Radical followers of Jesus, deep in the heart of Texas November 8, 2007
Posted by Zack in Texas , trackbackIn my last post, I asked for more stories about middle & upper middle class Christians moving into poverty stricken areas to follow Jesus. I received a number of stories, which I’ll start posting as I get permission. Most of these folks want to remain anonymous for two reasons. First, they cite Matthew 6:1-4:
[Jesus said:] “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Second, they just don’t want to have their work and their lives interfered with by counterproductive attention.
Here’s one email I got from someone who writes as “Agent B” on this blog. (A good post to start with, a reaction to Joel Olsteen and other “Prosperity Preachers” is here.) After Agent B’s initial email, I asked for a fuller explanation of how he came to move into a poor area and get involved in the local community. Here’s the response (Wikipedia links are my addition):
Background: I grew up in the church culture since age 3 (in the Church of Christ). I moved to Abilene TX to attend college at Abilene Christian University, earned a music degree in 1994, worked various jobs locally and married a missions student from Canada in 1998.
We stumbled into our life calling about 4 months into our marriage: befriend, walk with, minister to and be ministered BY the poor. This started by volunteering in a local charismatic church food pantry ministry. Eventually, we quit our jobs and joined the ministry staff by faith.
Over 3 years, the ministry involved not only a food pantry, but clothing, cafe lunch, once-a-week shelter, and being immersed in the poverty culture to better relate to our new friends.
The closer we got to the poverty culture, the farther away we got from the church culture. And the church pastor/staff didn’t like that. After various political struggles, etc, the church kicked the poverty ministry out of the building and church.
At the same time, my wife and I bought a house in this transitional neighborhood…and the ministry of sorts continued in different and exciting ways. We no longer went to a building to serve people. We now lived with them.
We are no longer part of the ministry that was kicked out. We have not been part of any church for 5 years. We are a single family wandering through this desert period of our lives while dreaming about future possibilities.
Through the internet, we have met several individuals and families (some local) that we have befriended and connected with. We are all actively seeking what it really means to “seek the kingdom first, and everything will be added unto you”, etc.
There is no established “ministry”, name, non-prof #, etc. Just a ragtag group of weird people trying to live it out. I have not had any “real employment” for 5 years. But the lord has provided: there’s way too many testimonies to share here.
Hope this helps. I don’t know if we’re the kind of “community” you are looking for to write on. Let me know if you have more questions.
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