New things for homeless lunch

So here's a struggle I'm going through right now - there were many many amazing things that happened over the course of the last months... there are also amazing things happening right now. So while I'd like to back track and give more details, I also don't want to skip what is current - so expect a mix.

I have been reading a book called "Compassion, Justice and the Christian Life: Rethinking Ministry to the Poor." The incredible Jim Clark recommended this book to me, and if you have any interest in helping with development of the repressed I strongly recommend it to you.

This book claims that the mark of a good leader is that "when it's all over, the ones being led will say, 'we did it ourselves.'" Interesting... kind of like when Jesus sends out 70 followers to share his message saying, "the harvest is plenty but the workers are few. Pray to the Lord of the harvest that He will send workers into the harvest. Now go..." He wanted them to feel responsibility for all of the progress being made. Not just the harvesting, but even the harvesting of the harvesters.

So we have this lunch for the homeless. We've been receiving them in our home for a year now. They get a change of clothes, a shower, a good lunch and we spend time with them. It's a good ministry, but we are getting a vision for how much more it could be.

I always address the group as we gather to pray before the meal. Yesterday I told the guys that we don't want to do this lunch for them anymore, we want to do it with them. And so the lunch hour took on a whole new identity. We started a garden which will supply salads for our lunches, they trimmed our trees (this was their suggestion after catching the spirit of partnership) and helped with some of the clean up.

The amazing bit was how quickly they jumped on the whole partnership idea. It showed that we were maintaining the distance between "us" and "them" by securing our role as the "helpers" and their role as the "needy." We are going to continue to develop this, please pray that God will grant us wisdom and courage as we do. It is our hope and prayer that in the renewal of these roles they will witness the redemptive nature of Christ.