Issues

Through my research I have come across several issues that are important to consider when getting involved in community work. I wanted to share some of those with you:

1. Area definition: One issues that needs to be considered is that of area. We are a church that attracts people from all over the city. Last week I pinpointed the congregation onto a map in order to work out where we we have a presence in the city and apart from key students areas we are very spread out. Working out which area constitutes our church community is then rather difficult. Whatever we decide to do must be within an area where we have some sort of a presence as a church, whether in terms of church buildings or where the congregation live.
2. Area resistance: The issue of area definition is important not just in understaning 'our community' but also because of area resistance. There can be a great deal of resistance of a group of seemingly fairly well off Christians going into a "poor deprived" area where they have no connections and trying to "do good works". This is also tied in with working out the approach and attitude that we have as a church when going into the type of work. Are we serving our community out of Christian love, or are we going to try and "help them" because they are "poor and disadvantaged"?
3. Targeted groups: One of the key areas of need that has come up again and again is that of social exclusion and isolation. The question then arises - how do we reach those that are socially excluded? How do we know where they are, what they need and what they want? There are so many isolated people out there, and one of the biggest problems can be knowing how to make that initial step of reaching out to/contacting them in the first place.
4. Working alone/in partnership: Do we do a project alone, do we put our resources into supporting another organisation or do we run a project in partnership with another church? This is a big one that I'm not sure I have the ability or time to try and answer right now, but it is one that is being considered. It's a big issue, with sound arguments on either side. Surely if we want to effectively impact Edinburgh and reach many people then we should work in partnership...? But then do problems of leadership and ownership not come up? Do we really need to support another organisation when there is a chance to impact an area where no one is working, to feed a very real need that is currently not being fed? Is there a way of working alongside other organisations but still running something ourselves? All BIG questions, and all being considered, not just by myself but by church leadership. No answers as yet, but they're coming...
   

My week

Friday already. I'm really not sure how that happened - another week has flown by and I'm not even sure what I have done with my week. Let me recap, as much for myself as for you.

Tuesday:

• Tuesday morning was our weekly staff meeting. Dan, Matt, Dave, Ann and myself constitute the office staff. We chat about various issues that need to be talked out/organised/worked out (most of which don't directly concern me but it's good to get an insight into the day to day workings of the church and also get some input) and we also spend some time in prayer. Occassionally other arguably less important issues make their way into the meeting - this week it was radiators, and Matt, Dan and Dave spent some time discussing the ins and outs of heating and radiators before going off to B&Q to buy some more heaters for the office...
• I spent Tuesday afternoon at my desk in the office. I like Tuesdays because it's generally the only day you will get all 5 of us in at once. The office banter makes for good fun, and we do manage to get some work done inbetween.
  
• Actually now that I think about it, Tuesday afternoon was quite productive. I had a phone chat with Simon Allen, who heads up social action for Newfrontiers in the UK. We chatted about what I am doing and he suggested which churches might be relevant for me to visit.
• I also made contact with a few churches in Edinburgh and made appointments to go and meet various individuals to chat about their social outreach.
  
• Finally I spent some time looking for Bible verses to use as visual aids for the social action proayer meeting on Sunday, before I headed home excited about the election....

Wednesday:

• On Wednesday morning I went to visit Fairbridge, an organisation that works with troubled inner city youth. I met with a guy who chatted me through their programme, before showing me around the centre. They really do a great work, and have seen lives transformed and teenagers getting back into Education or into work.
• I headed back to the office where I spent some more time getting resources together for the prayer meeting (I now have a whole stack of laminated pictures and Bible verses).
• I also spent some time looking at the various Befriending organisations that exist in Edinburgh. One of the big needs I have found is lonliness and social exclusion. There are a lot of befriending organisations in Edinburgh, but they are all short on volunteers and their client waiting lists are huge.
• My day ended with Matthew piling a whole load of magazines from charities and organisations onto my desk (he was having a clear out) which should make for some interesting reading in the future.

Friday:

• Today I had another meeting, this time with Freshstart - an organisation that deal with people who have just gotten into accomodation having previously been homeless. They provide starter packs, such as bedding or kitchen items. They also run a 'hit squad' whereby a team of people will go and redecorate their flat in 2 days, as well as providing a befriending service. It's a really great organisation, who interestingly are supported entirely by churches but is not a christian organisation in itself. They really do a great and valuable job in Edinburgh but are threatened with extinction if the council cut their funding in March (which looks reasonably likely).
• I left there and headed back to the office where I had the fun of plotting out (using pins) all of our church members onto a map. It's really interesting to see where everyone lives and work out where we have a presence in the city. As a church that draws people from all over the city, working out where we have a presence is very important in deciding where exactly our local community is.
• Then finally, to wind up my week Ann Graham came for a cup of tea and a chat. She is a long standing church member and we had a good chat about what I am doing, how it is going, and also the theology of whether it is acceptable for christians to be rich...
  

So that was my week. I guess it actually was quite productive! Next week looks to be similarly busy, but I am hoping to get some time to reflect and read. I am always thinking in this job, contemplating different issues and trying to work out how they relate to us as a church, but I think I need to spend some time reading and getting things written down. Matthew (our lead elder) wants me to spend some time writing down my thoughts on the theology of social action and presenting it to him and Dan (another church elder) - something that I actually really want to do, so it'll be good to be forced to have time for it.

All in all, another good week, another week led by God, and another week of productivity!

Apostolic Burden to the Poor

I want to recommend some talks to you. I have recently listened to a series of three seminar talks from the Newfrontiers Together on a Mission conference 2008 entitled 'Apostolic Burden to the Poor'. They are really excellent - informative, inspiring and challenging. I really recommend you listen to them. Stick them on your mp3 player and listen to them on the way to work, I did.

You can find them here: here (they are down towards the bottom of the page)

Go listen!

My day

For all that I say I am powering forward in this job (which is true) sometimes it can be hard to work out exactly what to do on a day to day basis. More often than not I am sat in front of my computer emailing various people, or looking at maps, or trawling through organisations and church websites. Today for instance is a bit of an odd one, filled with bits and pieces. Today I:

• Contacted various churches in Edinburgh about their social outreach programmes
• Tried to find some good videos/pictures to do with UK poverty to use as teaching illustration
• Made a vague plan for the next social action prayer meeting

Then this afternoon I am going to meet Joni from chuch who has years of experience working in addiction policy in Edinburgh. Such meetings are a chance for me to learn more about certain areas (in this case drug and alcohol addiction) as well as finding out what those in chuch are interested in and passionate about (plus in this case it's a chance to see Joni's new little baby!). If you are in Kings and want to chat over a coffee please just let me know - I'd love to meet with as many people as possible and really gain a sense of the dreams and passions of our church.

Right now I am trying to work out what to do next week - if I make a plan then I feel like I can get straight to work on Tuesday. But how do I decide what to focus on next? Sometimes there is an obvious choice, obvious things to follow up on, but other times I really have to put thought into it. Doing that presentation last week helped me to realise that I have already reached some logical conclusion points, and so the question is where to take things from here? At the moment my plan is to start making connections with other churches in Edinburgh and find out what they're doing, visit some more local organisations, and also start to focus my research slightly on some of the obvious needs I've discovered. I also want to learn more about other social action schemes around the UK and the world so that I can be inspired, get new ideas, and start putting together some solid ideas for us to start with!

The Dream Center

One thing I touched upon briefly in my presentation last night was various projects that have inspired me recently. One of these is The Dream Center in LA. "The Dream Center is a volunteer-driven non-profit organization that provides social services and outreach programs designed to meet physical, spiritual, and long-term needs." It was started in 1994 by a guy who wanted to build a church in the heart of a deprived area of LA. They began to reach out to those around them providing food and clothing, and within a year had reached 500 people. Now they claim to reach 40,000 people every month. In their own words:

"We offer opportunities and resources for at-risk youth, low-income individuals, and families to reach self-sufficiency by providing basic necessities and emergency assistance.

In addition to food, clothing, job training and healthcare, we provide educational programs, parenting classes and after-school activities. We also provide residential recovery programs for men, women and teens. These programs are available free of charge to anyone in need.

Through innovative mobile programs we are able to provide critical services to multiple distressed communities. Our unique, yet effective approach to issues within the community involves the mobilization of hundreds of volunteers."

The one outreach that especially caught my attention is Adopt-a-Block (my friend Jude who is doing a very similar job to me for Destiny Church in Edinburgh first brought this to my attention, thanks Jude). The scheme sees people take a 'block' as their own, reaching out to those within that block and serving a wide variety of needs:

"Over 5,000 families are visited weekly on a total of 85 blocks. With the goal of serving, teams ask residents, “How can we help you?” Teams mow lawns, clean homes, paint over graffiti, complete minor home repairs, organize games with the children and visit with the elderly. They also provide emergency assistance, such as food and clothing; furniture is also available."

Although this is only one of many outreaches done by the Dream Center, it is the one that is resonating with me the most at the moment. I think that this is a key way of really engaging with the local community, building realtionships and serving local need, and I think it is vitally important.

Momentum

Last night I did a presentation to a group of 9 leaders from my church. When I was first asked to do it I was unsure that I had enough to write about. I felt that because I am still in the early stages I wouldn't have anything sensible to present, that it was just little bits from here and there. However, as I began to pull all the information together, I found that a half hour presentation probably wasn't going to be long enough. I have been doing this job for less than 2 months, and already I feel that I am powering forward, that God has clearly led me down this path and I have total faith that he will continue to do so. I know that I still have a lot to learn, not just in terms of research, but also in terms of how to do this - how to mobilise the church to become passionate about reaching out to the poor and needy, how to make links and connections within the community, how to plan and structure a project. When I started I felt a little bit like a fish out of water, but the fact that I have gotten to this point is testament to all that God is doing. I know that there is no way I could have done this so far without God, He is the one teaching me and changing me, giving me confidence and strength, showing me where and how to research this area. I feel His presence on me and with me in a way that is greater than any other time in my life, and I really feel the weight of all of your prayers, so thank you. Please do keep praying. I still have a lot to learn, a long way to go, and a lot of responsibility, but I an not fearful or worried because I feel the hand of God upon this in a powerful way, and that is why, as I mentioned in my previous entry, my faith for this is growing so substantially.

I am excited, I feel the momentum, I feel that we are entering into a whole new era as a church.

A well needed update

Apologies for the complete lack of posting recently. I know, I start a blog, tell everyone to read it and then don't even write in it. My excuse is a combination of being away last week, combined with the slight hecticness of having 2 jobs. Last Tuesday and Wednesday I was down in Peterborough for the tri-annual Newfrontiers prayer and fasting (P&F) conference, primarily for church leaders and some church staff. Around 500 of us gathered for 2 days of worship, prayer, lots of tea and juice, more prayer, a little bit of sleep, followed by more prayer. Despite the exhaustion of getting up at 4am to fly down to London, and the hunger that naturally accompanies fasting, it was worth it. It did feel slightly like running a marathon, but the experience of joining with many leaders and learning about what is going on within Newfrontiers worldwide was a valuable experience.

While at P&F I met up with a guy called Peter Lyndon who heads up all the social action work at CCK in Brighton. He was very encouraging and helped to spur me forth in my thinking and ideas. I also found that the importance of delving into social action and of going about it in this way (through research, giving serious time to it etc) was confirmed again and again, through meeting with Peter, through personal prayer, and through hearing others share about works with the poor. In fact, the importance of tackling it in this way keeps being confirmed, over and over again, and each time I get a little bit more excited because I know we are following God's plan for us.

I really do believe that this is a vitally important area for us to be opening up and getting involved in, and I find that the further along the line I go, the more my faith grows that Kings Church can truly be a church that engages with it's local community and that has a huge impact on Edinburgh. At first, although I wanted it to happen, I am not so sure I had real faith to see it happen. But then I remembered that faith isn't about human effort and what I believe we can do as a group of people, but it is about the supernatural power of God changing people. I believe that the vision we have of a church that stands tall and prominent within this city is integrally linked to the work that do with the poor and the local community.


On the whole work is progressing well. I feel as though I am getting on with a good pace and direction. In the last couple of weeks I have had meetings with 2 City of Edinburgh councillors, with the social action worker from Destiny church, and have a couple of others lined up. It's encouraging that certain needs are showing up again and again, such as isolation and loneliness, a lack of youth services and activities for the elderly. There are many gaps in what is going on, but so far these have been showing up as some of the most obvious. I am also feeling encouraged to start something up sooner rather than later. Although the importance of taking time and of research has been confirmed regularly, I also think a balance is needed between sensible research and also just getting on with things. Small scale social action projects or schemes can be a great way of getting the church involved, of seeing the bigger vision and picture, and of actually starting to form relationships in the community and gauge bigger needs. There are various ideas floating around, and I still think it'll be a little while before we launch anything, but at the moment it is looking like sooner rather than later...