Community Fellows Wrap Up

I nervously glanced at my watch. 1:45pm.The flyer I painstakingly made said the party started at 1pm. I looked around my living room. Bare as an empty desert. I swear I saw a tumbleweed roll on through. Would they come? I got a few phone calls and texts the day before. Surely somebody would have shown up by now!

This was it. The culmination of our fellows year. Laura and I planned a block party and invited all the neighbors we met over the past 11 months it all came down to this. At 2:15pm when I wanted to give up hope and about ready to drown my sorrows eating all the hamburgers I grilled, I heard a knock at the door.

It was Linda and her daughter, neighbors a couple doors down. My interactions with them had been few over the past couple months, but I was grateful that someone showed up!

The first couple of minutes were painful. The awkward silences. Trying to find something to get natural conversation going. But one thing I learned this year is to embrace the awkwardness and push through. As time went on, more neighbors showed up. And little by little I felt less anxious. Less anxiety about connecting neighbors to one another. It was happening. Naturally.

I stepped back and saw my neighbors engaging with one another. Finding common ground with one another. Sharing their stories with one another. Laughing together. I kept pinching myself. Was this real life?!

After the incredible shindig, while walking with one of my neighbors to her home, she told me this, “That was fun, I always wanted to get to met the people around the neighborhood, I’m glad I went. Thanks for doing that.”

I couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear. This is just the beginning, I thought. The fruit is bearing.

The past 11 months have been a journey. My hope starting this fellows program last summer was that I would gain hands on experience learning how to practically live out what it means when Jesus commands us “to love our neighbor.” I came into Bellflower hoping to be an agent of God’s love in the Cedar Neighborhood. Little did I know my life would be turned upside down in radical ways in the next 11 months.

People ask me “What is the biggest thing you are taking away from this year?” I sit baffled. I learned so much! But the biggest thing?

My most AUTHENTIC ministry comes from my own brokenness.

The first 4 months of the fellows program were definitely the hardest. As I dealt with the transition of a moving to a new city, getting to know a new roommate, a new job, a new church, and new neighbors, I was dealing with my own personal brokenness in the midst of all this and trying to make sense of it all with God. I was learning to surrender and cling to God in ways that challenged and stretched me. I was broken and many times cried out to God “Lord how do I love those around me, when I feel so weak and fragile?”

But he provided. He showed me that my brokenness is universal. I began to see my neighbors with new eyes. I realized that while our poverty and brokenness may vary, its still brokenness. My commonality with my neighbors was my brokenness. Realizing this reconciled barriers between my neighbors and I. Barriers of class, race, age, sex, etc. Barriers that I subconsciously built in my mind. As these walls came down, I realized that the glimpse of God’s kingdom would not be seen in my neighborhood, if I saw myself as “savior” coming to “fix” those around me. God was already here and working. A total mind shift happened. Neighborhood revitalization through the gospel happens when I work with my neighbors rather than for them.

As my fellows year came to a close, I wrestled with what came next. Trying to think of my future while trying to remain present in the neighborhood was a challenge. I wrestled with the idea of whether or not God wanted me to stay in Bellflower, which had quickly become home for me or moving elsewhere. But in the past month, God affirmed his call for me to stay put. Whether it was through randomly running into neighbors at the Laundromat or the new neighbor who asked for me to pray for them because they saw me as someone who had the spirit of God within me. The voice of God telling me to stay was becoming more and more apparent. And that moment at our block party when I saw neighbors connecting with one another, and sharing life together? That was a complete confirmation that God wanted to continue to invest in my neighborhood. Because his work was just beginning and he wanted me to be a part of it. He has taught me what it means to keep my hand to the plow and be faithful to the harvest. So I am proud to say that I am staying put in the Cedar Street!

As I look back on this year, I am taking away so much. I feel more affirmed in God’s calling in my life. Through the challenges of this year, I have been stretched in my faith and my understanding of God and his deep love for me and his children. This year has shown me that developing relationships with my neighbors and embodying God’s love, grace, and mercy is what we’re called to do. We are to share our lives with one another. I can’t imagine living my life any other way. The foundation I have laid here in Bellflower, I will take with me wherever I go. I have also made life-giving relationships. My roommate Laura who I did not know prior to this year has quickly become a sister in Christ, a woman I deeply love and admire. A kind spirit that loves people well, I have enjoyed partnering with her, and learning how work together in our strengths and push each other in our weaknesses has been a true joy. I have also been blessed tremendously through the mentorship of my supervisor, Abbey. She definitely was my biggest cheerleader this year. Pushing me to go forward and pick myself up and lean on to Jesus when I was discouraged. She affirmed God’s goodness in me and embodied his love to me in so many ways. She rejoiced with me, she sat with me as I cried, helped me navigate through big questions this year. I am so thankful for her and the truths she has spoken into my life.

And last but not least. I am thankful for YOU. Thank you for your support. Whether you supported me financially, spiritually, etc. The moments that you prayed for me, encouraged me, provided for me. Thank you for walking this journey with me!  

In His Service,

Rachel A. De Los Reyes

Busyness and Loving Neighbor Well...

As I was reflecting about what has happened this summer,  I have realized that it has been quite the whirlwind! This summer has been jam packed with ministry opportunities, traveling, spiritual growth, and one huge milestone. The more and more I continue to delve into Bellflower as my home and my community, the more I see how connected to Bellflower I have become. I had the amazing opportunity to teach the college group at my home church in Bellflower for 7 weeks in a row. I was also an assistant youth pastor intern for another church in Bellflower. And most recently, I was privileged with the job opportunity to work for Good Soil Industries. If you are not familiar with Good Soil, it is a social enterprise, under the umbrella of Kingdom Causes, which seeks to help disadvantaged men get back on their feet and start working again. It is an amazing ministry that I am very honored to partake in. I have also been traveling quite a bit. I went to Minnesota for a week and Arizona twice. One huge milestone for me was that in Minnesota I got engaged! Lisa and I are both thrilled and feel so blessed with this amazing new journey we are going to embark on.

In light of all that has happened this summer, I want to take a moment to stop and consider an ideology that has been ingrained in our culture. I was reading an article this summer in the New York Times about “busy-ness” in America. The author, Tim Kreider, was suggesting that as Americans we typically use the excuse “I’m busy” out both sides of our mouths. Out the left side we use it to build ourselves up and implicitly proclaim, “I’m important!” And out the right we use it as a complaint, exclaiming, “I despise my busy lifestyle.” In the West we (when I say “we” I also mean “I”) have the tendency to fill our lives up with a lot of, well…stuff. One of the biggest things I am learning is that in order to be a good neighbor, I need to be available. But how can I be available if I am always busy? I do not want to live my life going from one thing to the next. I desire a life, which is able to slow down and enjoy the small things and the big things – to be an available presence to my neighborhood. 

-Kris Cohen, Community Fellow

How Do I (Best) Love my Neighbor?

"One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

-Mark 12:28-31

This is a question that has come to the forefront of my mind in the past months of life in Eucalyptus. I remember the first weeks in the neighborhood being an introductory honeymoon period… Kris and I were the new kids on the block. Starting out, I think we were happy just to seek out acceptance from the neighborhood kids that came by our place on Wednesday nights for a church sponsored meal. In a new place with a new culture, it was quite the adjustment, but exactly what I signed up for.  I have long felt a conviction to learn what it means to love my neighbors next door and the Fellows program finally left me out of excuses. Over the course of these first three months, it has been a journey as these new relationships are being built and grown.  

It has been a crash course in learning about myself, and how to best use my understanding of self in relationship to my neighbors. It has also confronted me with the depth of our depravity and our great need for God’s restoration. As I have gotten to know the stories of my neighbors and have spent more time with the Wednesday kids, I have hurt with and for them and the ever-present brokenness in our community and all of us. Brokenness of; crumbling families, harmful relationships, over-sexualization by the media, and the abuse of various drugs. There have been days that have been full of joy and hope, and day that have felt empty and near hopeless, and I feel at a loss for how to help or what next steps to take.  But if I believe the gospel to be true, I can have faith that God has been longing since the fall to restore rightness in these relationships, and is already working to redeem and reconcile this brokenness, it’s our job as Christians to get involved and to love well. Seems simple right? Loving is so hard, and love hurts. Loving well takes wisdom and perspective, wisdom and perspective that we as humans cannot possess on our own. Pray along with us as we seek God’s wisdom and direction, as we live in community with our neighbors, doing our best to love, continually longing for His redemption and healing to come right here amongst us.

-Rob VerWys, Community Fellow

“I Am Broken”

In the wonderful world of Christian Community Development there are 3 R’s that you must remember:

Relocation is “the need to live and work among those to whom we are attempting to bring the hope of the gospel”

Reconciliation is bringing and reuniting people with both God and others. It is simply “reconciling people to God, and reconciling people across the toughest human barriers”

Redistribution is viewed as a natural result of relocation and reconciliation. It is not the idea of taking from the rich and giving to the poor, rather it is “putting our lives, our skills, our education, and our resources to work to empower people in a community of need”

When I first moved into the Cedar neighborhood 3 months ago, I was all gung-ho about EVERYTHING. The following words we’re my mantra:

‘I’m going to do God’s work; I’m going be a catalyst of change. I’m going to show these people Christ’s love.’

First of all there is nothing wrong with having an enthusiastic attitude like this, but let’s look closer at how I’m saying this:

‘I’m going to do God’s work; I’m going be a catalyst of change. I’m going to show these people Christ’s love.’

I was definitely in this ‘us vs. them’ mentality. I was subconsciously putting my neighbors in a box, separating myself from them. A problem that can arise with those who live and work in under-resourced neighborhoods is the development of a ‘God-Complex’ The mind-set (consciously or subconsciously) that you are here to ‘save’ the poor.

This sounds like a horrible thing and I definitely don’t want to fall into this category. But as I reflect on my first few weeks of living in the neighborhood, I can see how I struggled with that mindset.

You may be asking yourself this: Where are you going with this Rachel?! I promise I do have a point! Which brings us back to the 3 R’s….

Relocation? Check! I have been living happily in the 90706 for 3 months and I honestly love it.

For the past month or so I have wrestled with the concept of reconciliation. How do I apply this biblical principal to my own personal life and more importantly how do I integrate this into my ministry?

Why is reconciliation necessary?

Look around you. You can see how the fall has affected the world around us. People building barriers around themselves. The division that exists between Gods people based on race, class, religion, age, etc.

As Christians we are called to be ‘ambassadors of reconciliation:’ 2 Corinthians 5:17-20 states:

¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.^[a] The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. ¹⁸ All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹ that is, in Christ God was reconciling^[b] the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

So how does this look like in the Cedar neighborhood?

As I get to know my neighbors on a much deeper level, I am beginning to see the brokenness in their lives. Broken relationships, financial hardship, a sense of longing for purpose.

It’s heart breaking. It can be very easy to think I have to ‘save’ my neighbors and ‘fix’ them.

But I must remember this, that I too, am broken.  It’s the first step in reconciliation. I may not share the same exact poverty as my neighbors, but I am broken. There are parts of me that are hurting and need healing, there are things I struggle with, or lack.

I can see the commonality that I share with all my neighbors-We are broken.

We alone cannot fix each other. But together Jesus can heal us.

I am realizing an interdependence that needs to happen between my neighbors and me. As I build relationships, and work to point my neighbors to Christ, they in turn teach me and embody what it looks like to receive his love, mercy, and grace, something that I need more and more each day. 

-Rachel De Los Reyes, Community Fellow