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

Your Kingdom Come

       As we have now seen summer come and go in Bellflower, I find myself questioning more and more, “What are we doing here? What is our vision?” I find myself getting caught up in routines – going for walks, talking with neighbors, doing laundry at the Laundromat – without remembering the bigger vision. Then I’ll have a conversation with my roommate or read a Bible passage or go for a particularly refreshing prayer walk and I’ll recall the vision. The vision is God’s people remembering His goodness and His faithfulness. The vision is God’s people bringing Him the glory He is due all throughout the land. The vision is God’s Kingdom coming in Bellflower California.

            All that got me asking, “What does God’s Kingdom coming look like in my neighborhood? What does that mean for my neighbors?” and I realized I would have a very hard time answering that without looking at what God’s Kingdom looks like in my own life.             As Christians, we are called to seek God’s Kingdom; we are to pray that His Kingdom come and His will be done here on earth just as it is done in Heaven, but what does that look like in day-to-day life? How do we help to bring God’s Kingdom?

            I honestly cannot say that I have formulated a great answer to these questions yet, but I have started to examine the Kingdom in my own life and I want to share with you some areas in which I see the Kingdom. God’s Kingdom in my life means I no longer live for myself. It means that I live for God. But how do I do this? I love people as though I was loving myself by baking for them and listening to them when they need to talk and doing small tasks for them and praying for them and giving my time to them and smiling at them. God’s Kingdom in my life looks like Christine and Allyssa and Rachel and Hannah - strong women of faith who rejoice with me in the wonders of our Creator. God’s Kingdom in my life looks like seeking peace and God’s glory above success or praise or being liked. God’s Kingdom in my life looks like deep-seated joy in every circumstance because I know that the war is won.

            Now I challenge you, where do you see God’s Kingdom coming in your own life? How are you participating in God’s work of ushering in the Kingdom? 

-Laura Dumas, Community Fellow