The mission field is MESSY

 "Holistic Ministry"

What does it really mean?

I would offer that an on the ground definition would be;

"MESSY!"

Holistic ministry is to get invited into every area of someone's life. The good, the bad and the messy!

Mission is Messy!

The issues that families with very limited means have can be complicated, heartbreaking, confusing and untidy.

Loving people without expecting anything in return is messy and we are called as the church to jump into that mess.

We must.

We are called to keep loving and keep helping when people do not appreciate it.

We are called to keep  caring for those that hurt our hearts and throw it all back at us intentionally or unintentionally.

We are called to keep blessing those who might try to use us. After you have given your time, your help, your resources they may disappoint.

Many may come back to say thank you. Some may not. It really doesn't matter. We often tell the people "salamat sa Dios lang po"  ( just say thanks to God please)

In mission, in Christian charities we should always be pointing people to God, not our organizations or ourselves. We are commissioned to build for the Kingdom- not build a name for our selves. We should be making people dependent on God and empowering them to do what they can.

We are called to jump into their mess to walk along side them- no strings attached.


In the Mess there are MOMENTS

Moment we get to see the most personal parts of lives- new babies, weddings. Often people  become part of your family.

Moments we get the privilege to help save lives sometimes.

Moments we watch Jesus completely turn a life around, change from the inside out.

Moments we see God move, God heal, God fill up and light up.

Moments we get to play a  part of whole families being transformed.


MESS and MOMENTS

Through the hard times and through the amazing times we must continue to;

Love God. Love people
.
Make wrong things right.

Be a voice for those who have none.

Empower. Give Dignity. Bring Hope.  

One of the passages we have got for the slums and one we cling on to and speak out.

 

Isaiah 61:

 (3)

 

"To give them beauty for ashes,

The oil of joy for mourning,

The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,

That they may be called trees of righteousness,

The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.

 

(4)

 

And they shall rebuild the old ruins,

They shall raise up former desolations,

And they shall repair the ruined cities,

The desolations of many generations

 

(7)

Instead of your shame you shall have double honor

Instead of confusion you shall rejoice

 

(8)

For I , the Lord love justice.....I will direct their work in truth"

 

a brave little girl dancing her way over trash after kids church

 

 

Typhoon season here again.

There's a bad typhoon today. The electric went off in the middle of the night and hasn't come back on yet.
The battering of the storm and crashing flying things woke the boys at 4.30am and that was them up!
(yawn)
The street and subdivision flooded deep so we were stranded. Not much food in the house so hero hubby braved the storm to go buy tinned goods. Never been so thankful to see him turn up at the door with canned tuna! hehe He had to move a part of a tree off the road to get to the store. Took him about 2 hours just to go to the local shop and back. People panic buying he said.

I was feeling  grumpy since we had all been awake since 4.30am. I lost my joy for a bit! Boys eventually napped even though it was really stuffy with no electric fans. I discovered that it takes one hour to boil a pan of water with 2 candles. Drank coffee. Got my bible out and felt much better!

As soon as there is any kind of storm our hearts turn to the communities we work in. They are resourceful and resilient and certainly do not need us to rescue them. But the reality is also that the men and women who depend on recycling cannot work during a typhoon and this means their families do not eat that day.

My heart full of thanks to God that the majority of our team are made up from residents in the community. This means that even when calamity strikes they are able to continue meeting needs. Today the feeding team continued provide food for the mothers and babies and tomorrow they will run extra feeding for anyone who needs it.

the mother volunteers know the need and continue to meet them even during floods

KCM youth Pastor Elmo decided he still wanted to try to get to Tondo to mentor the youth even though much of the public transport was down. Our church has had no electric so they sat out in in the wet street by candlelight.

Youth Pastos "feet bringing good news" :)
 

Our main centers roof got a good bashing and quite damaged. Without being asked local residents from the dump site area climbed up to repair it

youth mentoring and young men that helped fix our roof

The feeding women, the youth Pastor and the local men were displaying the very verses I was reading this afternoon;

"... among whom you SHINE AS LIGHTS in the world" (Philippians 2:15





"Let your LIGHT so SHINE before men" ( Matthew 5:16)

Today we were dependent very much on candles. I appreciated them so much more than I normally would. Even the little flickers they were giving made a big difference. I could see where in the house my babies were running around before sunrise! They gave perspective. They made the darkness bearable.

WE the church are to BE THE LIGHT in this  world. WE are to make the lives of people who are sad, sick, lonely, struggling or in total darkness a bit brighter. We are to be that warm light that makes it a little easier to cope. We are to be the flicker that ultimately points them to THE LIGHT of the WORLD- JESUS.

Over the next few days we will know the housing damages in the communities. Thank you to those who have been communicating via text and fb to ask how everyone is. We appreciate it.

https://www.facebook.com/KalayaanMinistries