Why I Believe in Incarnational Ministry, Part 2

I believe that incarnational ministry leads to being able to more effectively and relevantly serve the poor.  However as InnerCHANGE founder, John Hayes, points out, it is not merely a methodology, it is also a message.  He states, “When we move into a poor neighborhood, we send the message that if love is costly, then those who are the object of such love are worth much.  This is especially important to the poor, who bear the weight of the world’s low opinion of them.  GK Chesterton wrote, ‘No plans or proposals or efficient rearrangements will give back to a broken man his self-respect and sense of speaking with an equal. [But] one gesture will do it.”  A phrase I’ve heard repeatedly is the medium is the message.  Beyond any programs we may implement and activities we may take part in, the mere fact that we have consciously chosen to link our fate to that of our poor brothers and sisters speaks volumes.  If you have to earn the right to be heard, that is a powerful way to earn that right.  When your neighbors see you living with them, suffering with them, and celebrating with them, they are more likely to be willing to hear what we have to say.  

Further, I am convinced that our call to serve the poor goes beyond effective development strategies.  Jesus could have, with simply a thought, healed everyone.  But he didn’t do that.  When a woman who had been bleeding for years touched his cloak and was immediately healed, he could have kept on walking-the job was done. But he wasn’t content with just a physical healing.  He saw her spiritual needs as well.  He stopped and he engaged her.   He wasn’t interested in the role of impersonal “service provider,” but wanted to speak to, touch, and engage those who healed.  In that way the healing was not just physical, but spiritual.  Christ’s ministry was nothing if not relational.  It’s easy to look around at the need and be driven to address it.  You could spend all your time on poverty alleviation programs and strategies.  But that only addresses one need.  That does not transform people, and a transformed community comes from transformed people, not vice versa.   While it can feel like we are not spending our time as effectively when we spend it getting to know our community and living our daily lives among them, I think the message that we communicate through our lives-that they are valuable; that there is good in this community- in the end impacts more deeply.  

So when I feel frustrated that some of my time is spent in mundane activities like cleaning my room, and walking my new “little sister” to day care, I trust the experiences of others and the sense in my own heart that my life is portraying a message that Soshanguve and those in it are worth my time and my life.

Books that informed and inspired this post and part 1: The Urban Halo, by Craig Greenfield; Living Mission: The Vision and Voices of New Friars, edited by Scott Bessenecker; and Sub-Merge, by John Hayes.