understand that they are created in the image of God with the gifts, abilities, and capacity to make decisions and to effect change in the world around them; and people who steward their lives, communities, resources, and relationships in order to bring glory to God. These things tend to happen in highly relational, process-focused ministries more than impersonal, product-focused ministries."
Do you know any impersonal Christian ministry efforts? Those types of outreach efforts are not helpful. Often they can do harm to the people trying the help and the people being served. Many Christians seem to want to make a difference in the world, but they don't know how and they don't know where to start because there are so many needs. The key is to always start with relationships, not programs. Actions that seek to help should always flow out of solid, authentic relationships. Also, these things take time. So many Christians want to change the world by going into a poor neighborhood or country for a day or a week on a short term project, instead of realizing the joy that can be found through building long term, authentic relationships over time. Many people place outcomes and programs over the great joy that can be found in the journey that includes the process of transformation that God has in store for both those serving and those being served over time.
Do you know any impersonal Christian ministry efforts? Those types of outreach efforts are not helpful. Often they can do harm to the people trying the help and the people being served. Many Christians seem to want to make a difference in the world, but they don't know how and they don't know where to start because there are so many needs. The key is to always start with relationships, not programs. Actions that seek to help should always flow out of solid, authentic relationships. Also, these things take time. So many Christians want to change the world by going into a poor neighborhood or country for a day or a week on a short term project, instead of realizing the joy that can be found through building long term, authentic relationships over time. Many people place outcomes and programs over the great joy that can be found in the journey that includes the process of transformation that God has in store for both those serving and those being served over time.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Reflecting on Stolen Porch Furniture
We were away from our house in Homewood for the past couple of days, and when we arrived home tonight we immediately noticed something was different. Julie was the first to connect the dots... our front patio porch furniture was missing. Ten years ago we had purchased the two metal padded outdoor chairs from Walmart. They were old and starting to be very rusty. The table Julie had purchased just this past year for around $60. We were instantly saddened by the loss of our front porch furniture, but not for the reasons that people might think. Stuff is just stuff. It's all God's stuff... we are just stewards of what God has blessed us with. The furniture was not very nice, and it certainly won't be hard to replace. So why were we so sad?
We love our front porch! We love to sit out there and talk to each other, to our neighbors, to kids from our neighborhood, and to strangers who pass by. Our children have played for hours on our front steps, on the sidewalk, and on Susquehanna Street (hundreds of street chalk drawings prove it). We have sat and prayed for Homewood many times on that front porch. Our front porch represents relationships and community. In healthy, thriving neighborhoods, people can sit on their front porches without worrying if anything bad is going to happen to them. Their children play without worries about their safety. In many struggling urban neighborhoods, people are afraid to sit on their front porches. People become worried that their furniture will be stolen. Scared residents keep their children from playing in the streets because the streets are dangerous.
As I look out the window to the front of my house, I see a blank concrete slab where furniture once was. But... if I allow my eyes to wander a few feet further into the distance, I see all the signs of new homes being built right across the street from me. One person (or maybe persons) decided to take the furniture from my front porch. But that's not the last word on matters in Homewood. God is moving in Homewood. Many great things are happening, even in spite of the crime that still happens in these streets. I have great hope, though, because we live in the "now, but not yet." That means that because of Jesus the Kingdom of God has been set up here on earth, but we live in this Present Evil Age. Bad things are going to happen, but that doesn't change the fact that God is still at work all over Homewood and he wants to work through his Church to see this neighborhood become the type of place where people can sit on their front porches and children can play in the streets without worry. Some day soon. Now, but not yet. Tranformation seems like such a struggle, but it's so worth it.
We love our front porch! We love to sit out there and talk to each other, to our neighbors, to kids from our neighborhood, and to strangers who pass by. Our children have played for hours on our front steps, on the sidewalk, and on Susquehanna Street (hundreds of street chalk drawings prove it). We have sat and prayed for Homewood many times on that front porch. Our front porch represents relationships and community. In healthy, thriving neighborhoods, people can sit on their front porches without worrying if anything bad is going to happen to them. Their children play without worries about their safety. In many struggling urban neighborhoods, people are afraid to sit on their front porches. People become worried that their furniture will be stolen. Scared residents keep their children from playing in the streets because the streets are dangerous.
As I look out the window to the front of my house, I see a blank concrete slab where furniture once was. But... if I allow my eyes to wander a few feet further into the distance, I see all the signs of new homes being built right across the street from me. One person (or maybe persons) decided to take the furniture from my front porch. But that's not the last word on matters in Homewood. God is moving in Homewood. Many great things are happening, even in spite of the crime that still happens in these streets. I have great hope, though, because we live in the "now, but not yet." That means that because of Jesus the Kingdom of God has been set up here on earth, but we live in this Present Evil Age. Bad things are going to happen, but that doesn't change the fact that God is still at work all over Homewood and he wants to work through his Church to see this neighborhood become the type of place where people can sit on their front porches and children can play in the streets without worry. Some day soon. Now, but not yet. Tranformation seems like such a struggle, but it's so worth it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)