On Our Shores

HERE ARE GUIDELINES GLEANED FROM EFCA CHURCHES ALREADY ENGAGED IN LIVING OUT THE SECOND GREATEST COMMANDMENT:

» 1. Start slowly. Do your homework first.

Serving others can be exhilarating; the temptation is to plunge in. But that way is littered with troubles. Start small. Research first. Wait for God to raise up passionate people to lead. Forge friendships among those you wish to serve. Find those already engaged, so you don’t unnecessarily duplicate.

“We began partnering with mainline churches in regard to homeless ministry, because there wasn’t much being done for the homeless in the evangelical churches,” says Adam Talbott, pastor of Cornerstone Community Church in Auburn, Calif. (Read more of his story.) 

“At first, there was concern about us ‘proselytizing.’ But over time we’ve built a reputation for really caring about the homeless. As a result, we have total freedom to talk about the gospel.”

Consider taking a team on a TouchGlobal short-term effort to get your feet wet. (Visit www.touchglobal.org or call (985) 893-0218.) Members from Valley EFC in Vacaville, Calif., traveled to New Orleans in May 2006 to help with hurricane relief. That week on-the-ground birthed a vision for their own community. They took the next six months to prepare a compassion-ministry plan with staying power. (See www.touchlocal.org for details on their ministry and the parameters they put in place.)

» 2. Begin with the end in mind.

Our mission is making disciples—people brought into Christ’s kingdom and incorporated into His community. Without the church to nurture those served, spiritual transformation remains a dream. That’s what Chicago’s Circle Urban Ministries learned firsthand. So Circle planted Rock of Our Salvation EFC, to welcome people into its fellowship.

If your church can’t effectively enfold those you serve, partner with a neighborhood church or church-planting effort whose members live in the community and are building redemptive relationships. Strategy is essential, according to Mark Lewis, director of EFCA TouchGlobal Crisis Response. “Healthy compassion ministry,” he says, “doesn’t happen in commando-raid style: showing up in a neighborhood on a Saturday, doing a bunch of stuff, then checking off that we did something nice for somebody. It includes planning for follow-up—not solving all their problems and meeting every need, but walking with them. You become ingrained in the fabric of other people’s lives.”

» 3. Discern whether the context calls for relief or development.

“Relief” refers to short-term handouts in an emergency, and “development” envisions walking with people over time in a way that brings reconciliation with God, self, others and creation. 

Relief and development require different skills, approaches, resources and time. A good rule of thumb for discerning the difference is to ask: Are the people in this community capable of helping themselves? If the answer is “yes,” then relief is not the right intervention. In that case, handouts of goods and services can undermine the willingness and capacity of low-income communities to be stewards of their own human and physical assets. (Excerpted from Servant to Asia’s “Doing Short-Terms Missions Without Doing Long-Term Harm” article.)

Short-term crisis relief should link to long-term development.

» 4. Let love reign over service.

We can be in love with the idea of service yet treat those served as objects. Listen, laugh, cry, pray with people. Then, if they are lonely, we’ll include them. Lost? We’ll tell them about knowing Jesus. Love stops us from moving the needy down our impersonal conveyor belt of provision. Reshape programs so relationships will develop.

“Our experience with Katrina-relief taught us that relief is about people, not about projects,” agrees Brad Greiner of Cornerstone EFC in Escondido, Calif. Cornerstone EFC formed a coalition with other area churches, to help meet long-term needs related to the San Diego County wildfires in fall 2007.

“It’s about listening to people’s stories,” he continues, “being God’s shoulder to cry on, His mouth to share words of comfort, His hands and feet to help relieve suffering, His instruments to share the good news of salvation.”

One caution: When helping someone in need, recognize that an unequal relationship begins. We have the “goods,” they need them; we have power, they are weak. It’s humbling. They may feel the need to please us, so they may “pray the prayer.” That’s why service has far more redemptive potential when it helps people meet their own community’s needs. Hence the next principle. . . .

» 5. Empower, don’t provide.

The old give-someone-a-fish-versus-teach-them-how-to-fish adage still applies. Hopelessness is the primary scourge among the poor. Resist the temptation to focus on meeting the obvious needs. (See “Setting Limits in Ministry.”) Focus instead on the community’s assets and how you might support people in their own initiatives. 

Ask: Is the body of Christ already there? What abilities and resources are present? What does the “target” community consider as its greatest needs? How can we support them as they meet their own needs? Make it your goal to energize and develop biblical leaders from within the community. This is discipleship in a holistic sense. Sometimes, empowerment may also mean addressing injustice. We can teach someone to fish, but what if someone is selfishly blocking access to the pond? 

Without a doubt, when you engage in a compassion-based gospel, things will change in your church. Internal programming shifts to make room for more outreach. New leaders rise to the surface as passions are stirred. And life may get messy, because compassionate service prepares people to minister in our broken, uncomfortable, real world.

“Outreach is messy,” agrees Dan Wentworth, director of outreach and student ministries at Valley Church in West Des Moines, Iowa. “I’m constantly telling folks, ‘You can’t expect Christian behavior from non-Christian people.’”

But it’s a wonderful messiness. “Once people saw how exhilarating it was to really engage hurting people, and how rewarding it was to serve others outside the walls of our church, we were off and running,” says Tom Shirk, pastor of Calvary Bible Church in Boulder, Colo. 

A common thread weaves though these principles: the thread of relationships. Relationships with those being served, relationships with those serving and relationships with Jesus. That’s the surprise—and the joy—of it all. As we serve our King by serving others, our hearts are knit together in love. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Dennis and Joy Hesselbarth serve and pastor at Hilltop Urban Church in Wichita, Kan. They still consider themselves learners in the great adventure of compassion ministry.