the morning after
Posted in: Church Planting, Peculiar PlaceI wonder if that’s the way we make communities feel…? You know. The way it feels the morning after an incredible night, event, indulgence… The heaviness, the worthlessness, the anxiety, the stress, fear, abandonment & most importantly the guilt… The morning after can have a horrible & unforgiven affect on both parties or all parties involved. So, I’m curious to know if this is the affect “we” have on communities, homeless, addicts & anyone else hurting when we show up PRELAUNCH on our white horse in our shining armor?
Do they know in advance that we probably won’t be serving them “like this” “post launch”? Do they wonder if this is service or advertising? Are we any different than the other groups that hand out thier sandwiches once a week then drive off making no connections? Are we using the hurt & pain of thier situations to tell everyone a “new church” is in town?
Seriously, these thoughts run through my mind as I dig deep into the identity of peculiarplace & the vision God has given me!
I’m not knocking serving! Not at all!! But my concern, questions & intent are aimed at the intensity at which we seek to “serve” our community “pre launch” & then we suddenly shift gears when the people show up.
I’m new to this, so admittedly all my thoughts could be dead wrong! And maybe they’re not!!!!
So, today we create & search for service opportunities that we can do now, but more importantly we are looking for things that we can continue to do long after we have launched!!
I refuse to leave Old Fourth Ward in the middle of the night to deal with the emotional earthquack of “the morning after”. We will stay, stand & stir up the transformative power of the risen Savior, Jesus!!!!!!!!
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by lloyd.owens, Michelle N. Michelle N said: RT @lloydowens New Blog Post: "The Morning After" http://bit.ly/jYaS5, awesome thoughts very insightful 2 often that happens [...]
Your blog reminds me of when I did a study abroad in The Gambia. The student group I was with teamed up with S.H.A.P.E. to due a massive clean-up effort for the town (Bakau) enlisting the support of the youths there. However, we noticed that our efforts during the clean-up were met with some antagonizing remarks from the locals and even some discarding trash on the streets while we were in the process of cleaning up. Our attempt was to create a long-term impact on how the people took care of their local community; however, days later the town was littered with refuse and trash once again. I noticed similar returns to status quo after doing service projects here at home, which can in-turn leave the volunteers and coordinators to wonder if their efforts are worth it. I think my point is simply, in order for a community to endure change, the inhabitants must first manifest the desire and passion to sustain improvement. The volunteers and coordinators could make longer lasting impacts by planting a seed in the community to expose them to how their community can improve. Then, simply act as a resource for strategy, planning, tools, extra hands, supplies, and connections to sponsors and donors once the community steps forward to actually seek change. Thus, how the community feels the morning-after is in part due to what it did to plan the night before. Sorry for the blog-length response.
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