“It could be worse. Imagine if you broke both legs.” We have some odd ways of cheering each other up, don’t we? Most of our bone-headed comments to suffering people are offered with passable intentions, and most of those comments are judged by their recipients as misguided rather than malicious, but it sure would be nice to improve our record of encouragement in the midst of pain. Read the full blog here.
If you liked this blog by Ed Welch, tune back in on Friday for our End of Week Freebies post. We will be giving away Ed Welch’s Addictions: A Banquet in the Grave.
For those of you just tuning in to the Seed blog, every Friday we give away a free book that has been instrumental in our understanding of mercy ministry. This week’s book is Tim Keller’s Ministries of Mercy: The Call of the Jericho Road. You might know Tim Keller from other books (The Prodigal God, Counterfeit Gods, or The Reason for God) or from his preaching at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. I was familiar with Keller’s work when I came to Sojourn, but I had no idea that he had written on mercy ministry or that he had a diaconate ministry that is the standard for many churches in the U.S.
Ministries of Mercy unpacks the theological framework for the mercy and benevolence ministry here at Sojourn Community Church. Keller uses Luke 10, the parable of the Good Samaritan, as the paradigm for the church’s understanding of mercy. He seeks throughout the book to answer the question the expert in the law asked to Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”, by explaining the parable and bringing the rest of Scripture to bear on the question.
Some of the questions Keller addresses in the book include:
Is everyone called to mercy, or only those who are gifted in mercy?
Should I show mercy to my neighbor even if I don’t feel like it?
Didn’t the poor just get themselves into the mess they’re in? Do they really deserve my help?
Is it ever merciful to withhold giving to someone?
How do sharing the gospel verbally and living out the Christian life balance?
The first half of the book deals with the principles of mercy ministry, and the second half gives some practical ways you can start putting the principles into action at the church level. You will learn much from this book, whether you have worked in mercy and benevolence for years or if you have never thought about how to be merciful before.
All you have to do to enter the drawing for the book is enter your name and email address below. You may only enter your name once for the drawing. You will be able to qualify until noon on Saturday, February 26, when we will take all names entered and use a program to randomly pick a winner. We will contact you by email if you won and give you instructions about picking up the book.
I have found myself delighted at reading Bonhoeffer’s chapter on community. He opens the chapter with Psalm 133:1: “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” The first section of the chapter deals with the unmerited grace God shows his children by allowing them to live among one another, a grace Bonhoeffer calls the “roses and lilies” of the Christian life. Bonhoeffer argues that “the Christian…belongs not in the seclusion of a cloistered life but in the thick of foes” so that he might follow the example of Christ who came “utterly alone, surrounded by evildoers and mockers…to bring peace to the enemies of God.” When we recognize the grace God gives us in the Christian community, the only proper response is to praise God for his kindness toward us.
Bonhoeffer contends that community is only possible through Jesus Christ. He makes three arguments in this section:
1. A Christian needs others because of Christ. Alone we become discouraged and entrapped by sin, but when we are in a community of brothers and sisters in Christ, they can speak God’s words to us and remind us of the gospel. Herein lies the goal of all Christian community: to meet one another as bringers of the message of salvation.
2. A Christian comes to others only through Jesus Christ. Apart from Christ there will always be discord between God and man and between man and man. Only through the redeeming work of Christ can we gather together and live in peace and harmony.
3. In Jesus Christ we have been chosen from eternity, accepted in time, and united for eternity. Because we have been chosen and accepted with the whole Church in Christ, we belong to each other for eternity.
The last section of the chapter discusses two vital truths that must be understood to truly grasp Christian community:
1. Christian brotherhood is not an ideal, but a divine reality. Here Bonhoeffer is arguing that our ideas of Christian community can destroy Christian community. He puts it this way:
“The man who fashions a visionary ideal of community demands that it be realized by God, by others, and by himself. He enters the community of Christians with this demands, sets up his own law, and judges the brethren and God Himself accordingly. He stands adamant, a living reproach to all others in the circle of brethren. He acts as if he is the creator of the Christian community, as if his dreams bind men together. When things do not go his way, he calls the effort a failure.”
This is not a proper picture of Christian community. Instead, Bonhoeffer compares Christian community to sanctification – “it is a gift of God which we cannot claim.”
2. Christian brotherhood is a spiritual reality, not a human reality. Bonhoeffer explains the difference between “spiritual” and “human” this way: “The basis of all spiritual reality is the clear, manifest Word of God in Jesus Christ. The basis of all human reality is the dark, turbid urges and desires of the human heart.” He goes on to contrast various ways in which spiritual reality and human reality clash. He spends the majority of this section of the chapter hammering out how human love and spiritual love differ. Human love is relative and therefore has no basis for true fellowship and has no reason to love an enemy. Human love is an end in itself and has no standard to look to. Spiritual love, however, is grounded in Christ. The way we know love is through Christ’s revelation to us through the Bible.
Bonhoeffer ends the chapter by asking what a Christian community will look like. The answer is that everything the community does and says will commend Christ. This means that Christian communities will look more like an odd smattering of rich and poor, black and white, educated and uneducated than an affinity group where everyone is the same. Bonhoeffer warns those who would exclude those from community who are not like them:
“The exclusion of the weak and insignificant, the seemingly useless people, from a Christian community may actually mean the exclusion of Christ; in the poor brother Christ is knocking at the door. We must, therefore, be very careful at this point.”
So as we gather together in community, says Bonhoeffer, that community of brothers and sisters should be diverse and should exclude no one based on outward things but should include everyone who is in Christ.
I was deeply encouraged by this chapter. I find myself thinking in terms of community fairly often, but sometimes I don’t take the time to reflect on how Christian community ought to look. My mind naturally drifts to weekend retreats and “getting away from the busy life for a few days” in order to fellowship with Christians, and it was good for me to hear Bonhoeffer’s rebuke, calling me to Christian community in the midst of my busy life. I am excited to read the rest of Life Together and am certain that I will find as many jewels along the way as I have in this chapter.
Next Week
Don’t forget to read chapter two for next week, entitled “The Day With Others.” This chapter takes some of the more conceptual framework developed in chapter one and moves it into the realm of practical, lived-out life.
Sherry is a single mother with three children, ages 5, 7, and 10. She has a 50 hour-per-week job working at just above minimum wage and struggle to keep her family afloat. Her day starts at 6am when she awakes and starts getting ready for work. She wakes her children and shuffles them through the bathroom, making sure that they are clean, dressed, and ready on time for their bus. She throws cereal in bowls, hurries them through their breakfast, makes sure they have all their school materials, and rushes them out the door at 6:15am, just in time for the bus. She jumps in her car and battles her way to her 7am job through the morning’s first bout of traffic.
She arrives at work just in time to punch in before 7am, and she starts in on her ten-hour workday. She makes it through work, but by the time she’s headed home through 5pm rush-hour traffic the day is beginning to take its toll on her. She gets close to home, where her kids are with a babysitter who stays with them from the time they get out of school to the time she gets home. Sherry pays the sitter and begins rallying her kids to get ready for supper. John, the 10-year-old, asks what is for supper. Sherry tells him that it’s spaghetti, and he is not happy.
“We had spaghetti last night,” he whines. ”We always eat spaghetti.”
Mary, the 7-year-old, and Sam, the 5-year-old, join in the complaining and Sherry finds herself ready to pull her hair out. She has had a long day at work and just wants to sit down and rest. She finishes the spaghetti, the kids eat it begrudgingly, and then they ask what is for dessert.
Dessert. Sherry knew that she had forgotten something. She didn’t have a lot of money to spend on food for the kids, but this was dessert night. She was supposed to have stopped by the store on her way home and bought some cookies and it had completely slipped her mind. She is about to throw her hands up in frustration when the doorbell interrupts her thoughts. She pauses, wondering who it could be. She rises from the table and looks through the peephole of her front door to see Elizabeth, her next door neighbor, standing patiently there. She unlocks the door and greets Elizabeth. They make small-talk for a minute when the children begin to whine again. Sherry is about to apologize to Elizabeth about her children when Elizabeth smiles and holds out a plate. Sherry had not noticed that Elizabeth had anything with her when she came, and she is a bit confused as she grabs the plate.
“My husband and I were baking some cookies today, and we thought of you all,” Elizabeth started. ”We have been looking for ways to let our neighbors know that we love them and care about them, and you specifically crossed our minds tonight as we were preparing dessert for our family. So we made some extra cookies and wanted to share the wealth. We want you to know that we’re just next door and would love for you to come over anytime just to hang out. We really want to get to know our neighbors better.”
Sherry has to work to close her mouth. She is absolutely amazed that anyone would do something like this. She has only met Elizabeth in passing, but she knows that Elizabeth is a Christian. Her gut reaction is to be cynical and wonder what Elizabeth wants from her, but as their conversation ends, Elizabeth gives Sherry her phone number and tells her to call if she ever needs anything or if she is in need of a babysitter on the fly or if she just wants to talk. Then Elizabeth simply smiles, says a last goodbye and leaves.
Sherry closes her door and looks down at the cookies in her hand. She is going to be a hero to her kids tonight because of Elizabeth. She is shocked at the kindness of her neighbor and is determined to find time to talk with her again.
So what is the point of this story? ”The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough” (Matthew 13:33). Fixing cookies is a way of loving your neighbor. It is a way of working leaven into the dough of people’s lives. Their lives are flat and lifeless and when the Kingdom starts working in that flat and lifeless place, like leaven, it causes change. When people are influenced by a little of Christ’s selfless love, something in them yearns to have more of that love. It is our job as Christ-followers to spread leaven into the dough, and this can be done by a simple act of taking some cookies to your neighbor and beginning a friendship that reflects Christ’s friendship with us.
Share your favorite cookie recipes in a comment below or on The City.
I think about the times that my grandmother and I shared hot chocolate, played games, and shared stories. I always loved to listen to her as she told me about life in the 1930s. Good times aside, however, visiting grandma can also be challenging. This blog series is intended to help you minister to your elderly family members and neighbors. So, here we go!
Who is Grandma?
The number of the aged is growing steadily; well over 10% of our society are over 65 years old. In a church whose average attendee is only 28 years old, it’s easy to forget about all those grandmas and grandpas out there. But, if we have eyes to see, we find that the elderly are everywhere. For example, on the street where I live there are at least 4 elderly families (4 out of 14 homes). On most Monday nights, a group of Sojourners visit Parkway nursing home just a few blocks from the 930 (there are over 60 elderly who live there). Every summer, Sojourn throws a Sock Hop dance for the elderly in the Germantown neighborhood. Sojourn’s East campus has recently been approached by two organizations who deliver food for the elderly in St. Matthews. I’m confident that if you look around, you’ll see lots of elderly people in your neighborhood, at the grocery, and at the park. Grandma is not only in your family, she is everywhere!
1 Timothy 5 reminds us to care for the elderly and widows. The church is to ”give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need (v.3)” and to ”help those widows who are really in need (v.16b).”
The Granny Challenge
I want to challenge you to respond with new ideas on how Sojourn Community Church can minister to the grandmas and grandpas in the city. Seed will put cash toward the best idea and help you make it happen! Post your ideas here or on the city.
Keep in Mind Some Challenges
Before going over to Grandma’s house, you’ve got to keep in mind some of the challenges that the elderly deal with. Some of these include an adjustment to:
Physical limitations – Most Grandmas and Grandpas are struggling with a loss of strength and coordination, decreased circulation, decrease in mental sharpness, and an increase in chronic illness such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and arthritis.
Economic limitations – depending on various definitions of poverty, between 20-30% of the elderly live under the poverty level. The two major factors that strain the budget include inflation and rising health care costs.
Social changes – In today’s industrialized society, the elderly have no clearly defined place or usefulness. Grandpa, in particular, must grapple with a feeling of uselessness. A retired person also has to face the loss of many friends and relatives due to death. Old age also complicates one’s relationship with one’s children. Given our mobile society and the breakdown of the extended family, many of the elderly live alone and are distant from their children.
Spiritual problems – Fear of death is constantly on the minds of many elderly. In addition, there can be a sense of guilt or regret over past mistakes, wasted opportunities, or failures. Worry about family members and their own health also plague the minds of the elderly. Combine this with self-pity and introspection that comes from loneliness.
Meeting the Needs of Grandma and Grandpa
Today we’ll focus on how you can minister to Grandma’s physical needs.
Provide financial help for Grannie’s medical bills. You can do this by setting up a family benevolence fund, take an offering up at your Community Group, or contact mercy@sojournchurch to talk to a deacon about financial assistance. Free health care could be provided by talking to Sojourn members who are nurses, doctors, and health practitioners.
Visit Grandma and some of her friends to teach hobbies or other activities that are suited to their physical limitations. For example, teaching sowing, crochet, playing cards, etc.
Support Grannie by providing transportation to doctor’s visits, cutting her grass, dusting the house, or doing chores.
You can show consideration to Grandma by offering communion to shut-ins, bringing them sermons on cd, or bring them a large print bible to read.
Next week, we’ll talk about how you can minister to Granny’s economic limitations and social problems.
Millions Of Unemployed Are Facing Years Without Jobs
Call them the new poor: people long accustomed to the comforts of middle-class life who are now relying on public assistance for the first time in their lives — potentially for years to come. The NY Times is running a series of articles titled “The New Poor.” Articles in this series will examine the struggle to recover from the widespread strains of the Great Recession.
We want you to be aware that this has hit too close to home. Several Sojourn families have been deeply impacted by the economic downturn. The implications for the church cannot be understated. We, as the body of Christ, have a great opportunity to demonstrate the love of God to those who find themselves in physical need for the first time. The apostle Paul reminds us,
Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially those who belong to the family of believers. – Galatians 6:10
Likewise, the apostle John instructs us that,
This is how we know what love is: that Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material posessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. - 1 John 3:16-17
God is calling the church to be open handed to believers and unbelievers who struggle to meet physical needs. God is not calling the church to meet physical needs only, but to meet physical needs in a such a way that bring together both Word and deed as we point others to Christ and his sufficiency. I am constantly reminded in Scripture that humanity’s ultimate need is a relationship with Jesus, but God as Creator, Sustainer, and Provider also cares for our physical needs too.
Put It Into Action
Brothers and Sisters, our mercy is not an option. Do not let this opportunity pass you by.
Pray
Pray for those families who are in need. I spoke with a Sojourn family today, who are struggling to make ends meet. The husband lost his job, the wife lost her job, they have a few children and they are without any means to purchase food (we have helped them with food). Please pray that God would motivate us to be generous givers who are willing to draw near to those in need.
Family Benevolence Fund
Consider planning in advance to help a family in need by setting aside some resources into your own benevolence fund. This way, you will be ready when a family member, neighbor or co-worker comes to you with his/her need.
Join the Benevolence Team
Join our team of deacons as we interview, assist, pray for, and come alongside families who are in financial distress. Contact jmoss@sojournchurch.com to get plugged in.
Job Bank
Let the church know if there are any job openings where you work. We can pass along the information as we are helping several families find sufficient income. Email nivey@sojournchurch.com with job openings.
Sojourn Food Pantry
There has been a recent increase in demand for food. Sojourn’s food pantry is looking more barren than ever. Please bring canned goods and meals to the church if you are able. You can contact mercy@sojournchurch.com for more information.
Every month Seed profiles ministries that seek to bring both Word and deed to the lost, hurting, poor and needy. Today, read about one of Sojourn’s partner ministries: Jefferson Street Baptist Center, a homeless shelter in Louisville that has become increasingly gospel centered in their ministry to the 11,000 homeless in the city.
Ministry Profile: Jefferson Street Baptist Center
According to Executive Director (and member in process at Sojourn) John Ferguson, “Jefferson Street Baptist Center exists to make the entire good news of Jesus Christ known to the homeless of Louisville – meeting physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs.” Community, Transformation, Christ – this is the vision of JSBC. The vision is to see Louisville homeless enter into Christian Community, trust Jesus, and live a transformed life through the power of the Holy Spirit. This vision comes alive through Jeff Street’s unconditional service and the emphasis they place on relationships that exist between God, guests, residents, staff and volunteers. JSBC has 3 primary programs that seek to minister to the needs of the homeless.
The Day Shelter is a service ministry open to men and women who are currently homeless. Through the Day Shelter JSBC provides service to over 200 homeless guests per day and nearly 60,000 individual visits per year. Their guests are provided a drug free, safe environment in which they may access a laundry room, showers, storage room, mail and phone services, or just enjoy some hot coffee and a light breakfast. Additionally, their guests may receive assistance with employment, housing, physical and mental health referrals, as well as help with disability and other applications. JSBC wants to help their guests to become more employable and to gain permanent housing.
Drawing from the successful New Life Program at Denver Rescue Mission, which has served as a model for mission education programs nationwide, Jefferson Street Baptist Center’s Fresh Start Program believes in “discipling people for life” in order to break the cycles of under-education, poverty and homelessness that flow from both societal and personal evils. The Fresh Start Program contains three foundational components: Life Skills, Education and Career Development.
Beginning with a Christian foundation, Life Skills classes include, but are not limited to: addictions education, conflict resolution, relational and family dynamics, stress and anger management, health education, personal finances and spiritual development.
The Education component is self-paced and equips students with basic academic skills and computer literacy. Residents who lack a high school diploma can earn their GED. Continuing education is also encouraged for Residents who have a GED or High School Diploma.
The Career Development component is an innovative multimedia, video-based, group counseling program designed to help unemployed, underemployed and economically disadvantaged adults and youth learn how to make and carry out important personal, career and educational decisions that will dramatically affect their future.
Hope for Louisville is a radical opportunity for young Christian men and women to serve the poor and the homeless. By living and working in an inner-city community and homeless shelter, HOPE Team Members effectively impact the lives of people by investing in intimate relationships, sharing the gospel, and giving consistent support to those most in need. Living out Christ’s command to “Love the Lord your God, and love your neighbor as yourself.”, HOPE is ideal for young men and women who have a passion for the gospel and compassion for their fellow man.
Watch the Hope for Louisville video
Financial Sponsorship
Under the leadership of John Ferguson, Jefferson Street Baptist Center is committed to being gospel centered in both Word and deed. JSBC is no longer receiving several government grants that once supported this ministry. This means that JSBC relies more on the local church and individual givers for financial support than ever before. If you would like to learn more about this ministry and how to support this kingdom work, visit jeffersonstreet.org or email john@jeffersonstreet.org.
Get Involved
There are many ways to volunteer at JSBC ranging from cooking meals for the men, providing job training, mentoring, teaching, and encouraging. To learn more how your community group or church can get involved, email Darrel Johnson at djohnson@jeffersonstreet.org or visit jeffersonstreet.org and click Volunteer Now.
Today marks the beginning of Seed’s weekly book give away! Every week we will be giving away a book that has been instrumental to our understanding of biblical mercy, counseling, service to our neighborhoods, and city transformation.
Author Eric Swanson in The Externally Focused Church asks, “If your church vanished, would your community weep? Would anyone notice? Would anyone care?”
If you have ever heard any Sojourn Pastor use the term “externally focused,” it likely came from this book. In his book, Eric Swanson shows how a church can become a pillar in their community through sacrificial service, commitment and a willingness to listen before we act in love.
As you read, you will learn from churches that have made serving their communities a priority–with dramatic results. The book is full of practical principles and case studies from churches that have mastered community service. You will learn to apply the action steps to:
1) Attract new believers and reach hurt and skeptical people through service
2) Use the resources your church already has to impact those in need
3) Learn how churches have made community service a part of their DNA
4) Help your members deepen their spiritual commitment through service
5) Discover practical ways to change your community–starting now
Whether you are a minister or mechanic; a teen or tenured, through service you will expand God’s kingdom when it extends His love to the people in your community.
This post is one in which we will choose a book and read it together. We will read a chapter at a time, so it should be fairly easy to keep up. For our first book we will be reading Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Published in 1954 by Harper & Row Publishers, the back cover of the book reads:
Martyred by the Gestapo near the end of World War II for plotting to assassinate Hitler, Dietrich Bonhoeffer left a legacy of writings that has become a prized testimony of faith and courage for Christians around the world. Life Together is Bonhoeffer’s inspiring account of a unique fellowship in an underground semninary during the Nazi years in Germany. It reads like one of Paul’s letters, giving practical advice on how life together in Christ can be sustained in families and groups. The role of personal prayer, worship in common, everyday work, and Christian service is treated in simple, almost biblical, words. Life Together is bread for all who are hungry for the real life of Christian Fellowship.
The point of this exercise is twofold. First, we are to read together. So you can pick up a copy of the book, read it, and you have already accomplished half of the purpose of the exercise. But, second, we are to think together. My contribution in this will be my summary of the chapter and response that will appear each week. Your contribution in this will be to leave a comment in the “comment” section. Did you like the reading? How have you been challenged? Was it lame? Do your views differ from Bonhoeffer’s?
There are five chapters to the book, so it will take five weeks to get through the book. You can pick up a copy here or purchase it at a local bookstore. Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions or comments. Otherwise, happy reading. Have Chapter 1 read by next Thursday and be prepared for discussion! Purchase the book here.
For those of you just tuning in to the Seed blog, every Friday we give away a free book that has been instrumental in our understanding of mercy ministry. This week’s book is Tim Keller’s 
Sherry is a single mother with three children, ages 5, 7, and 10. She has a 50 hour-per-week job working at just above minimum wage and struggle to keep her family afloat. Her day starts at 6am when she awakes and starts getting ready for work. She wakes her children and shuffles them through the bathroom, making sure that they are clean, dressed, and ready on time for their bus. She throws cereal in bowls, hurries them through their breakfast, makes sure they have all their school materials, and rushes them out the door at 6:15am, just in time for the bus. She jumps in her car and battles her way to her 7am job through the morning’s first bout of traffic.
Today marks the beginning of Seed’s weekly book give away! Every week we will be giving away a book that has been instrumental to our understanding of biblical mercy, counseling, service to our neighborhoods, and city transformation.
