So, now what do we do?

I've been avoiding the topic of health and wellness because I haven't felt motivated to exercise consistently lately. Usually I run or exercise to think. Lately I've been thinking a lot--just not exercising along with it.

Charity or social change: is charity wasting my time? When is social change in progress and achieved?

We had a group of young adults from other states come and visit the homeless guys under the bridges we minister to. I went around to all of the bridges yesterday to check on the guys (we've had bad weather lately) and to let them know that I'd be back around tomorrow with some visitors. We took them some food and did an assessment to see what they needed (firewood, more blankets, dry socks, etc).

We noticed that at least a few people were sleeping up against the church building where it's covered during the snow and ice this past week. These are new guys. Anyone who's been around for a little bit knows that under the bridge is warmer but sleeping against the building is safer.

We tried to get permission to open our gym as an emergency cold shelter in the early winter but were denied permission to do so. Dekalb county doesn't have ANY emergency shelters...this is a sore subject and a soap box so I need to stop before I begin. Even still, is opening the gym for a few nights charity or social change?

I love the guys dearly. I really do. I enjoy sitting with them, praying with them and telling them that they need to stop drinking. I ask hard questions and kneel with them at the altar when they come to church. It is certainly one of my favorite parts of ministry right now.

I am asking myself where the boundary lies between enabling them to be homeless and truly "helping" them (and who gets to define what true "help" is?). To those of us who are not homeless we think that they should want to stay in a shelter but most of them don't. We are able to help those who want to get off the street and want some help. The rest we feed, cloth, and love.

If they do want to stay in a shelter, and we can get them into one (Atlanta is notorious for not having nearly enough shelter for the amount of homeless the city has) they still need id, transportation to and from, and a place to go all day when they aren't allowed to be in the shelter. We can get them shelter for a night or two but then what? It's just two days later and nothing has changed.

Some guys have been under those bridges for 15 years or more. They are war vets, have disabilities and an array of other backgrounds. One guy is a love child from the Vietnam war. His dad was a soldier and his mom was Vietnamese. He was sent here to live with his father in 1984 and it didn't work out.

Some guys work full-time executive jobs and wear suits everyday. Other guys live in their cars and are estranged from loved ones--too embarrassed to let family know they need help.

We do have some success stories and praise God for Walker still being clean and sober and moving into his own apartment....for William reuniting with his wife....for Paul moving back home with family and being sober...for salvation for several...

I say often that I am not interested in charity but instead am interested in social change. Is loving these guys into the Kingdom really social change or is it just masking mere charity work? Was Jesus about charity or about social change? It's comforting for me to think that Jesus would be sitting under a smelly, dirty bridge chatting with the some men, but would he? He probably would be down at the creek under the bridge performing some miraculous sign and speaking to them in parables. Many of them need to be healed (in many ways) so maybe he would have walked around the neighborhood healing their infirmities. We always hold hands and pray in a circle when I go to visit and I always pray for the taste of alcohol to be taken away from them. Is that really social change? It's certainly relationship building, discipleship and love--but is it social change?

I'm stuck pondering what we should do. We really do what Matthew 25 instructs us to do but is it enough? What about radical change like it talks about in Luke 4, quoting Isaiah, "The Spirit of the LORD is upon me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor." Both passages talk about meeting every human need and we aim to do just that. We teach, preach, and visit in Dekalb County jail. We visit in the hospital, get them where they need to go, advocate for them, etc, etc. Is doing this social change?

Sometimes I guess I just feel stuck. My husband calls it my holy discontent. I want to do more but I don't know how or what to do. LORD, help me!

While a few homeless guys and I were waiting for the visiting group to arrive today it was pointed out to me that people were living on the church property. Now this isn't the first time. We had to ask everyone who was living in tent city on the church property to leave back in the summer because they were unruly. One time several church members saw a few guys sitting on the grass on lawn chairs drinking at 9:30 in the morning and making a mess while they were coming to Sunday school.

Today I visited a man's home. Right on the church property. He was out so we were intruding. He has basically two rooms set up. Everything is covered and shaded from the elements. One room has a full sized bed in it with all the fixings and the other room has a couch, two chairs and some other things. He has clothes placed neatly around and has a collection of little girl shoes, clothes and toys. I'm certain that most, if not all, of this stuff was lifted from our donation bin (I saw two of my things that I put in the bin). The ground is covered quite nicely with a large area rug. That small, tiny spot has become his home.

Now what do I do? He isn't disturbing anyone. He's a HUGE liability. He feels safe being so close to us (as I was later told). What he's doing is illegal--but so is him being in this country. He comes to our church. He works during the day. Is leaving him there charity, social change, or maintaining the status quo? Or is it something else entirely? What would Jesus do?

Call it holy discontent. Call it naivety. Call it passion. Call it whatever you want but what do we do? As God's people do we sit by and watch? Do we comfort ourselves by carrying out charity work and maintaining the status quo? Do we usher in social change?

LORD, I'm searching for answers and for YOUR vision. What would you do?

Gang prevention

Police say over 50 gangs run the streets of Atlanta according to the AJC. The police department quadrupled their gang police force in 2009.

The National Youth Gang Center in partnership with the OJJP says that gangs are increasing.

No two gangs are alike.

Gangs are a few people who form an allegiance (intent to be part of the group) based on various social needs. They engage in acts that go against public morals(not just limited to crime). The allegiance is formed through association in the gang.

Majority of growth in gangs is not hierarchical. The ones that are growing are structured informally. Leaders change rapidly. There is not always a clear direction on rules, regulations, or how things are structured. They are hard to figure out because they are a moving target. They don't all have a larger business goal (making money).

Kids are just trying to find an identity and are finding it in gangs. Jesus Christ has an identity for them. Are we expressing that to them clearly?

What are the needs of the kids? Are we meeting their needs? Do we have options for them--something for them to get involved in? It's been said that we can't start with their needs. We need to begin with their interests. What are their interests?

You have to figure out what's going on in your community... Need to assess, but how?

Communities don't like to admit that they have gangs...stigma

They join before high school. Gangs meet the social needs of the youth because the Church DOES NOT.

Kids who join don't have adult supports in their life, have self-esteem issues(need to find an identity), live in a certain geographical community, and have financial issues. THESE ARE ALL MY KIDS!

We need something to grab their attention. Otherwise the street will and will grab them in and keep them. We'll never get them back. What do we have to offer to grab their attention before the street does and we lose them forever?

In researching about this I listened to a Salvation Army podcast about gang prevention. Over and over again the speaker on the podcast kept saying, "You don't know what you don't know that you don't know." It's so true.

Prevention is easier than intervention. And cheaper.

Kids are about being like each other and not like us. We tell them to look and act like us. No wonder it doesn't work.

Gangs are a game of push around. Chase them out of one neighborhood they go to another neighborhood. Once they get kicked out they come back to your community and pick up where they left off.

We need to prevent kids from being able to walk down this path. We need intervention strategies. If we don't have it the only ones who will catch it will be the police (maybe). Kids don't know what they're getting into until they are stuck. They have no other options if they can/want to get out. What do we have to offer them?

They aren't just in poor neighborhoods... Middle class and suburban, too.

Kids need something to belong to. Do we, as the Church, have something for them to belong to?

One of our kids came to us months ago about the pressure he was feeling to join a gang. His family struggles financially and the gang told him that if he loved his mom and was a good son that he would join the gang--they would make sure mom had money for rent and the bills. So we went to his school (he's a freshman in high school) and had lunch with him (building a relationship). We made him feel special because he is. He likes to draw so we got him some supplies. He sold the drawing stuff at school. We gave him an mp3 player for Christmas. He hasn't sold it yet because I promised him that I would help him load music on it because he doesn't have a computer at home (we should have thought that one through a little bit).

He showed up in my office after church on Sunday to talk. He said he joined the gang but was now out of the gang--but was still wearing his blue shoes to support "his gang." He's a great kid with great potential. He just happens to be in a really sad situation.

What do I do? What would you do?

Who Stole My Church? by Gordon MacDonald

Gordon MacDonald is coming to my church in a few weeks to lead a weekend retreat. I'm really looking forward to it.

In preparation for the weekend we've been asked to read one of his books, Who Stole My Church?

The book is written from the perspective of the author as he pastors a fictional church. A group of disgruntled members get together to discuss change in the church after a negative church meeting about upgrading some equipment. By the end of the book everyone, or just about everyone, gets along and is more accepting of change.

The book tackles the issues that we all know about but rarely speak about. It spends a lot of time talking about the worship wars and about how older people can relate to younger people in the church.

A group at my church met together to prepare for the weekend. We are going to have small group break out sessions when Dr.MacDonald is here led by older adults and younger adults. There was some really healthy discussion after the meeting and I realized that we were our own discovery group, just like in the book. It was encouraging.

The rest of the week there were conversations with employees, older church members, and other young adults about topics that the book covers. I felt like I was a character in the book all week.

I realized that change is all around us. Either we are going to accept it and pray for guidance to do the right thing with change, or we are going to resist it for our own comfort.

In the history of the Church the only thing that has remained constant is the Gospel. If that's our focus God will honor it.

Choosing to Cheat

I'm a workaholic.

Which means I'm not home a lot.

My loving husband and I discuss my time spent at work all the time. I love work so I don't mind being there. The problem is I also loving being at home but how I schedule my time says otherwise. I've been getting better but there is still room for improvement.

It's time for a change...

I've been reading "Choosing to Cheat" by Andy Stanley on my Kindle. Andy (my husband) had me listen to the Stanley leadership podcast on the same issue about a month ago and downloaded the book for my Kindle.

The book isn't the greatest in the world but it does have some great advice. The premise is that if you work too much you are cheating at home and vice versa.

The author gives the metaphor of a couple having a rock. The load of the rock is bearable if both people are helping to hold it. What happens is that when one person chooses to work too much (cheating at home) the other person is left holding the rock. They can hold the rock for a while but then it becomes heavy and eventually is dropped. The idea is to share the weight of the rock (i.e. balance). It's a good metaphor.

The book certainly provides some good things to think about. It's Andy Stanley's least popular and worst selling book ever. The topic is a good one, but a difficult one.

Do you choose to cheat?