Compassion By Design

Seems like everytime I see news from New Orleans its about a new failure or scandal.   Someone who was supposed to help, but didn’t, or money that didn’t go where it was promised.  It adds to all the skeptical attitudes that we already had about the post Katrina behavior in this city– no surprise we say– why should they even rebuild?

You might already be aware of the all the relief work that was provided throughout the Gulf Region by Christian Relief agencies, churches,  groups of volunteers both organized and informal.  There really has been a great outpouring of compassion on this city, even though the headlines don’t bear it out.  The time, money and labor that has been shared by Christian people in New Orleans was offered not in the name of government or America, but compelled by the love of Christ. 

We can argue about how much impact the government response made, and who was responsible for the gaffs and failures in the response– but we really should be wondering what difference all of that compassion made.  We routinely send our compassion overseas in the form of commodities and outreach, but Katrina was a real test of the impact of compassion in America.  Do the sacrifical investments made by Christians and their organizations make a difference– do they result in changed lives?  Does compassion tied to relational message of faith create community transformation?

Katrina has another story to tell– one you won’t hear on the news– its a place where the all the compassionate relief is beginning to bear fruit.  This week, I had the privelege of joining of group of relief workers as they joined with community members for another kind of aid meeting– the kind of aid that comes from the ministry of scripture and the unburdening that results from gathered prayer.  This was group from every socio economic and racial group, young, old, experienced in faith, and those just baptised last week.  A real sense of hunger, thankfulness and honest was the reality of this new group.  They all had one thing in common, beside their faith.  They had each been personally encouraged by a believing relief working, laboring along side them with the resources provided by churches from across the nation, and standing with them as they rebuilt their lives.  Now that many are returning to their homes, and continuing to  rebuild their lives, compassion is bearing fruit.

Its not just harvest time with the group that I met with, its happening in the work of church planters across the city, working in communities where 2 years ago racial tension was palpable and Christians didn’t mix across denominiations.  Its a new season in New Orleans, shifting from relief to harvest.  And there is a new corps of workers– church planting teams, relief workers now turning to spiritual nurture.  Does compassion work?… sure looks like it to me.

Even as we look at a new tragedy in California, we must understand that the Gulf Coast work isn’t done, and if the resources that were invested will yield their greatest harvest, we cannot fail to now support these church planters, christian counselors, and children’s workers who have taken up new posts to revive a city spiritually.  The relief work has laid a foundation that can lead to permanent transformation– we should rejoice and support the next waive of evangelism and discipleship. 

If you want to invest in this season of harvest with volunteers or other resources, you can support multiple church planters through Building Better Communities, a group originally started as a part of a church planter, that shifted to Katrinia relief and that has been here throughout the season of relief.  They are now helping establish new churches, house churches and ministries expressions that help this community make the connection between compassion and faith.  Email us at info@compassionbydesign.org if you would like to support the harvest in New Orleans.

     Not a word we use much today– ignoble.  Among several meanings, ignoble refers to something that represents low aims, low quality or that which is simply not noble—of low rank.  Shooting low and living below our calling—ignoble.  If we have personal relationship with God through Jesus, we haven’t been called to live there, instead we are called to the character of highest nobility, to have life aims that are high—to aim high in response to high calling.   This idea of nobility in our culture has come to be something of a sarcasm.  We identify efforts that are lofty, but ill advised as “that was noble, but…”  In other words, if we say you are noble, we are thinking Don Quixote– jousting at windmills– efforts that weren’t really achievable after all. 

     In the Apostle Paul’s letter to Timothy (chapter 2:20-21), he talks about this idea of noble and ignoble—: “In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble.  If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

To put this in more modern terms we can read the same passage from The Message: “In a well-furnished kitchen there are not only crystal goblets and silver platters, but waste cans and compost buckets-some containers used to serve fine meals, others to take out the garbage. Become the kind of container God can use to present any and every kind of gift to his guests for their blessing.”

The difference between the really prized dishes and those that are used for recycling and waste is the use to which they are dedicated.  You can use your wedding china for cat food if you want to—and you can serve thanksgiving dinner on paper plates, but the vessel just doesn’t fit the use.

     This passage tells us two things that are very important about nobility and honor.  First, we are called to be the fine china and silver goblet type of vessel.  This is not a commentary on personal taste, but a metaphor for the quality and elevation of our aim in life.  Our association with Christ has resulted in an opportunity for usefulness that far surpasses any previous purpose, and rests not on our own identity, but on the identity of the Master.  He chose us to serve his high and truly noble purposes.  The second important point of this passage is that honor and dishonor, nobility and ignobility is our choice.  We choose to cleanse ourselves of purposes and uses for our lives that fall beneath God’s standard and purpose.  “If a man” cleanses himself from a lower purpose, he will be fit for use by the Master.  In our information overload, recreation crazed, self-centered society, it is really easy to get attached to lots of good things, and some really bad ones.  We have to continually ask if we are full of items of his choosing, or simply full of something that falls short of his purpose.  Life purpose is lived out in a series of choices about the small things, resulting in a pattern that we fill our whole person with– heart, soul, mind and strength. 

     What is the highest purpose for your life?  Are you setting aside your time, your energy and focusing your life on its highest purpose?  Is the aim of your life something that the Highest Noble can use to sip tea?  Have you been called a Don Quixote, and been badgered into accepting lower goals?  Or are you pressing on to fulfill your calling?  Even in the radical world of church planting, we can sometimes settle for what is easiest.  A new church is never easy, but sometimes we choose the easy way. 

 Compassion by Design is set aside to serve those leaders who want to win neighborhoods through community service, building churches that are truly missional at their core, resulting in community transformation.  We want to change peoples’ mind about who Jesus is, and who His people are.  Since evangelicals haven’t really been doing that on a large scale domestically for fifty years or more, maybe it’s a harder way, or at least a way that we have to relearn.  To us, and we hope to God, it’s fine china.

Seems like the wind is out of the national “faith based” sail.  If you read the recent list of grant awards for the Compassion Capital Intermediary Fund, you will find only about 10% of these “faith and community based grants” are going to organizations that have any faith orientation.  That tells me two things– 1) the political wind has shifted, and the committees in congress are pushing this fund their way and 2) the political value of “faith based” has been downgraded to a “sell” or at best “hold” by the political advisors. 

What was the motive behind faith based? Someone believed in us, because they knew the power of spiritual transformation through Christ. Some believed in us because they believed it could get them elected or promoted.

This policy will continue to get some play in the upcoming election cycle, but the professional social service groups have gotten a firm hand back on the money that was out of their reach for a while.  There are certainly some gains from the effort, but if we fail to realize what was really at work here, there could be some very big losses.

So if the air is out of this balloon– what do we do?  We remember that this is our ride.  National political leaders will not stand in our place when we account for the fruit of our efforts.

We were called back into the social arena.  The call has been out there for some time, with notables like John Perkins leading the way for church involvement in community transformation for many years, and historic examples of real servants like the Salvation Army.  The catalytic moment came for many when our current president began to voice his belief that our involvement matters.  In many ways, he voiced a call that I believe came from somewhere much higher.  I am not sure why it took a public figure to voice this call– but for many it did. 

The real question is not “does Washington DC support faith based?”, but rather, are we in fact called to this arena?  Do we believe in out capability and calling to serve in our communities? Can we afford to retreat to expressions of church life that occur solely within the four walls? Not if we believe the reports about church decline.

I believe that the momentum for service “rooted in faith” has just begun.  Perhaps now that we are aware to this ministry approach, it is not so bad for us to have some of the politicals step out of the way. We have a hundred years of slumber to shake off, and a lot to learn.  I think we are going to find that community ministry fits in every growing church in an important and unique way.

Here are some lessons that I have learned during my journey in this community service “rooted in faith”.

Refuse to secularize your focus.  Remember– that is what turned us off to social engagement in the first place– the social gospel!  Social work without spiritual life.  We cannot elliminate the very curative factor in our work for the sake of money.  This also does not mean that we need to go back to our previous strategy– disengagement and isolation.  I am convinced that effective social work that is linked to redemptive relationships will continue to yield dramatic results.  If you are working in or even running a non religious program, that does not mean that you become secular people.  You can run a program that provides totally secular services (banking, automotive repair, health care), and retain a focus on spiritual transformation that accompanies these practical services.

Be up front about your spiritual approach.  The inclusion or option for spiritual elements of your program can be presented in a positive and natural way, but it should never be hidden like a lost leader or bait and switch.

Community services raise your public profile. When you are serving public goals or using public money the scrutiny will be much higher than what you are used to.  Even though you should be ensuring high accountability in your finances and operations already, you must run a very tight ship if you are engaging in community service.

We need to get smart about funding and outcomes.  The money that has been promoted as “faith based” was already available, we just didn’t know how to secure it.  We have to build our own skills at building economic engines, including grants and other sources, to support social services that we operate.  We also need to learn how to track and report our outcomes.  These skills can be learned, but we have to apply ourselves.  These two areas are greatly enhanced when we start with a needs assessment (see http://www.compassionbydesign.org/church-planting.html)

Discipleship makes the difference. The most effective impact will always be made by people who are contagious and winsome in their witness.  A religious program operated by people who are not discipled to walk out their faith will be for inneffective methods that fall short of best practices.  Work to improve the practical value of what you offer..  People are always the bridge irrespective of the program.   You really cannot automate faith, it is transmitted from one person to another.  And we certainly cannot be effective in helping with significant life transformation if our leaders and workers aren’t both skilled and fully discipled.

Demand the best in social work in your own services and those you support.  Don’t settle for ineffective methods that fall short of best practices.  Work to improve the practical value of what you offer. 

Raise up an army of compassionate believers who are “compelled by the love of Christ” and who have the skills to either lead social services or to serve within the social sector without loosing their edge. 

Build Service into the DNA of church life.  This will work best when we build compassion right into the DNA of our new and growing churches.  The emerging generation expects to see a community service ethic in any credible organization (including churches), and we have some very clear mandates to make this a part of our spiritual life (such as the parable of the good samaratin, the book of James, the example of Jesus and the weight of God’s concern for the poor expressed through the scripture–to name a few).

Pay attention to your partners.  The organizations that you partner with represent very important relationships.  If their values don’t match yours– you need to know that in advance.  If you choose to work through or with them, you will need to expect that the redemptive effect of your involvement will also push them to improve or change–and that the transformation will not only occur with the “clients.”  And just like life changes in clients, organizational changes take a long time.   You should anticipate the same long period of rapport building with them, that you expect with those you are serving.  Be careful of “pretenders” who have learned the faith based lingo, but don’t understand our real values or commitments.  They are different than just straight- forward community agencies, they are playing a game that will cause us both to lose. 

Hope you are committed to continue walking this path along with me. I think we should call this something else– instead of faith based, how about “community oriented ministry (COM)” or “community services motivitated by a historical and vibrant faith, rooted in redemptive communities of faith? (CSMHVFRRCF)”  That last one might be a little bit too long–but you get the idea.

One of our biggest challenges in moving toward a missional and incarnational expression of church life is proximity. Most Christian activity (it is unfortunate that we can segment our lives this way), occurs only within the confines of our religious establishments. While we all understand that every moment of life is sacred, and that every encounter and relationship is a place that God wants to visit, we have established a sub-culture approach to church life. This “attractional” model, suggests that all life transformation and God-encounter occurs when people “come to our meeting.” We don’t really trust the average Joe and Josephine in the pew to do the job of evangelism and discipleship, and the statistics bear out our fears–for a church of one hundreds that is more than 5 years old, less than 3 people will come to Christ in a given year. So we encapsulate all Christian life expression inside of our buildings and church activities. And as the American Church, we are stuck in this mode. We disciple people in this manner, they don’t see or experience the New Testament alternative, and the process goes on. And many leaders are both frustrated and saddened by this reality. The problem is we cannot show the love of Christ, model the Christian experience if it never occurs IN PROXIMITY to those who are on the outside.

“In proximity” means that we have to live it out in front of them. The early Christians didn’t really have a choice, they only had public forums and small homes to meet in. Their preaching and singing and fellowship were always public. The Apostle Paul did his church business right in the marketplace–sell a tent, write an epistle, repair a tent, counsel a pastor, etc.

We are making good progress by placing new churches in proximity to the people groups that need a new expression of Christian life. The work of Externally Focussed churches takes this to a new level– churches that serve and interact in the community as lifestyle.

What if we combine the two? New churches, placed in proximity to the people that need them, who have a lifestyle of community engagement and service. What if we start these new churches with an intentional DNA of mission, they start with a needs assessment– lots of listening and connecting with people (the whole church plant team, not just the planter), and then we spend the pre-launch period serving in the areas that we discover. This path will lead us to plant churches that have a real DNA of Proximity, and who live out their Christian life in a transparent public way.

Proximity doesn’t resolve all the challenges; we still have to disciple and re-disciple those that we lead into a missional lifestyle, and break down the barriers of fear and habit. But getting ourselves in the right places is a very good start.

Check out the new needs assessment kit http://www.compassionbydesign.org/church-planting.html