Doing All Things Well This Year
A version of this post appeared in December 2020.
The new year is upon us. Though it can be rather an arbitrary transition—the turning from December 31 to January 1 leaves us in the same season, with little visibly changing about the world from one day to the next—most of us mark a new year with a new plan or set of goals.
At the Chalmers Center, we always notice an uptick in people reaching out to us for training and resources around the beginning of the year. Perhaps you and your church or ministry are thinking of how to improve your work and witness in the coming year. You might want to do more and do better, or you might want to do less and be more intentional in what you pursue.
Often, people start their planning process by asking us “What should I do to serve people in material poverty in my community?” They are sometimes perplexed when we respond with invitations to an online training to help them develop relationships across socioeconomic lines or recommend a book about the shortcomings of the American dream or a Bible study about the kingdom of God.
“No, you don’t understand. I just want some practical tips to help people.” The reality is that over the many years we have been helping churches, nonprofits, and individuals to walk alongside people in material poverty, we have learned two key things:
- Good intentions are not enough. It is possible to do grave harm by applying the wrong solutions with all the best intentions. To enable you to truly help without hurting, our books and resources incorporate research and best practices from leading experts to ensure that you are equipped to pursue the good work of long-term, relational, asset-based, participatory development.
- Why you do things and who you are as a person, church, or ministry matter more than any particular tip. This is because the right approaches to poverty alleviation are not quick fixes, but often decades-long processes that you can’t control. Being formed into people who can walk the long road of mutual transformation by the power of Christ is key.
Where to Start?
If you haven’t yet done the heart work of spiritual formation, seeking God through His word and prayer, start there. As we often point out in our books, trainings, and blog posts, the Lord has definite ideas about caring for the vulnerable and those in poverty. We should not presume to know better than the One who made us and those we are seeking to help how human beings are designed to flourish. We can’t reinvent God’s story of change, but we can reimagine our ministry models in light of it. Take time to reflect on what you have been doing, and ask God for wisdom to see areas for growth.
Like we mentioned above, Chalmers has many resources designed specifically to help with this discipleship process (see the list at the bottom of this page for recommendations). Discipleship is following Jesus so that you can become the type of person who does the things that Jesus does. As Eugene Peterson writes: “A disciple is a learner, but not in the academic setting of a schoolroom, rather at the work site of a craftsman. We do not acquire information about God but skills in faith.”1 If we want to obey Him, we need to understand how we are being made like Him by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Articulate a Vision and Mission for Poverty Alleviation
It’s not uncommon these days for churches to have a vision statement, something like “To know Christ and to make Him known,” that captures the overarching purpose of the church. If you are working in or through a local church, maybe you could consider adopting a clear vision and mission for how your specific ministry team will address poverty in ways rooted in God’s mission. This could be a statement that describes God’s heart for the vulnerable and sets the tone for your church’s poverty alleviation ministries (benevolence, community development, missions in low-income contexts, etc.).
If you are part of a nonprofit organization or parachurch ministry, you probably already have vision, mission, and values statements governing your work. In this case, reflect on those in light of what you are learning about the nature of poverty and the nature of human beings. Do these statements line up with the way God has designed people? If not, you might want to consider how these statements were written in the first place, and then consider what it might take to shift them. Are these statements reflective of the way that you do ministry, or are they simply gathering dust?
Think of this as the goal you’re aiming at which you know will not be attained fully until Jesus returns, but that shapes the approach to ministry you take now. In our book Becoming Whole, for example, we suggest that the goal of a biblical story of change is: “People experience human flourishing when they serve as priest-rulers, using their mind, affections, will, and body to enjoy loving relationships with God, self, others, and the rest of creation.” We have to guard against setting goals that assume false stories of change, that seek for people to become “self-sufficient” or “middle-class”, even if we would never say it in those words. The goal of a healthy poverty alleviation ministry has to be compatible with the body-mind-will-affections-relational creature that God has made human beings to be.
Once you have a vision firmly in mind, then craft a mission statement to describe at a high level how you plan to live into that—keep it simple, a sentence you can use to answer the question, “What is your church doing to serve your community?” or “How does your church approach serving the poor?”
You might also want to go a little deeper and list out some specific ways you will work to achieve the goal. This statement isn’t an incredibly detailed plan that includes everything you hope to do through your ministry. Rather, it should lay out some ground rules for the type of work you are pursuing and the way in which you pursue it. Remember that your goal is never to “fix people”—that’s the work of our triune God—but to pursue mutual transformation. Focus on big picture principles here, like recognizing the image of God in everyone, treating people like part of the family of your church, and working with rather than for people.
Share The Word
Of course, vision, mission, and values statements are meaningless if they aren’t communicated clearly and actually applied to the work you’re doing. Think about how to involve your whole church in this work. Real, long-term care for the materially poor isn’t sustainable if it’s only the responsibility of a handful of church staff, officers, or volunteers. This good work requires a strong, biblical vision and commitment among everyone in your church—it needs to be communicated by your pastor, practiced by your ministry teams, and prayed for and served by the rest of the congregation. Talk about this work in the worship service, Sunday school, and small groups, let people know God’s heart and your church’s calling.
Build for Transformation
Once these pieces are in place, the journey isn’t over but only just beginning. There is always more to be learned, more to be done, more to be changed and modified as you go along. That’s where many of the tools and resources the Chalmers Center has created over the years come into play to help you and your church or ministry learn and grow as you go.
We’d be honored to have you join in one of our upcoming trainings to help you work in sustainable, effective ways. Our books are always a great place to begin as well, and maybe just sharing one of our blog posts or short videos with your team can spark a conversation about what the Lord might be leading you to in this season.
Our prayer for you in 2025 is that you and your church can begin to think differently about poverty and then do something about it, by God’s grace, according to His design, and to His glory.
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