Book Reflection - Compassion, Justice and the Christian Life
Part Two

Alright, I have three more things to add to finish the reflection on this book by Robert Lupton. The first is a quote speaking of our responsibility as followers of Jesus to advocate for the poor. This is very much connected to one of the themes from my reflection on the first half of the book. He states,
"How then do we care for those in need without doing them harm? Social policies over the past four decades have taught us that programs intended to help can rather quickly become entitlements, and entitlements engender unhealthy dependency. Our challenge, then, is to couple unconditional kindness with appropriate opportunities that foster one's growth toward full potential. The gestation time will vary widely. Some will surprise us with their strength and quickness. Others will disappoint us with their lack of motivation and slowness. But all must assume full responsibility for their own rate of progress or regress" (73).

Another point that hits home for me personally and is something I have experienced in previous full-time ministry opportunities is in a section Lupton writes about a series of questions and expectations that ministers/recipients of support have for their donors/supporters. The seventh question is, "Are you more concerned with measurable results than being faithful? Quick fixes generally don't last. Poverty develops over generations and it will take time - decades perhaps to undo its effects. Immediate results are wonderful, but long-term commitment will win the day. Can you live with sporadic and incremental changes?" (88). I have struggled with this exact thing and have had many conversations with other missionaries about their experience with this on the mission field. This is a major difficulty for many missionaries. Even in writing my monthly newsletters I have struggled with what to write to share what good things are happening, but remain truthful in how ministry can often (more often than not) be painfully slow and not appear to be gaining momentum at times.

Finally, I have one critique of Lupton, specifically in his reaction to gentrification (if this is a new word, click here for a description). I have seen with my own eyes the destructiveness of gentrification both in LA and in Portland. Lupton calls for gentrification with justice where neighborhoods house both low- and middle-income feel welcome to live. He states that, "economic viability is the only thing that will build and sustain a healthy community" (90-91). He continues in saying that there also needs to be re-development of these areas to build housing to draw in young professionals. Lupton has a very idealistic vision of the whole spectrum of low- to high-incomes living together. I would love it if this was possible, but Lupton fails to give any examples of this taking place though. I have seen first-hand how these young professionals will force the hand of an all-to-willing city government to evict and force out low-income individuals and families because the young professionals want to live in a "safe" and "clean" environment where povery does not exist. Of course I generalize, but this is extremely common. I desire for this to take place, just as Jesus promoted the Kingdom of God here on earth where the two greatest commandments of loving God and our neighbors are lived out in the lives of all humans, but the reality is this is far from the present case.

* With that being said, I will be continuing these reflections in the coming weeks. Thanks for reading.

Book Reflection - Compassion, Justice and the Christian Life
Part One

This is a book by Robert Lupton, who is a Christian community developer in Atlanta. He has started a variety of organizations, businesses, and churches in the inner-city of Atlanta. The premise of the book is in rethinking ministry to the poor by the non-poor. There were a few thoughts that stood out to me in the first half of the book. The following is a collection of quotes as well as my reactions and thoughts.

Lupton states early on that he will always stand on the side of community building, even if it is standing against the church. He describes a story of a large church in Atlanta that was requesting a building permit to expand their already immense buildings when the community around the church spoke out against the church and stood in protest against them. Lupton states that he stood on the side of the community in the protest. He stated that his reasoning for actions like this is that "there remains a tension between self-interest and community interest" (12). The motives of the church might have been positive for their members, but there was no regard for the community surrounding them. This is a focus on self-interest, not on community interest. I would think that this is hard for many Christians to understand, because the church is viewed very highly (it is by me also), but the church can be very destructive also; and there plenty of examples of this being the case.

Another controversial topic in the American church (and western church for that matter) is the sin of individualism. "Sin of individualism" might seem overly harsh, but I feel very strongly that individualism is a deep sin of our culture and is not something that God intends. Individualism promotes competition and goes against community, grace and love for others. Our society, and unfortunately, our churches often promote this societal sin. Lupton states, "when our culture traded front-porch neighborhood life for private backyard patios, when we succumbed to the seduction of individualism and lost touch with our next-door neighbors, a viod was created in the spirit of our people that chat rooms cannot fill" (30). One of my favorite authors, Jean Vanier, writes much about community and the need for us to fight against individualism. For more of this, read From Brokenness to Community by Vanier (it is a very short book from two lectures at Harvard years ago).

Another section that stood out to me and which offers a challenge to traditional charity work is one describing a needed movement from betterment programs to development programs. Many of you have heard the fish analogy of giving a fish to feed a person to teaching them to fish for themselves, and on and on. The difference between betterment and development is the difference between giving a person something (i.e. the fish) or teaching them to get it themselves (i.e. teaching them to fish). The problem that Lupton states is that betterment views the poor as having nothing to give back, which promotes one-way giving. He states, "there is something about one-way giving that erodes human dignity.... One-way mercy, as kindhearted as the giver may be and as well intentioned, is an unmistakable form of put-down" (42). This is tough! I struggle with this concept even as I agree with what Lupton is stating. This really hit home as I was thinking about my experiences. I remember when I was working in the homeless shelter in Portland, we were asked regularly on cold nights if we had any blankets we could give out. When we had them available, we would give them. I would usually request the people to not throw them away the next day, but give them to another shelter that would wash them. I did this knowing that there was a high likelyhood that they would do just the opposite of my request.

Lupton challenges us with being imaginative in our charity work. It is true that someone places higher value in something that they purchase or work for than with something they are given. We need to be imaginative in how we can create better systems of giving where we stop this system of one-way giving and allow for an exchange system is created to place higher value both in the goods as well as in the poor themselves. I will end this reflection in a lengthy quote from Lupton on the need for a better way of mercy ministry to happen.

"Betterment is easier and it feels better. How heartwarming it feels to volunteer as a server for the Thanksgiving feast for the homeless! How right it feels collecting warm blankets to deliver to the shelters as a winter blast approaches! There is something in our spirits - something God-like - that causes our hearts to respond with compassion in the face of suffering and misfortune.
But as anyone will attest who has spent an extended time in such 'mercy' activities, there is an ugly side that inevitably reveals itself. Greed, manipulation, as sense of entitlement, resentment - somehow these darker instincts are never far below the surface among the recipients of one-way charity. And even in the best of scenarios, when relationships between givers and receivers appear to be genuinely thankful and gracious, the tendency toward unhealthy dependency is ever-present" (50).


*Please do not feel that I have this all figured out. I am just as deeply challenged with these thoughts as you all might be also. Thanks for reading.

New plans for my blog

I just finished another quarter at Fuller Seminary and will mention more about the previous quarter, because there were some amazing things that happened in the last three months. I'm looking now toward the summer and the three classes I will be taking starting in a few weeks. One of the classes that I will be taking is a directed study on urban missions with the main urban missions professor, Dr. Jude Tiersma Watson. I will be reading a number of books for the class and adding my reflections here on my blog for Jude to read and for all of you (if there are any of "you" actually out there!) to read my reflections and add any comments of your experiences and disagreements. So, I will be starting this in a few weeks. In the meantime, I will be adding a number of postings of the last quarter for, hopefully, some insightful and thought-provoking readings. Thanks for checking it out!

- Andy