Discovering the Poor Outside the Majestic Colony
Discovering the Poor Outside the Majestic Colony
by: CHRIS HEUERTZ
From: Power, Holiness, and Evangelism: Rediscovering God's Purity, Power, and Passion for the Lost. Compiled by Randy Clark, Destiny Image Publishers.
My apartment in India was located at the end of a dirt road in a community known as “Majestic Colony.” Every time I needed to go somewhere or get something, I had to walk 150 yards down this road and turn left toward the markets and stores.
Halfway along the journey the road became paved, but the area was still extremely poor. On both sides of the street were houses, shacks, slums, and structures inhabited by families struggling to stay alive. There were piles of trash and waste swept to the side of the street. The area looked devastated, the way you'd imagine a street would look like after a war.
It was a pretty cheerless and dismal street, a stark example of the urban residential poverty of India. If it weren't for the little children playing blissfully along the road, it would have been a very depressing area.
There was one small child who became my special friend. I would usually make a point to look for her if she didn't find me first. Her name was Prabah. Prabah was eight years old and as cute as a button. She had big, gorgeous brown eyes, long eyelashes, long stringy black hair, high cheekbones, and she was missing her left front tooth.
Prabah's family was wonderful. She was the youngest of 5 daughters: Sujata was 20, Indu Madi was 18, Radicah was 16, Ramya was 11, and Prabah was 8. Both their parents worked very hard. Their father was a construction worker, and their mother made and sold long strings of tiny jasmine flowers that women wore in their hair.
Their home was a little, thatch-roofed shanty constructed in the seven feet between two old, dilapidated brick houses. That was where they ate, slept, cooked their food, did their homework, played their games, and prayed before their idol of Ganesh (the elephant-headed god of “prosperity”).
They became a sort of family to me. Occasionally, I'd stop by in the evenings to share a cup of tea with their father, trying to battle through his limited English- and my even more limited Tamil. I would play jacks with the girls or look at the 15 family photos that they cherished as their most prized possessions. Their little home in the slums had been a refuge for me in many times of frustration.
There was one night that I'll never forget. It was dark. They did not have electricity in their home even when the power was on, so they depended on the street lights for some of their light. They had two small candles burning, casting a dim, golden light on the dirty walls anddirt floor. They sat me down on the only stool in the place, and we tried to talk. A little Tamil here and a little English there, and we knew, more or less, that everyone was okay and doing well. Then the girls invited me to stay for dinner.
So many times I had walked by and they had asked, “Saap teeng lah ?” (Have you eaten?), and just as many times as they had asked, they had invited me to join them for lunch or dinner. Every time I declined. It wasn't that I didn't want to eat with them. It was that I always felt they needed all the food they had, and sharing with me would only mean that they'd go without. This time, however, I felt that I needed to stay.
I tried to help Indu Madi and Radicah cook. There wasn't much that I could help with. They had a few worn-out, metal vessels to cook dinner in and an open fire in the corner. First, they cooked a big pot of plain rice, and then they started on the curry. Since I was there, they wanted to give me the best, so Ramya ran to the store to get a few eggs.
There wasn't a lot of food, but it took an hour to prepare the meal. When it was ready, we sat cross-legged on the dirt floor and Indu Madi served us. We each received a few spoons of plain rice and then a very small portion of egg curry to mix in with the rice. My heart broke as she served us. The girls hardly had anything for themselves, yet they were so happy to share with me. We sat together, barefoot, eating with our hands, happy and content. There wasn't much flavor to the rice, the curry just helped it go down easier, but it was a priceless communion that satisfied my soul.
When everyone had eaten, we sat around and listened to some soft Tamil music on an old, beat-up transistor radio. It was perfect. The later it got, the more sleepy we all became, and soon it was time to lay the little girls down to sleep. I said good night and walked past the gate into “Majestic Colony,” back to my home.
I laid down on my bed and with a candle burning beside me said a prayer for my little friends–my friends who work harder, but eat less than anyone I know; my friends who give so much, but get so very little; my friends who seem to have so much joy, despite their poverty; my friends who were sleeping on the ground and who were probably still hungry.
I open with this story to illustrate a point. The Church, for the most part, living in “Majestic Colony,” has mistaken God's financial blessings as individual provision rather than resources with potential for Kingdom development. With this misunderstanding has come an unwillingness to recognize and identify with Jesus' model of ministry.
In a proper understanding of the nature of holiness, it is imperative that the Church embrace a heart of compassion and respond to the call of Kingdom justice.
As holiness is cultivated in our lives, our relationships and perceptions of the poor will be the perfect testing ground validating God's redemptive work of sanctification.
During many of my conversations with Mother Teresa, she repeatedly shared that we need the poor so much more than they need us. She is right. God often uses the poor to induce social holiness. From the example of the poor we are humbled. Through the example of the weak, the foolish, the lowly, and the despised, we are instructed. The poor have a lot to teach us, yet our pride often prevents us from learning from them.
The faith of the North American Church has become very exclusive. If someone does not fit the social and economic mold of our churches, they may have a tough time being accepted by Christians. As a Church, we must learn new ways to celebrate our faith inclusively so that those on the margins of society will feel welcome in our churches and in our communities, and so that our love and acceptance of the other will produce holiness.
How many of us belong to a congregation that wouldn't stare at a prostitute if he or she walked into the sanctuary on Sunday morning? One that would not wonder why he or she was there? One that would not judge or criticize him or her in our hearts and minds? The prostitute of first-century Palestine felt as if they could spend time with Jesus-why can't they feel the same way with His followers?
The Biblical Witness
Jesus' ministry was not to the upper the educated, the elite, nor the most influential social figures. Jesus came and ministered among the poor, with the poor, and as a poor man. His ministry was to the children, the beggars, the lepers, the despised woman at the well, the adulteress caught in her sin, the tax collectors, the fishermen communities, the sinners, and the marginalized. Jesus came to the common people and lived alongside them.
Jesus' ministry was marked with a distinctive compassion for the poor. The first recorded words coming from the mouth of Jesus as He began His public ministry are found in Luke 4: 18-19. Jesus entered the synagogue, unrolled the scrolls of Isaiah, and read the fulfilled prophecy:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to
proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord 's favor.
In the gospel of Matthew, we find Jesus identifying Himself with the afflictions and sufferings of the poor. In Matthew 25:42-43 we read the familiar passage,
For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.
As we look upon the faces of the poor; as we see the children; the beggars on the streets, and those in need; we are being confronted by Christ. He is placing before us an opportunity to serve Him and to love Him. He is giving us an opportunity to love Him and give back to Him through the vessel of the impoverished.
He was approached by the religious, the educated, and even the rich. Who can forget His encounter with the rich young ruler: “Go sell everything you have and give it to the poor…then come and follow me” (see Mt. 19:21; Mk. 10:21)1. When John's disciples were sent to question if Jesus was the Christ, the response sent in return was “…the good news is preached to the poor” (Mt. 11:5). In Luke, Jesus states in the beatitudes, “…Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” (Lk. 6:20).
The gospel clearly shows us the love and compassion that God has for the poor. From the beginning to the end, the Bible is full of references to the poor.
In the Old Testament, the laws of Deuteronomy show a special concern for the poor.2 The poetic literature of the Psalms portrays God as a defender of the defenseless and a father to the fatherless.3 The wisdom of Proverbs defines a generous man as one who shares with the poor. Passages in Proverbs illustrate God's love for the poor.4 The prophets close the Old Testament with strong words of judgment on a nation that has turned its back on God and closed its ears to the cries of the poor.5
If we look through the rest of the New Testament, we continue to find references to our brothers and sisters in need. In the Book of James we find a letter full of references to the poor and how we should conduct ourselves on their behalf. James reminds us of the life that we are called to live:
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep one self from being polluted by the world (James 1:27).
What Is Poverty?
The Scriptures have plenty to say about the poor, but what is poverty? What are the issues involved? The definition of poverty would have to include, but should not be limited to, concepts such as marginalization, lack of resources, and an inability to change circumstances. If these aspects are accepted as elements in a multi-variable causation of poverty, then every society and every culture contains the poor. And if these aspects are accepted as elements in a multi-variable causation of poverty, then, unfortunately, the Church has too often contributed to the crisis.
There are six issues that have hindered the Church from effectively ministering to and with the poor.
1. Isolation
On one level the Church has isolated herself from the poor. It can be said that we worship in a soundproof, glass sanctuary. As the statistics of poverty grow, the Church only sings louder so as not to hear the staggering numbers or their cries.
I believe that God is using the cries of the poor today to call His Church out of her soundproof sanctuaries. He is challenging the Church to respond to a world in need. Too often, however, the Church has isolated herself and failed to listen, and thus contributed to the suffering.
In the isolation of the poor and the insulation from the poor, the individual members of the Church have caused a deep fragmentation and division within the corporate members of the Church. This fractured fragmentation and division of community poses a problem in light of an impoverished world. Because of isolation and insulation, the lack of community offered to the poor is yet another cause of marginalization and, in turn, a cause of poverty.
On another level, the Church often isolates the poor. I have walked out of countless churches in India, only to be greeted by a long line of beggars waiting at the gate of the building. These men and women know “their place”–they stand outside the gates. Do our multi-million dollar sanctuaries in North America send the same message?
There is also a popular misunderstanding that financial blessing is an indication of right standing before God. This leads to the judgment that the poor are outside right relationship with God. The assumption is made that when the poor are saved, their financial problems will be cured. Obviously this is not true, but those who hold to this belief isolate the poor by placing unfounded judgment on their spirituality by observing their physical conditions. This misconception, that poverty is a judgment of God as a result of broken relationship with God, strips compassion and denies the poor God's love and mercy.
2. Fractured Community
I've visited many fishing villages in South India to find one consistent reality. Among a predominantly Hindu village there will be perhaps 100 Muslims and one mosque, and there will be 40 Christians and five churches. These churches will be from among the various denominations of the region and will have very little tolerance for one another.
While Christianity is fractured, the Muslims, who are famous for brotherhood, take the appealing edge. The poor need community. They have nothing but each other. They find strength in numbers. How can the Church expect the poor to join her, if she can't offer them the one thing that they know they need?
These first issues, isolation and fractured community, both communicate themselves in terms of a broken relationship between the poor and the Church. Until this relationship is healed and we initiate reconciliation between God and man, there can be no progress.
3. Selfishness
In too many instances, the Church has been tight-fisted and stingy. It is so tempting to simply make more and give less. Mother Teresa said, “If the poor die of hunger, it is not because God does not care for them. Rather, it is because neither you nor I are generous enough.”6
In a world where the chasm between the rich and the poor grows wider, it is imperative that the Church reach out in willingness to share the financial blessings God has graciously poured upon her. According to current United Nations Development Program figures, “The richest 20 percent of the world's population receives 82.7 percent of the total world income while the poorest 20 percent receives only 1.4 percent. Global economic growth rarely filters down.”7
In the context of a dying world, the Church must redefine her spirituality and her understanding of holiness as it relates to justice. Part of that redefining process must involve a reversal in our understanding of finances. If the Church continues to hold tightly to her material wealth, the poor will continue to go without. Selfishness only contributes to the global disparity that excludes the poor and, in part, defines as well as perpetuates poverty.
4. Paternalism
One prevalent belief that hinders effective ministry is the assumed position that the poor cannot help themselves. Oftentimes the Church develops projects and programs that impose themselves upon the poor. In defining poverty, a portion of that definition should include the aspect that explains poverty as “the inability to change circumstances,” not the inability to help oneself.
Regularly the church approaches mission as a means of assuming leadership positions over the target group or region. Unfortunately, the stereotypes of the imperialistic missionary and the culturally insensit
ive Christian worker are all too true. The Church's history in missions work has been commonly marked by insensitivity and inappropriateness.
Unless our ministry among the poor is founded in our personal humility, there can be no fruit. We must minister to the broken out of a posture of brokenness; it is the only way we will be accepted. When we realize that we have as much to learn as we have to offer, true Christ-like ministry will freely flow.
The Church must adopt a method of ministry in which she encourages those she ministers among to stand on their own feet. Otherwise, we will continue to nurture an immature and insipid following who can do nothing for themselves. By the Church's misinformed and inappropriate programs and projects, poverty is not only perpetuated, but also created.
Jaykumar Christian, development worker with World Vision India, said, “When we invest our money in the poor, we make the poor into beggars; when we invest in programs for the poor, we turn the poor into beneficiaries; when we invest our life in the poor, the poor will reap life.”
5. Forgotten Mission
“We are all called to minister to the poor,” writes Viv Grigg in the book Companion to the Poor. “Such a ministry is the logical obedience of any disciple imitating the attitudes, character, and teaching of Jesus. He commands everyone to renounce all (Luke 14:33), to give to the poor and live simply.”8
The key is not only that He focused on the poor, but that He came. In the story where Jesus healed the man possessed by the legion of demons, the account in Matthew states, “He arrived at the other side” (Mt. 8:28). Jesus got into the boat and went. The mission is that simple. It is a call to go, to make disciples, to baptize, and to teach (see Mt. 28:18-19).
Has the Church forgotten her mission? Has the Church, in her ever-present quest for ease and convenience, altered the final command of her Master? Unless the original mission of her Master is remembered, the poor will go without an example and without a servant. In such a case, there can be no Kingdom community, and there can be no holistic development. Thus, the poor will remain in need by the disobedience of the Church.
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? (Romans 10:14)
6. Partiality
The Church of the West readily confesses her love for a lost and dying world, but too often only in word. Indeed, the Church has yet to grapple with the meaning of love for a suffering world. In his book Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, Ron Sider points out, “It is crucial to note that Scripture prescribes justice rather than mere charity.”9
As a senior at Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky, I was beginning to develop a love for the poor, but the Spirit of God was continually purifying my conception of love. One evening before Christmas as I walked into the cafeteria, I saw a sign for “Toys for Tots,” a program that makes opportunities available for those in a community to give gifts to the poor and needy. I went up to the table to do my duty and buy a little boy a football for Christmas.
I asked the gentleman seated at the table for a small boy's Christmas wish list. The man informed me that all the children were taken care of; it was their parents that no one wanted to buy gifts for. I gladly accepted the wish list of a man in the community, a father of three. The only thing this man asked for was a pair of pants, size 32. A pair of pants was all that he wanted, and he couldn't afford it himself.
That evening I sat on my couch and picked up the J. Crew catalogue. I also needed a pair of pants that Christmas and was about to order myself a $44 pair of khaki chinos when I remembered the man's wish list–the poor. I thought, I can have a friend drive me to Wal-Mart so that I can find this man a $14 pair of generic pants.
That's when the Spirit convicted me. I was suddenly reminded that when I give to the poor, I am giving to Jesus (see Prov. 19:17). This man was offering me an opportunity to serve Jesus, to buy Jesus a pair of pants for Christmas. And there I was, ready to buy “Jesus” a pair of pants at Wal-Mart and then order myself a pair of pants that cost three times as much!
As soon as I realized what I was doing I was broken. I decided to buy this man the nicest pants I could afford. I opened the opportunity up to my friends and invited them to pitch in if they were willing. As I presented this request, they all responded the same, “Hey, I have a pair of pants that size that I never wear anymore. Should we give him these?”
I began to see how we give to the poor. We figure the poor don't mind what we give them, they'll take anything. So we give them our leftovers.
What if Jesus came to the door right now? What would he say? “I'm in town for a few days, do you know where I might be able to find a cheap hotel?” Immediately I would offer Jesus my own bed, insisting that he take it. He then might ask, “I'm hungry. Where might I be able to get a cheap loaf of bread or some soup?” Of course, I would sit the Master down at my own dining table and prepare a feast for Him.
That's how I would treat Jesus. How do I treat the poor? How do I look my brother in the eye and recognize the sufferings of Christ in his poverty?
The teacher of the law confronted Jesus with this very question in Luke 10:25-28. The expert asked Jesus how to obtain eternal life. Jesus tested this man and asked him what he thought the law said. The expert replied, “…'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and 'Love your neighbor as yourself'” Jesus responded, “You have answered correctly. Do this and live” (see Lk. 10:27-28). Our love for the Lord will be seen in our love for our neighbor.
Do we see the child in need, begging on the streets, and automatically want the best education, clothes, food, and housing for that child? Do we see our own children and want the best for them? Do we love the child who begs as we love ourselves and as we love our own children? How can we love the Lord and not love his children? The poor are “His people” (Isaiah 3:15), but do we treat them like that?
Until the Church learns to love her neighbor as herself, her lack of love and lack of compassion will allow her to neglect the needs of the poor.
Jesus came that the poor might receive the good news. The Church , Christ's Body, must be deliberate and intentional in bringing the good news to them. In the second Lausanne statement, the Manilla Manifesto, the section on “The Gospel and Social Responsibility” states this:
“Jesus not only proclaimed the Kingdom of God, he also demonstrated its arrival by works of mercy and power. We are called today to a similar integration of words and deeds. In a spirit of humility we are to preach and teach, minster to the sick, feed the hungry, care for the prisoners, help the disadvantaged and handicapped, and deliver the oppressed. While we acknowledge the diversity of spiritual gifts, callings and contexts, we also affirm that good news and good works are inseparable.”10
Do you remember Prabah and her poverty? Poverty that was partly caused by marginalization. Poverty that was partly caused by a lack of resources. Poverty that was partly caused by an inability to change her circumstances.
Will the Church remain isolated from Prabah? Will the Church continue to be a broken community that Prabah will want no part of? Will the Church continue to hold her resources so tightly that the very things Prabah needs for basic daily survival won't be given to her? Will the Church offer Prabah an imperialistic program with unrealistic demands and handouts only to degrade her and string her out? Will the Church ever go to Prabah? Will t
he Church love Prabah, even though this poor little girl is dirty and sleeps on a mud floor?
The Church has the answer…if only she will leave her “majestic colony” and follow the example of Christ to lift a hand that will alleviate the suffering or Prabah and others.
1For compelling commentary on this passage, see Chapter 3 in Wealth as Peril and Obligation: The New Testament on Possessions by Sondra Ely Wheeler (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1995), 39-56.
2See Deut. 14:28-29; 15:7-11; 16:11-14, 18; 24:14-15, 17-21
3See Ps. 10:14, 41:1; 68:5-6: 109:6-16; 132:15: 146:7
4See Prov. 14:31, 19:17; 21:13; 22:9; 28:5; 29:7; 31:8-9
5See Is. 1:17; 3:14-15; 11:1-5; 28:17; 58:5-10; Jer. 2:34; 5:27-28; 7:5-7: 22:3, 16; 49:11: Ezek. 16:49; Hos. 2:19; 10:12; Amos 5:7, 10-15, 24: 8:4-6: Mic. 2:1-3; 3:1-3: Hab. 1:3-4: Zech. 7:10.
6Mother Teresa, No Greater Love, eds. Beck Benenate and Joseph Durepos (Novato, CA: New World Library, 1992), 40-41.
7Frances O'Gorman, Charity and Change: From Bandaid to Beacon (Victoria, Australia: World VisionAustralia, 1992), 67.
8Viv Grigg, Companion to the Poor (Monrovia, CA: MARC Publications, 1990), 80.
9Ronald J. Sider, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger (Dallas, TX: Word Publishing, 1990), 68.
10Lausanne Committee for World Evangelism, Manilla Manifesto (Manilla, Philippines: July 1989), A4.