Editor’s Note: This week, we’ve invited one of our newest staff members, Elijah Tanner, Director of Strategic Partners, to reflect on some ways his on-the-job learning with us is helping him see how God is at work in our lives and the ways we serve others.

When I came to work at Chalmers in July, I jumped into the orientation plan that included a hefty reading list and participating in the Chalmers Ambassador certification training.

As I’ve been digging into these core ideas and practices of Chalmers, it’s given me the chance to reflect on my past experiences ministering to students at Baylor University as a resident chaplain, and I’m struck by the similarity between the struggles my students struggles shared with me and the organizational challenges identified in books like Becoming Whole and When Helping Hurts.

Both have emphasized to me the importance of knowing the whole story of Scripture as an antidote to cultural pressures. This learning journey has reinforced for me what so many of our partners tell us—that a biblical framework for understanding poverty and the brokenness we all experience in a fallen world speaks not just to poverty alleviation ministry, but to all of life.

The Whole Story

The gospel is not just a story, but the story. It is the full story of history from beginning to end. Jesus shows us how finding ourselves in this story enables us to face and overcome the struggles we encounter in the world. Because Jesus walked in God’s plan, He did not succumb to fear even of death (Phil. 2:5-11), and because He knew God’s plan for humanity, He did not succumb to the shortcuts Satan presented to Him in the desert (Matt 4:1-11). Holding individuals’ stories in mind is even an important piece of the way Jesus ministered to those he encountered. He recounts the Samaritan woman’s story to her to reveal her need for redemption (John 4:1-26), He recounts Nathanael’s righteousness before calling him to be a disciple (John 1:45-49), and more.

When I was serving as a chaplain, a large part of my work was also to simply remind people of this bigger story and how it connected with their stories. At times, that just meant reminders that one test score won’t ruin a college career, but at other times it meant reminding them to look up and be captivated by the larger narrative of scripture. I vividly recall late nights sitting with students facing serious consequences for failures or sins. The following exchange took place one night between me and a student who had been accused of cheating on a project:

Student: “I don’t know why this is happening to me, or what I’m supposed to do. If I can’t defend myself to the student conduct committee I’ll fail the class, and if I fail the class I have to drop out…It’ll be over. I’ll have nothing.”

Me: “What do you mean ‘you’ll have nothing?’”

Student: “I felt called to be here. I can’t work for an engineering firm if I don’t have a degree. If I don’t graduate, the whole plan falls apart. My future is ruined.”

In numerous similar conversations, students struggled to see how changes to their expectations could be good. They were hyper-focused on the issue in front of them and their fears began to bleed over into their whole life and identity. But of course, changes to our plans are always more certain than the plans themselves. The problem was not change, but a lack of awareness of a larger narrative.

This is not an isolated experience., Authors from Charles Taylor to N.T. Wright have pointed out that a disjointed and spiritually fragmented feeling is a defining characteristic of our age. The result of our secular, consumerist society is a constant sense of this disconnectedness from any larger narrative. In my experience, the younger generation is painfully aware of this as a pressure to never mess up. The most valuable thing I could provide in moments like those above was a reminder that our stories don’t end after one failure. God’s plan for the world’s redemption continues, and it continues to involve us.

How We Respond

The student referenced above did have to drop out, but God eventually provided a way back to Baylor and a path to pursue a new career. This student’s story is a stark reminder that when we forget the bigger story we are a part of, we can quickly fixate on our immediate problems, which in turn causes us to think our whole life’s story depends on the result.

Surprisingly, our ministries can often do the same thing. When churches or organizations fixate only on the most apparent problems they see around them, they too can define people by those problems. All too often, organizations do the same thing my students (and I) did, and treat the people they serve as if the one problem right in front of them is that person’s whole story and neglect the myriad other ways God might have gifted them.

One facet of our work at Chalmers is to remind the church and its ministries of the bigger story that we inhabit, the story that keeps us rooted and connected to God, creation, others, and to ourselves. God’s redemption story shows us how Christ is healing each of these relationships. As individuals and as organizations, we are called to stay rooted in this story and avoid reductionist solutions to problems.

As we’ve often shared, all of us are trapped in poverty of one sort or another, and none of us is truly whole unless we situate ourselves in the grand story of God’s creation and redemption of all things in Christ (Col. 1:20). True healing involves seeing more than just our current problems. It requires us to see those we’re serving and those serving alike as carrying a story with them that God intends to use in His grand narrative.

In light of this bigger story, we should seek out and foster the gifts of the Spirit in each person we encounter. If we don’t, we fall short of applying the full gospel. When Jesus states in Matthew 25:35-40 that serving the “least of these” is the same as serving Him, he highlights that neglecting His presence among those we serve is a missed opportunity to experience God’s gift to the church through that person. It is the same as overlooking Jesus Himself.

A few simple questions can provide a great starting point for surrendering our expectations to God in our ministry models:

• What are my expectations here?
• What is the purpose of my involvement here or my connection to this person?
• Am I seeing everyone as the image of God they are meant to be, or as something I’ve defined them as?
• Do all our ministry stakeholders feel they can bring their whole selves to our work.

If God is always working to redeem all things and bring wholeness to our work, we need to be always considering what resources or gifts we may have overlooked in ourselves and those we serve.