Domestic Poverty

When speaking with a ministry colleague a few years ago about the complexities of serving individuals who are being commercially sexually exploited, they wondered aloud how we can expect someone to leave their exploiter when the person’s immediate needs are taken care of through exploitation. This ministry colleague reflected on a situation in which a woman living in dire poverty in another country was faced with the decision between being sexually exploited or letting her children go hungry.

“Be holy, because I am holy.” Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. 18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. (1 Peter 1:16b-19) 

On a warm Sunday evening in downtown Thorold, a young couple and their two girls walked down the street.  Suddenly, the smell of dinner caught their nose. They peeked inside the school door only to be welcomed and invited to stay for a meal. They met new people and ate their fill. To their surprise, this gathering had been organized by a Christian group called a “missional community.” That’s what our church plant, The Table, calls ourselves: a missional community.

After a mission trip or an enriching act of charity, have you ever heard someone say something like, “I was expecting to serve them, but really they gave me more than I gave to them”, or “in the end they taught me more than I ever taught them”. Have you ever heard of or personally experienced this unexpected exchange? I certainly have.

Greg Paul from Sanctuary Church in Toronto once said something to this effect: “If you plant a church for the middle class, the poor will not come. However, if you plant a church for the poor, the middle class will come”. Planting a church which celebrates socioeconomic diversity is a picture of God’s kingdom to come and a means by which we can participate in the Kingdom of Jesus now.  At the same time, socioeconomic diversity in churches is brutally hard. Most churches in North America grow through affinity groups.

As a Christian growing up in the evangelical Midwest, I studied the New Testament much more than the Old Testament. Sure, I knew the stories of Moses, Ruth, Esther, Jonah and David, and I prayed with the Psalms, but I confess I have never read or studied the more “obscure” books like Leviticus. I saw it as a bunch of old laws that don’t really apply to me. Take for example Leviticus 25, much of it has to do with farming, land sale and ownership. I don’t own a house and have never farmed. 

In the beginning of his ministry, Jesus tells his early followers who are poor, who weep, and who experience hunger and thirst (for real food or for right relationship) that they are blessed. He doesn’t say those who help the poor are blessed, or those who give to hungry people are blessed. It is not those who are doing outreach or good deeds, but rather, it is those who are experiencing the injustices firsthand who Jesus calls blessed; it is the poor who Jesus says the kingdom of God belongs to.[1]

Some years ago I worked as an Enrichment Leader at Youth at Heart, a non-profit serving youth in under-resourced communities in Tulsa. Part of my responsibility was to provide programming for youth ages 6-12. One of our core themes was community service. If my memory serves me, we used a simple definition for volunteering: giving your time, talent, and treasure to help. Our goal in teaching this theme was to ensure youth knew they could be valuable contributors to their community.

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?"- Matthew 5:13 

Storm Ana in Malawi 

At least four people have died and dozens are missing after strong winds and heavy downpours wreaked havoc in Malawi and Mozambique as Tropical Storm Ana made landfall on Monday.

Lord, thank you for 2021.  I put my 2022 in your hands.  

As we exit 2021 we intentionally pray with gratitude for good news from this year.