Ragamuffin: poverty - part 2

Being holy, being human

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t our location we have the opportunity for computer training that provides instruction and experience in computer skills for the performance of job related tasks with training, education and the opportunity to take advantage of our new employment job placement program through our social services.

This is the improvement program plan we started June 2008. In the book, Being Holy, Being Human: Dealing with the Expectations of Ministry we read, “You look at the poverty and misery in your community, and you wonder if the work you do makes any difference. Why do wicked men prosper, and why are they allowed to take advantage of the weak and powerless? Isn’t God listening to our prayers? Will he never bless our efforts?” (Kesler, J. ,1988)

Our efforts in Des Plaines and the surrounding areas that we serve continue to see drainage on our resources as the need constantly rises. “Are we making an impact?”we may ask. Our goal has been to move people to the next level, yet the need increases.

Larry Richards reminds us of the warning that we find in Deuteronomy 15, “against harboring the “wicked thought” of refusing to help a poor brother is significant. Poverty in any land is the result of sin, and the “hardhearted” and “tightfisted” will face the judgment of God” (Richards, L. O. (1991; Published in electronic form by Logos Research Systems, 1996).

Of course, our motivation isn’t the fear of God’s judgment, but rather the love of God and that flowing through us.

The improvements that our corps and community could make to provide short term, support oriented counseling that is geared toward wholeness starts on two fronts simultaneously. The first front that is obvious is to provide counseling that will help those in crisis situations to find a sense of hope in the midst of their stress filled circumstances.

We can do this through the professional counseling in the counseling center at our location. We can also provide case work management through our caseworker who sees clients on a regular basis.

But there is another front and that is helping those who have resources to be generous to help those who are in need. Zuck in writing about the letter of James in addressing the rich of this world writes, “The contrast of earthly versus eternal values and the situation of his readers strongly influenced James’s approach to wealth and poverty. His readers were predominantly poor, and they had suffered greatly at the hands of rich people who had misused their wealth and power. The rich had exploited the poor Christians, used the legal system to oppress them (2:6), failed to pay the wages due to their workers, and even condemned and killed the righteous (5:4-6). The rich were living in luxury and indulgence at the expense of others who were in need (5:5). Beyond all this, the rich showed contempt for the name of Christ (2:7). In this context, James emphasized the evils of misused wealth. On the other side he viewed the poor as righteous and the special objects of God’s favor” (Zuck, R. B., 1994).

The great need in some of our churches and corps is to have active involvement of the laity/soldiers in helping the poor. There must not be a disconnect of our corps soldiery with our corps social services. For our location, it would be a joy to see our soldiers involved in corps social service ministry. One asset that we do have is that our caseworker is a soldier of the corps, but that is the full extent of corps involvement in hands on ministry through our social services. Some of the soldiery are regular givers and for this we are thankful.

The proposed improvement plan is to help those in poverty become more self sustaining financially, emotionally, spiritually. This is one of main goals: hopefully to help people with a hand up not just a hand out - with God’s help we will do this in the lives of people we serve.

Ragamuffin appears every Monday on theRubicon. Find past Ragamuffin posts and a bio of Capt. Jay Davis here.

Read Part 1 of this series on poverty.

 

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