Heard a great story about a father who dealt with the spoiled materialism of his children by making breakfast burritos with them and their friends and distributing them to homeless people. They have done this weekly for the same "community of homeless" for a solid two years, building real relationships.
There has been a lot of re-examining and subsequent criticism concerning short term mission trips among youth ministry circles (For a well articulated summary of this check out what Fuller Youth Institute has to say about "Sticky Justice") Here's the thing, I think our youth group (and church) has a scenario that addresses all of this and can be duplicated by any church anywhere. There is a center on the southside of Grand Rapids. It happens to be owned by our denomination, but that really is irrelevant. The homes and the apartments around this place have a neighborhood type feel. Our Church (a lovely inter-generational blend of senior high youth and adults) puts on a monthly dinner there. We also do a VBS annually and have done weekly soccer clinics there. There is a service project run out of the center that our Middle School students participate in each summer. Our youth director and students know many of the people in that community by first name and they trust our church and know we genuinely care for them.
There has been a lot of re-examining and subsequent criticism concerning short term mission trips among youth ministry circles (For a well articulated summary of this check out what Fuller Youth Institute has to say about "Sticky Justice") Here's the thing, I think our youth group (and church) has a scenario that addresses all of this and can be duplicated by any church anywhere. There is a center on the southside of Grand Rapids. It happens to be owned by our denomination, but that really is irrelevant. The homes and the apartments around this place have a neighborhood type feel. Our Church (a lovely inter-generational blend of senior high youth and adults) puts on a monthly dinner there. We also do a VBS annually and have done weekly soccer clinics there. There is a service project run out of the center that our Middle School students participate in each summer. Our youth director and students know many of the people in that community by first name and they trust our church and know we genuinely care for them.
I think this is an example of where church missions is heading. Virtually every church in the united states has the opportunity to partner with an urban ministry nearby. Building real relationships is the key...and lack of that is at the forefront of the mission trip criticism. So I am challenging everyone to think about they and their churches can do locally, consistently to serve and build real relationships as they seek justice.
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