Mission Statements

Transforming whose relationship with Christ? by Dion Oxford

I

run into numerous Christian ministries with mission statements that are quite one-sided. Please don’t get me wrong - there are many wonderful, effective ministries around doing what God has called them to do. But I wonder if we evangelicals have missed a very valuable and crucial element of what being in ministry is all about.

Some of these mission statements state things like; “We exist to share the love of Jesus Christ”. Others state “We exist to transform communities in the name of Jesus”. And others feel they simply exist to “meet human needs”. These mission statements have elements of beauty in them, but they still seem incomplete - and perhaps even a little patronizing.

For over sixteen years I have worked amongst Toronto’s homeless community. I started out with the goal of “saving” people. God has given me gifts that I felt I needed to use in order to share Jesus, meet needs, and transform communities. I have learned some valuable lessons since that arrogant start to my ministry career.

Some of the lessons I learned were that I was the one who needed to be saved, I was the one who needed my human needs met and I was the one who needed to be transformed. I found that the people I attempted ‘save’, were actually the instruments of my own salvation. It was in the context of community amongst very broken and poor people that I have heard the voice of God clearly. I discovered that I was broken and poor myself. I have learned that while God may have chosen me and used me to be the instrument of touching and changing people’s lives, most importantly he brought me here because he knew I could hear his voice best in this context. He knew that he could reach me here.

Some of the lessons I learned were that I was the one who needed to be saved, I was the one who needed my human needs met and I was the one who needed to be transformed.

I attend meetings in Christian ministry circles that strike me as condescending toward those whom many of us refer to as “our friends.” It’s amazing how many meetings I have attended in which the participants - often seasoned veterans in the caring professions - have discussed how to “fix” people. I hear comments about how long it would take for us to make someone healthy and how we care for our poor people. I’ve even heard it suggested that since people often do not appear to want our help, we should not even bother trying to help them. I hear so much “us” and “them” language.

I read articles in Christian publications and find much the same thing. I read well-known Christian leaders saying that, “…we must go into communities and transform them”. I read stuff about how we must give a “hand up and not just a hand out”. I read about how necessary it is to do ministry to the poor. I even hear that we should serve, rather than service, the poor - which is a better idea, but still not quite right.

Who are we to think we can give a hand up? In saying this, do we think that we ourselves do not need fixing up? Are people “our poor” - do we own them? Are we prideful enough to really believe that we can transform a community without ourselves being open to transformation? Can we share the love of Jesus Christ without experiencing Christ at the same time?

Can we share the love of Jesus Christ without experiencing Christ at the same time?

In Isaiah 58, we see that if we go about rebuilding walls, restoring communities and helping people in need, then and only then will our light shine and will we receive healing. After my sixteen years of working amongst the poor, it is in my own life that I can see the most visible results of God’s work. And it is those whom I first went to save and transform whom He has used effectively to save and transform me.

With this in mind, take a look at our organizational mission statements. Are they one-sided? Are they arrogant and patronizing? Is our mission to simply share Christ with others or should it include experiencing Him as well? Do we exist solely to transform communities or should our mission include an openness to the communities transforming us?

Do we exist solely to transform communities or should our mission include an openness to the communities transforming us?

My experiences have led me to the conviction that if I want to be the presence of Christ in a community, than I must learn how to experience Christ in that community. (“The word became flesh and dwelt among us”, John 1:14) I do not own Jesus. When I think I can bring him somewhere with me, even if that is a dark alley in the inner city, I need to realize that he is already there when I arrive and that I can experience him in that place.

I am a man of pride and sinfulness. I am broken. I struggle with insecurities and have a poor self-image. I frequently wish to be heard and known. I have a temper and often lack patience. I overeat and watch too much TV. I live with Multiple Sclerosis and so have often indulged in self-pity. In short, I am far from perfect.

But I know that I am healthier than I was when I started this work. I know that God has found a way to reach me. I know that I need to be only me and not pretend to be something or someone that I’m not. And I know that God will continue to use my humanness for whatever he wants to accomplish through me. And that is all I can ask for.

My purpose in writing this is to seek humility. Let us not assume that we have all the answers and that the people amongst whom we find ourselves - need us more than they do. Let us not try to share Jesus with people until we are ready to meet Jesus in people. Let us not attempt to meet human needs without acknowledging our own needs. And let us not try to transform communities until we ourselves are ready to be transformed.

Dion Oxford is the founding and current Director of The Salvation Army Gateway, a 108-bed shelter for single men who find themselves homeless, as well as a drop-in centre for men and women. The Gateway has 48 staff that help serve close to 10000 meals each month and helps an average of 200 people per year get off the street and into more appropriate housing. Dion has been working amongst Toronto’s homeless community for the past 15 years in a number of different capacities. He has travelled across Canada as a speaker and musician with a vision of informing and educating the church and the public about issues related to poverty and homelessness. He has a BRE (Bachelor of Religious Education) from Tyndale College and is currently finishing his Masters degree at Wycliffe College. Dion is a member of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada’s Roundtable on Poverty and Homelessness.

8 Comments to Mission Statements

1. Dion,

   Well said! Mission as participating in suffering and brokenness and the shared thrill of the discovery of Grace. Spot on!

   Thanks, as always, for the reminder and challenge.
Ricardo Walters on October 15th, 2006

2. Hey Dion,

   I always enjoy hearing what you have to say, and this article is no exception. Good stuff.

   I often lament the fact that a wedge has been driven between the crucified members of Christ’s body (i.e. “the poor”) and the confessing members of Christ’s body (i.e. “church-goers”). Only when those members are joined together do we have a body that deserves the name “Church.” The work that you are doing is one that reconciles the members of Christ’s body to one another and that is a work that desperately needs to be done.

   The Gateway gives us all a glimpse of what the Church should be — so it is no wonder that you have found salvation and transformation in precisely the place where the members of Christ’s body are brought together.

   Much love, grace, and peace.
dan on October 15th, 2006

3. Ricardo and Dan,
   It’s nice to see both of you fellow travellers on this site. Thanks for the kind words.
   For you readers, if you get a chance click on Dan’s name above for a very cool and insightful blog regarding journeying with those in exile.
   Dion
Dion Oxford on October 15th, 2006

4. For me this is related to the oft used cliché that sees us ‘taking Jesus’ to this community or that country. Whilst I know we know that God is omnipresent (?) we all to often fall into the trap of acting as if He this omnipresence is confined to the Church and nature. Therefore, we fail to see the presence of God in those outside the Church or in the communities we are trying to reach.

   The path God is taking me on at present is towards a deeper understanding that we need to see God in all situations. If we can do that then we will realise that God can shape us as individuals and communities through those outside the Church, just as much as God shapes them through interaction with us.
Graeme Smith on October 16th, 2006

5. Dear Dion:
   As always your sensitivity is in the pocket. By that I mean I like your
   probing questions about the nature of mission in the church and
   who we are in it .. As one of the marginalized church goers I agree
   with your assessment of patronizing mission statements ..but then I
   find myself striken with the disease of the communities I have been
   apart of ..thus like you I am prideful, sinfull and have been known to
   have pity parties over chronic illness, lack of opportunity for
   education and employment or just that I don’t always get my way!
   Keep up the probing …Check out Lament for the Rich on my website..
   this is a song I spoke to you about last spring!!

   Riches in the Lamb

   Colleen
Colleen Newell on November 9th, 2006

6. Love it! My personal opinion is that arrogance in the Church has been key in pushing so many people out or away from it. We don’t own Jesus nor “the poor” - true! Thanks.
Rochelle McAlister on November 18th, 2006

7. It is my experience too to be healed and saved by the broken community to which I belong. When I thought I was ’serving the least of these,’ Jesus showed up and healed me.

   A questions:
   How do we change our language to give dignity to ‘our neighbours?’ I find I might be caught in offensive transformational community language while not bearing arrogance in my heart.
Jonathan Evans on February 26th, 2007

8. This is a good honest question.
   I suspect we are all guilty of this very thing at varying degrees. I don’t really have a succinct answer to this as I doubt that one exists. However, I believe that spirit led conversations that come out of compassion and an honest desire to enter into loving 2-way relationships with ‘neighbours’ will transcend these concerns. (most times) That’s not to say we can use this to buck our responsibility as Christians to truly understand our neighbours; but if we are truly living in community, then by the very fact that we are part of the life of the community gives us ability and credibility to speak the language of that community in a sensitive, non-patronizing way.
   Then if we do happen to say something stupid (which is inevitable) then our reputation as being caring and compassionate will hopefully and likely trump that you screwed up and that you are better than the words that came out of your mouth. We’re all gonna blow it. But hopefully we gain respect so that people know at least what we meant to say even if we stumbled when trying to say it.
   Even writing this demonstartes how limited we are by language and how necessary it is to establish relationships that can speak much more clearly by nature of us bearing witness to Jesus the Messiah, the living God.
   All this to say we at the end of the day need to acknowledge our own shortcomings and depend on the witness of the Spirit through us and have faith that this will be enough.
   Grace and Peace,
   Dion
Dion Oxford on February 26th, 2007

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