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Our response
Our connection with the church and the people in Serenje is about much more than going on trips and giving our money. We want God to transform our hearts as we fully respond to his command to ‘love our neighbour as ourselves’.
Kay Warren spoke at the Tearfund HIV Conference last year and she talked about how meeting people living with HIV and AIDS destroyed her ‘Kingdom of Me’.
We live in culture that encourages and pressurises us to have it all, but we follow a God who calls us to lay down our lives and give away all that God has given us.
Despite having seen great poverty and suffering, I’m often frustrated at how easily it can all become about me again. The other day I was reading an article on Lynne Hybel’s website (www.lynnehybels.com). She had some really practical suggestions which I found really helpful. Lynne has very kindly allowed us to include them here. I hope you find them helpful too.
Ground yourself in Scripture.
A friend once challenged me to read Isaiah 58 every day for a month. I did and it changed me. “Is this not the kind of fasting I have chosen,” asks God, “to loose the chains of injustice…to set the oppressed free…to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter….” I ground my action in scripture, because when I begin to feel overwhelmed or hopeless, I need something more authoritative than my feelings to keep me going. I need to be reminded that the fight for justice is not optional for a Christian. (Also see Micah 6:8 and Matthew 25.)
Be intentional.
Fight apathy. Discipline yourself not to forget. Turning again and again to the scriptures that call us to action helps tremendously. In addition, I scatter books about social justice, photos of people in need and pages printed from websites throughout my home and office—on desks and end tables and bulletin boards. My natural bent is toward self-centeredness and personal comfort; I have to actively fight that.
Talk with friends and get creative.
I read about a woman who hosted a Christmas party where every guest brought an elegant appetizer and a check for $35 written to a pre-selected charity. The idea caught on and started a national movement that has fostered circles of community while raising thousands of dollars for worthy causes. I know a group of home-schoolers who organized a used toy sale and raised $1300 for orphans in Zambia. A friend of mine ran a marathon to raise money for an organization that helps young girls develop discipline and character through running clubs. I keep a file of stories like this to remind myself that simple ideas can make a world of difference.
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Refuse to believe that what you have to offer doesn’t matter
Above my desk I keep this quote from former U.S. Senate Chaplain, Edward Everett Hale: “I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.”
Open your mind
Learn. Read books and websites. Check out: www.tearfund.org, www.ijm.org, www.unaids.org/en/, www.who.int/hiv, www.willowcreek.org/global
Start with a small step
If you have fifteen minutes, check out one informational website. If you have half an hour, call one friend and tell them what you learned.
Pay attention to the people, countries, causes, needs that begin to awaken your compassion. Step up your learning in that area. Begin to pray for guidance about how you should respond.
Be generous with your money, even if you don’t have much. In the developing world, a single pound accomplishes so much.
Pray for people who are suffering. I’ve written checks to help refugees from Darfur and sent letters to the President regarding this crisis, but I’ve also been challenged to pray daily—for the protection of refugees and aid workers, for tough action from international leaders, for the transformation of perpetrators of violence.
Karl Barth said,
“To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.”
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