They Don't Understand

“They don’t understand what it’s like, they’ve never been there.” 

Last week I attended a small town’s community dinner to talk to the regulars there, and this is what one lady said in response to a decision that the City Council had made not to support a specific service for the homeless.

I admitted to myself and to her that, in fact, I’ve never been in that place either – of needing to access a weekly free dinner, the food bank, or in serious danger of losing my home.

However, I, together with members of the local CRC who help to put on the weekly community dinner, were there to listen and hear from the regulars about the gifts and challenges facing residents of this town in British Columbia as part of their Community Opportunity Scan.

Consider ways of working with people that builds on the strengths and resources of the person you are supporting so that they are contributing to their own progress

This is both one of the barriers and the great opportunities of deacon’s ministry in this difficult time of inflation, high interest rates, and chronic lack of affordable housing. While we all might be feeling the pinch, do we understand what it’s like to deal with an exploitative landlord or not having enough income to afford food and the basic necessities?

The Community Opportunity Scan process offered by Diaconal Ministries Canada is based on Asset Based Community Development principles that focus on strengths. And a major strength of the people that we work with in our benevolence ministries is the fact that they understand what it’s like.

In their influential book called “Helping without Harm in Church Benevolence” authors Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert define development work as the “process of ongoing change that moves all the people involved – both the materially poor and the non-materially poor – closer to being in right relationship with God, self, others, and the rest of Creation. (page 26)”.

Many churches offer relief through temporary financial assistance or food bank drives. DMC’s Community Opportunity Scan leads churches and deacon teams to consider ways of working with people that builds on the strengths and resources of the person you are supporting so that they are contributing to their own progress (page 27).

Then, we too may understand, maybe not through personal experience, but from hearing with compassion.

A first step in entering this process of development is recognizing that we who have wealth and privilege must start by listening with humility to the stories of those who know what it’s like to face a grinding set of circumstances that have created a chronic state of poverty.

Then, we too may understand, maybe not through personal experience, but from hearing with compassion. This will also help us to act and work with others to seek justice and find ways to contribute to the betterment of our communities.

Deacons have a key leadership role to play in this. Deacons are not called to do all the work of benevolence and justice on behalf of the congregation, but to lead the congregation in Diakonia, works of service to the glory of God.

This can mean moving from supporting a community service agency in your community with financial giving, to starting a conversation about what a partnership with that agency could look like: encouraging volunteers from the church, offering your church building as space, coordinating resources and information. 

As a church and deacon team work with a specific organization and the people who access the resources available, over time, you will begin to see the trends that contribute to people’s poverty and understand the barriers to overcoming these circumstances more and more. 

What role and decisions in ministry will we as Deacons and Christians called to Diakonia make if we understand?

As our understanding increases, our judgements about those who are homeless, addicted and struggling with material poverty will decrease. CPJ’s Poverty Trends 2023 in Canada report says that “whether you are looking at income, employment, food security, access to health services, health outcomes, the impacts of climate change, child apprehensions, or incarceration, the same patterns are repeated in terms of who is most likely to come out on top, and who is most likely to be pushed down” (pg. 6).

It’s important that churches and deacons educate themselves on what these trends are so that we also will be moved to reflect on our stereotypes and society’s treatment of those with “risk factors of race, Indigeneity, gender, disability, immigration status, country of origin and other facets of identity” (page 6 continued). Could we share our Community Opportunity Scan reports and listening exercises with local politicians and agencies, and enter the public conversations around affordable housing, addiction services, and tenant protections?

If the politicians of small-town BC had understood the grinding realities of poverty and the trends that persist in equity gaps, would they have made another decision? What role and decisions in ministry will we as Deacons and Christians called to Diakonia make if we understand?

Cited: “Helping without Hurting in Church Benevolence” by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert

CPJ’s “Poverty Trends 2023: Reimagining a Rights-Based Social Safety Net”