a different story

Over the past month, I have worked with a handful of individuals who are seeking to understand the mission and vision of Link and its initiatives.  I am finding that people have a common story in their mind that needs to be challenged. 

We white American Christians have developed a storyline that lives deep in us regarding mission and community transformation.  It's a story that usually reads something like "Resourced church starts program to help poor children get out of poverty."  That is not our story.  Certainly, Link’s goals include working to help people overcome material poverty, but just as important is the goal for people like me to overcome spiritual and relational poverty due to my neglect of justice and the sin effects of segregation.  

Link is a story of building a community together where all people and gifts are valued, where we each give and we each receive so that we might all experience more of the fullness of life that Jesus promises.  I am finding that regardless of our race or class, we have all been damaged by racism and classism, and we need healing. 

I think the hardest page for folks to turn in this uncommon story is the pressing need for people like me to engage with the marginalized and the poor not because of what we have to offer them, but because of what they have to offer us for our own development.  

The bottom line of Link is relationship.  Jesus the Reconciler offers to make us right with God and with one another. If we can begin to live in the power of Christ as neighbors and friends across lines of separation, then I believe our worldly power structures could begin to reorder so that our caring and sharing together might just produce a model that looks like reconciliation and justice….that looks like Jesus.