I often get asked what we are trying to accomplish through the mercy ministry here at Sojourn.  Author Steve Corbett helped bring clarity to our goals for Seed:

Our goals are NOT:

• To make the materially poor into middle-to-upper-class North Americans
• To make sure that the materially poor have enough money
• To complete projects and produce products for people

Rather, our goals ARE:

• To restore people, through the power of the gospel, to a full expression of who God created us to be – a release from the bondage to sin into a right relationship with God.
• To demonstrate what a just, loving, peaceful relationship is as we point our neighbors to Christ.
• To equip or develop our neighbors to fulfill their callings of glorifying God by working and supporting themselves and their families with the fruit of that work.
• To genuinely care for those in our neighborhoods and invite them to share in our lives, even if and especially when it takes sacrifice.

Relationships and Processes, Not Projects and Products

Our goal is to see people restored to being what God created them to be:  people who understand that they are created in the image of God with the gifts, abilities, and capacity to make decisions and to effect change in the world around them; and people who steward their lives, communities, resources, and relationships in order to bring glory to God.

These things tend to happen in highly relational, process-focused ministries more than in impersonal, product-focused ministries.

In other words, biblical mercy includes relationships combined with the proclamation/application of God’s word with deeds that demonstrate God’s provision and compassion.  These relationships take time and do not happen over night.

How are you doing?  How are you extending mercy to your neighbors?  Is your community group focused on a service project or are you focused on the relationships you are forming with the people you are serving?

Seed is an equipping ministry to help you and your group serve others.  Contact mercy@sojournchurch.com to speak with someone who can help you establish redemptive relationships as you serve individuals and families in Louisville.

When you drove into Germantown/Shelby Park this weekend, did you take note the poverty all around us? Or if you are like many, have you grown numb to this reality?

Did you notice the boarded up house on Mary Street?  Did you take note of the broken windows, peeling paint, cracked sidewalks, trash on the streets?  Did you think about the elderly shut-ins who live in fear and isolation?  Did you see any of the neighborhood children running around without parents and guide-less?

When you drove to Sojourn East this weekend, did you take note of the poverty all around us?  Or have you thought of poverty as only existing in the inner-city?  Did you think about the people who are living in those nice homes and how they are facing loneliness, domestic violence, emptiness, and household debt?

If not, I invite you to wake up to reality.  Poverty is all around us.  Why do you think there is so much poverty?

Let’s consider a biblical description of poverty:

Poverty is the result of relationships that do not work, that are not just, that are not for life, that are not harmonious or enjoyable.  Poverty is the absence of shalom (peace) in all its meanings.

As God’s ambassadors, representing God’s kingdom[1] and all that it entails to a broken world, how are we as Christians to set the pace in addressing the poverty around us?[2]

To address poverty one must engage in the ministry of reconciliation[3]:  moving people closer to glorifying God by living in right relationship with God, with self, with others, and with the rest of creation.

Therefore the reconciliation of relationships is the guiding compass for our mercy efforts, profoundly shaping both the goals that we pursue and the methods we use.  We must engage the marginalized, the poor, and our neighbors with loving redemptive relationships that point them to Christ, who reconciles us to God.[4]

So what does all this mean? Bottom line, mercy begins and ends with relationships.  Our neighbors and the poor do not need a cold and sterile program to help them through their struggles.  No though helpful, a program is not enough.  They need a Person and they need the church.  They need Jesus Christ and his family to bring about lasting genuine change.

When you think about mercy and poverty – do you think about a 2 hour service project or do you think about Bob, who struggles to make ends meet, care for his children, and who calls you when he needs advice, help or someone to celebrate a victory with?

Sojourn wants to challenge your understanding of God’s special heart for the poor, the nature of poverty and how you can personally address it.  To get started simply join us every Monday night at 6:30pm at the 930.  We visit homes of the elderly, the marginalized and the poor.  You won’t go at it alone.  Join us and discover the joy as well as the gifts that God has given you as you serve families in the city.  Contact Jesse Moss at jmoss@sojournchurch.com for more information regarding Mercy Mondays.

If you would like to dive deeper into the nature, meaning, and how to address poverty, I encourage you to read the helpful book When Helping Hurts by Corbett and Fikkert.

[3] 2 Cor 5:17

[4] Romans 5:11

Every week, Sojourner’s gather on Saturday afternoon with Bates Memorial Baptist Church in Shelby Park to serve meals to poor families.  Not only do they serve meals, but there is ample opportunity to get to know these families and share laughs or perhaps more often, share their tears.

Saturday was a special Saturday at Bates CDC on Jackson Street. God transformed a heart of stone in a gentleman that Brother Gill had been sharing Christ with for quite some time, praise be to God!  We celebrated with this gentleman as he has put his trust and hope in Jesus Christ.

It was a fresh reminder of the power of God at work in the lives of the overlooked. Many of the families that we minister to feel invisible as many people pass by without acknowledging their presence. Families tell me that they experience more pain and frustration in their loneliness, isolation and rejection than the difficulties of figuring out how to afford healthcare, get meaningful employment, and find adequate shelter.  What they tell me is that they need meaningful friendships and relationships more than a handout and a warm meal.

So it is in this case.  A man we have been journeying with for some time now knows God personally.  He stopped being a stranger to us long ago.  As we got to know him – his struggles, his fears – we came to love him.  And huge part of loving him was not only to feed him, but to help him see his need for Christ.  So yesterday we celebrated! It is truly the Holy Spirit alone that could prompt such a suffering soul to receive God’s grace. There is a harvest to be had on Saturday afternoons! If you’re eager to share Good News in Word and deed, come check it out.

David Taliaferro, the writer of this blog, can be reached at david.taliaferro@summitenergy.com.  Join him and a team of Sojourner’s every Saturday morning at 11:30am-2:00pm at Bates Memorial CDC located at 1228 S. Jackson Street.

My wife and I have been living on our street for two years now.  We know our neighbors fairly well, but there is always hesitancy on our neighbors’ part to enter into community with us.  We invite them over often, but are often rejected.  Sometimes, we don’t even think that our presence is felt.  We bake cookies, collect our neighbors’ mail when they are out of town,  and watch over their homes at night in case of intruders.  We demonstrate our care for them in so many other ways, too.  However, when we begin to speak gospel truth, everything and everyone seems to shut down and we get rejected.  We know that it is not us personally they are rejecting, but God (Luke 10:16).   So, it is only by faith that we continue to love and demonstrate God’s care for our neighbors, who are made in his image.

Well, a few nights ago, my neighbor saw me walking down the street and he chased me down.  It was late at night and dark, so I thought I was about to get mugged.  It turns out that Jim (not his real name) had tears running down his cheeks by the time he reached me.

Before I tell more, it is worth noting that Jim is not a believer.  He has an addiction problem that brings much grief into his life.  He lives with a girlfriend who he stole from another man.  And he has recently lost is job for reasons I do not know.  I’ve called Jim to Christ on several occasions in several different ways.  The answer is always the same…”I know, I know, but maybe some other time…”

I’d like to tell you that this time was different.  But, I’m not sure I can.  He came rushing to me with tears because his girlfriend was going into surgery the next day.  He was coming to terms with her mortality and was unable to cope with the idea of losing her.  He pleaded with me to pray for her.  And so I did.  And I also prayed for salvation for both of them.

After my prayer, he gave a huge sigh of relief, thanked me three times and went his way.  Jim remains in his sin.  He remains under the wrath of his Creator (John 3:36).  He has once again rejected his only hope.  Though I prayed and made clear that our only hope is in Christ, Jim rejected Jesus once again.  It breaks my heart to see men enslaved to sin – men I care so deeply about.  Perhaps God will use that encounter to deepen my relationship with Jim and perhaps the next time I call Jim to repentance God’s Spirit will bring him to a confession in Jesus. There are no helpless cases.  So, by faith, I’ll continue my witness.

What is remarkable is that Jim knows that I am a man of peace and a man of God.  It is clear to him by the way I have lived before him that there is something remarkably different.  He has told me this.  Yet, when I tell him that it is Christ in me, I can almost literally see Satan snatch the seed I just sowed.

What about you?  Do your neighbors see you as a person of peace?  Do they come to you in their hour of grief and need?  I hope so.  If not, Seed is here to equip you to get to know your neighbors, minister to them, and call them into God’s community through faith in Christ.

Deacon Mark Minnery challenged all seed leaders with these five questions this past Feed & Seed luncheon.  See how well you do when answering the question “are you a good neighbor?”

1. Do you know the name of your neighbor on either side of your home or apartment?  Where do they work?  What do they do in their spare time?  Are they a part of a church body?
2. When was the last time you had someone from your street or complex into your home?  Have you shared a meal together?
3. Do your neighbors contact you when they are out of sugar or need help with a load of laundry when their dryer dies?
4. Who do your neighbors contact when they have tragedy in their lives?  Do they call you when there has been a lost job, a wrecked car or even a death in the family?
5. Can you call yourself a pastor in your neighborhood?  Do you show the self-sacrificing love of Christ Jesus to your neighbors?

We were reminded that we as Christians are to have a humble, self-sacrificing attitude.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-even death on a cross!  Philippians 2:3-8

What is Neighboring?

Mark gave us his working definition: Neighboring is simply loving our neighbors by inviting them into our lives and thinking of them before ourselves.  We sacrifice our desires for God’s will and give our neighbors time we may not want to give them.  They may not respond with love in return.  They might even persecute you for showing them Christ’s love, but this is what God’s Word instructs us to do!

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.  John 13:34-35

What is the purpose of neighboring?

1. To invite people into Gospel community.
2. It gives the body the chance to be the body.  We don’t go to church; we are the body of believers, that is, the church.
3. It gives us an opportunity to die to self and our self-centered lives.  We stop building our kingdoms and queendoms and begin to think of others.  Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.  1 Cor. 10:24

What are some practical ways to practice neighboring?

1. Pray for your neighbors.  Think about their needs and contact them. (i.e. prayer walks)
2. Wave to your neighbors when passing by.  Be friendly even when you don’t want to love them, let alone like them.  A wave and a smile go a long way!
3. Introduce yourself to your neighbors.  If you have lived next door for 5, 10 or even 20 years and don’t know them, repent.  Take them cookies, knock on their door and ask for forgiveness (for not having taken the time to get to know them.)
4. Give your neighbors a card with your contact information and tell them to call if they are in need of assistance or during an emergency.
5. Offer them practical help.

• “If you need any help with your leaves next week, please do not hesitate to call me. I am open most Saturdays.”

• “Call me next time you’re out of town.  I would be more then happy to water your plants and bring in your mail”

What are some other ways we can practice neighboring?

Deacon Mark Minnery can be reached at mark@sptsolutions.com.  Every 2nd Sunday, from 12:45pm till 2:30pm at the 930, Sojourner’s interested in mercy ministry gather for lunch and community.  Be sure to join us next month as we discuss seed, evangelism and social engagement.

The overall biblical model is this: God transforms people’s lives as people bring his Word to others. God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things in the lives of others[1].

Mercy ministry is more than meeting needs through deeds.  Biblical mercy includes a personal or relational aspect.  Many churches have done well at accomplishing deeds of mercy, but we all have room to grow regarding the relationships we form with those we are serving.

God wants you to experience the joy of bringing more than a heart of compassion, a willingness to listen, and a commitment to help bear someone’s burden (deed driven).  Though these are the sweet fruit of Christian love, God wants you to offer more.  God wants you to bring the heart-changing truths of Scripture to people in the midst of their situations and relationships.  Biblical mercy is about people loving people with good deeds, but in a way includes bringing God’s word.  This is doing and speaking “truth in love.”[2]

How have you entered into a relationship with your neighbors or with those in need?  Have you brought more than a willingness to carry a burden?  Have you brought to light Scripture and how there is hope, joy, and confidence in our God through Jesus Christ?

Our tendency is to be deed driven, especially when it comes to mercy ministry.  My challenge to you is to see beyond the physical needs of people and realize that our greatest need is reconciliation to God through faith in Christ.  Yes, we meet physical needs and step into the suffering of others, but if we fail to bring to light God’s Word, we fail to truly love the very neighbors we claim to care for.

[2] Ephesians 4:15