Saturday, February 15, 2014

A Significant Change In The Way We See The World

"Corey, prayer is the most important thing. Without Jesus we wouldn't be doing any of this or even be here today."

Those were the words spoken to me at our Laundry Project today by one of my good friends and neighbors Bernard. Bernard has lived in Canton his whole life, and being older in age, may not decide to go somewhere else anytime soon.

Bernard is right. Without Jesus there would be no Laundry Project, without prayer our time together would be of no true power or value. Without inviting the Holy Spirit into the place where we are on mission, we would only be offering the best of ourselves, not Jesus, and the best of ourselves always falls short.

His words, while empowering and inspiring, also highlighted a bigger truth to me. Looking around the laundromat we have be paying for laundry at once a month off and on for the last 3 + years and seeing more volunteer badges on neighbors than outside groups highlighted the same truth.

Jesus is Lord of all. Therefore, Jesus is already working in the lives of people where I live. In fact, He has been working in their lives long before I lived here and will be long after.

And if Jesus is Lord of all, and at work in people's lives with or without me through his Holy Spirit, that must mean my role isn't to fix someone. Perhaps my role is to be a catalyst for the kind of real change and development in people that can only be brought through relationship with Christ and His church. 

I hear so many well-meaning folks talk about the "needs" of our communities, in fact, I sometimes am one. We discuss the problems and issues that we perceive rather than talking about the good entrenched within the streets of even the toughest neighborhoods. And it's there, Praise Christ it is there.

Yet most of us don't know how to see it. We focus on the problems rather than the solutions, we focus on the needs rather than the assets. We do this with individuals, neighborhoods, cities, you name it. Perhaps part of it comes from our desire to fix, to save. Part of it probably comes from our lack of knowledge and understanding. Maybe part of it is a lack of belief in the bigness of God.

Whatever the case may be, we can no longer afford to approach communities through the lens of their needs, we must learn to see them through the lens of their assets, namely, the people.

Every neighborhood has leaders, people with value and worth, people with very real talents and gifts. More than likely in tougher areas such as my neighborhood, the value and worth in people has been buried under years of hardship, but it's there.

I have heard beautiful prayers come from the lowly and destitute, have witnessed beautiful acts of love from the poor. So why is it beyond reason that Jesus is already present in our cities, even in the darkest places?

I share stats and numbers from every laundry project. Only recently have I started asking myself why. 

Because it's easy to measure.

You know whats harder to measure? Growth in people. How do I write in 140 characters or less that I have seen people become less selfish, take significant steps with their money & family, or go out of their way to serve those around them?

I don't have the answer but we have to change the way we measure success in our ministries as the church and non profit world.

Plain and simple, it's about leading others to Jesus and understanding the power of God. He is big, we are not. He is Savior and Lord of all, we are not. If we start to view our life's purpose in terms of being attentive to what the Holy Spirit is saying and doing, and make it our goal to join with Jesus, we will feel a whole lot less pressure and see deeper, perhaps less measurable (with numbers at least), results.

It's not our job to fix, only to follow Jesus and lead others to do the same. We do this effectively through relationship and bringing out the best in people, all the while sticking with them even when their worst comes out. After all, are we out to see lives transformed and God glorified or our own kingdoms built? It's going to take a different perspective for the kingdom of God, and not that of our own or our churches, to be our primary focus.

1 comment:

  1. Corey, I love to read your blog. I always learn something. Thanks so much for sharing what you do and how you are growing :)

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