Greetings
from the people who are Good Works, Inc. A COMMUNITY OF HOPE
In Exodus
chapter 3, God speaks directly to Moses through a burning bush
with these words: “I have seen the misery of my people... I
have heard them crying out ... and I am concerned about their
suffering...” (Exodus 3:7-8). I believe God is still
concerned about the suffering people of this world and in
particular, the suffering people in your world. Like Moses, we
too must work through our inward resistance (I count 5 excuses
made by Moses in Exodus 3) as well as overcome some outward
battles with the very people we are trying to help before we can
break through the pain of suffering with the message of HOPE in
Jesus! Do not be surprised when the very people you are trying to
help say “thanks, but no thanks“ because your efforts
at their deliverance have caused them more pain. Do not be
discouraged when the very people who are crying out to God are
unable to understand or appreciate your efforts because of their
discouragement and cruel bondage (Exodus 6:9). Indeed, their
resistance will reveal your true motives and test the limits of
your love. In the end, God only asked Moses if he was willing to
be sent. In the end, God only asks the same of us. I see two
choices for those of us who follow Christ and care about the poor
and suffering people of this world. We will either say “send
someone else” or “here I am, send me.”
KEEPING OUR HAND TO
THE PLOW As we enter
the summer of our 19th year of ministry among the poor and
homeless, our efforts at loving our neighbors continue. Our
energy is focused on the following areas of ministry:
Providing a safe, clean and stable place for the
increasing numbers of rural homeless who come to us. We
serve both the traveling homeless and residents of a
seven county area. We now have 16 beds and provide more
than 16,000 meals each year to an estimated 250-350 men,
women and children.
Providing a long term solution for single recovering
homeless men and women in our Hannah House located on
Luhrig road. This facility on 35 acres provides an
environment where volunteer interns can mentor the
recovering homeless. We also plan to host an estimated
15-20 different visiting youth/adult work groups this
year who will serve on our properties as well as needy
citizens on our community. Hannah House is also the site
of our Good Works green-house and garden project.
Providing work-experience training for adults moving from
welfare to work. This project was developed to train
adults who have little or no work experience in the basic
habits, attitudes and social skills necessary to both
obtain and maintain employment.
Providing an opportunity for anyone in our community to
meet with us daily for one hour face to face. We listen
to people experiencing financial crisis and help them
locate resources which can prevent them from becoming
homeless.
Friday Night Life continues to provide an estimated 60-80
people a hot-nutritious meal each week through help from
the homeless at Good Works and local community &
Church groups. Our after-supper coffee-house project has
been a music-and-comedy success!
Providing an after-school and summer KIDS CLUB program to
neighborhood children every day.
A VISION FOR THE LOCAL
CHURCH I have
believed for some time that the most appropriate response the
church can make to changes in the welfare system is to create
work for the poor. I believe that the church must direct some of
our local mission budget toward the creation of work so that
people can help themselves. This IS one expression of Jesus
proclamation to ‘set the oppressed free’. Furthermore,
the leadership of the church must lead the people of God to spend
time with the poor in an intentional manner. To me, this is a
concrete and appropriate response to how we as christians can
proclaim the gospel—spending our time with those in need
(Romans 12:16 & Matthew 9:9-13). Indeed, when believers do
this kind of thing together, this is evidence that the kingdom of
God is among us. In a social
structure where the rich are getting richer and the poor are
getting poorer, we as followers of Jesus have an obligation to
help those who are economically oppressed (Proverbs 21:13, 22:9,
22 & 23:10-11). We can not speak the message of the gospel
out of one side of our mouths and leave our needy neighbors in
their oppression with our actions. We must DO something to help
those who are oppressed. Oppression by its very definition
implies that the persons who are oppressed are unable to break
out of their oppression. One thing the church CAN do (when
organized together) to help the poor who have become unable to
obtain and maintain work is to create jobs for the poor. When we
create jobs for the poor, this lifts the needy from the ash heap
and demonstrates the gospel in a tangible way toward felt needs.
The good news is bad news to the poor unless we attach the action
of love to our proclamation (Proverb 14:31). The specific action
I believe we must consider is directing our mission dollars
toward the creation of work for the poor in our local
communities. One entry
level expression of this can be seen in this scenario: A twenty
two year-old man calls the church office and asks for $25.00 so
that he can buy diapers for his children. After listening and
probing to develop the best possible understanding of the
situation, the pastor (or a designated and trained lay person)
answers as follows “Well, you’ve called the right place
at the right time and I’m so glad you’ve called. How
soon can you get here? Because I have 3 hours of work right now.
Would $8.00 an hour be a fair wage?” About this
time one of two things will probably occur. Either the caller
will begin to make excuses or ask questions. If he is truly
interested in work, he will inquire as to the type of work and
show up. If she wants a hand-out, she is likely to make excuses
and/or not show up. But what if they do show up at the church and
sincerely work hard for 3 hours? What if he does the work as you
expected him? Then I suggest this church has just illustrated the
good news it proclaims. Wouldn’t you feel good about being
involved with a church that offers work to the poor? Indeed, you
have both provided work, which produces dignity, as well as
established a relationship with someone in need. And the kingdom
is all about being in long term relationships, isn’t it? Most of us
want to help our neighbors in need but often don’t know
where to begin. Most of us also fear being manipulated and taken
advantage of. We want to help but don’t know what to do.
Most of us fail to realize that the poor often manipulate because
they have learned “survival” as their fundamental
guiding principal. Oppressed people use desperate measures to
survive. These desperate measures can turn into habits and these
habits can carry over even after they are no longer desperate
(Proverbs 19:4, 7). People who are oppressed (whether by
upbringing, race or discrimination) are UNABLE to respond to
opportunities in the same way most of us do (Proverbs 13:23).
That’s why the message that Jesus brings about what the
ministry of the Messiah would be like included this phrase:
release to the prisoners and recovery of site to the blind”.
Indeed, oppressed people NEED US to help them out of their
oppression. While the
process of helping people is messy and the time is takes to work
with someone often requires far more than an
“instant-gratification-trained-society” can bear, God
remains pleased with our faith-works and will reveal himself to
us as we sacrifice something of ourselves to love the ‘least
of these’. Many times, we will discover the rich blessing of
relationship with the poor and understand something very powerful
about the kingdom of God. Indeed, the very efforts of our spirit
working in truth to love our neighbors can become acts of true
spiritual worship—the kind the Father seeks (John 4:21) And
when we persevere even when people seem ungrateful and
unresponsive, we please our heavenly father with this expression
of his amazing love. Finally, Jesus meets us in this place and
reveals himself to us as we work hard to help people who are
oppressed to be released from their oppression. I often hear
Christians speak about the value of knowing God. Do we mean only
the power of his resurrection or does knowing Christ include the
fellowship of his suffering? Could our expression of God’s
love toward the suffering and oppressed people of our
neighborhoods end up drawing us into a closer and more intimate
relationship with the one whom scripture calls the LIVING WORD?
THE MEASURE OF
SUCCESS? People often
ask me if we are achieving success in our ministry. I have always
felt that Mother Theresa’s words “God has not called me
to be successful, He has called me to be faithful” were an
adequate response. Indeed, we achieve success simply by being
faithful to do what God has called us to do. God then glues
together all of our acts of faithfulness and metamorphosizes them
into a gift back to us: faith. Our faith then grows again and
again as a result of faithfulness. This is success. Through our
faithfulness, our faith grows larger and larger and we trust God
for greater and greater things. But there is
more. My definition of success has grown: When someone comes to
our ministry through one of the many doors of entry and later
becomes a functioning (contributing) member of the body of
Christ, I believe this is the mark of true success. It is not
enough for someone to receive the life of Jesus (although in
reality, it is Christ who receives/accepts us); it is not enough
that they attend a church. It is only enough that they become
integrated into the relational life of a particular body to such
a degree that they are both contributing and receiving. This is
the mark of success that we seek. Isn’t it interesting then
that although this is our deepest desire and prayer, we have
absolutely no power and no control over when or not we achieve
it? Indeed, it is the local church alone that will determine our
ultimate success. Now that IS the body of Christ, isn’t it?
LETTERS FROM THEIR
HEARTS My name is
Frank, I arrived at Good Works in November. Much to my surprise I
was not expecting such a nice, warm, friendly and clean
environment. My expectations of a homeless shelter were, to say
the least way off base. I am forty six years old, and as of July
this year, rather prior to, I had a beautiful family, a home in
the country in Logan, a very good job, excellent credit and very
involved in my church. Due to bad decisions and other
circumstances here I am much to my surprise, and have lost all of
the above mentioned. I never ever ever thought I would be in this
situation. But through it all the good Lord has never left me!
The staff and volunteers here have been a real blessing. The
Christ centered environment and the Good Lord has helped me to
restore my joy, hope and faith. I am so excited to see what the
Lord has for me now. I would like to thank you all for your love
and caring hearts. May the Good Lord richly bless you in all you
do. Sincerely,
Your Friend, Frank
IN THE NEWS... We are
seeking interns who will consider the radical call to love the
poor by living at our Hannah House for 6-12 months and serving as
a mentor/helper to the recovering homeless... We are seeking
volunteers skilled in carpentry, auto-mechanics to assist us for
1-2 days. During the summer of 1999, we will building a
retreat/cabin on our Luhrig property. The purpose of this cabin
is to provide a respite/retreat for Pastors for 1-3 days. We are
seeking volunteers who can come and assist us as we build this
cabin...
In closing I
want to ask each of you to prayerfully and thoughtfully consider
giving to Good Works. Many of you have stayed with us for many
years. Will you become a partner with us as we bring good news to
the poor and repair broken and shattered lives? I look forward to
hearing from you!
In Exodus
chapter 3, God speaks directly to Moses through a burning bush
with these words: “I have seen the misery of my people... I
have heard them crying out ... and I am concerned about their
suffering...” (Exodus 3:7-8). I believe God is still
concerned about the suffering people of this world and in
particular, the suffering people in your world. Like Moses, we
too must work through our inward resistance (I count 5 excuses
made by Moses in Exodus 3) as well as overcome some outward
battles with the very people we are trying to help before we can
break through the pain of suffering with the message of HOPE in
Jesus! Do not be surprised when the very people you are trying to
help say “thanks, but no thanks“ because your efforts
at their deliverance have caused them more pain. Do not be
discouraged when the very people who are crying out to God are
unable to understand or appreciate your efforts because of their
discouragement and cruel bondage (Exodus 6:9). Indeed, their
resistance will reveal your true motives and test the limits of
your love. In the end, God only asked Moses if he was willing to
be sent. In the end, God only asks the same of us. I see two
choices for those of us who follow Christ and care about the poor
and suffering people of this world. We will either say “send
someone else” or “here I am, send me.” 