Analyzing

We recently returned from a trip to the Grand Canyon with our team-mates the Neufelds. The purpose of the trip was 3 fold. 1) Take a bit of a breather 2) Get reacquainted with some good friends from Paraguay (US missionaries who we served with there), 3) purchase some items in order to remodel the current youth room so that it will double as a Youth Drop In Centre.

It was great to get away and just relax for a week or so. Life and ministry here can get quite hectic with the many needs that exist. There are highs higher than we could have imagined - emotionally, spiritually - but then come the lows as well. All in all, we wouldn't trade our life and ministry here for anything. God is using this ministry and those that are involved with it and we are privileged to be a part of it!

One thing that has become part of my life that tends to drive me crazy is analyzing. Anyone who knows me knows that is the case. Sheri generally analyzes enough for both of us! However I have found myself analyzing many ministry decisions that we make. For example take the Youth Room I mentioned above. The vision is to make a nicer room and put some things in it that will hopefully attract the teenagers from the area around the church (the ones who respond tend to be those of the lower economic class) and get our Church Youth motivated to reach out to them, spend time with them and lead them to Christ. This all sounds well and fine but as I was purchasing some of the items we are furnishing the youth room with, I found myself wondering if I had gone off track. This ministry shouldn't be about "things" I told myself. Do we really need "nice stuff" in order to get the unsaved in the church? Can't the Holy Spirit bring them in without the "stuff" I wondered? Of course the answer is a resounding “no he doesn’t need the stuff to do His work”! Yet as long as our hearts are in the right spot concerning the “stuff” isn’t that what is most important? Our focus needs to be on Him, not on the stuff. However what are we saying to the kids who come from a lower economic reality? Might they think that church is for richer people who have nice things? That is a risk I suppose even though our hearts are to bless them and spend time with them in hopes of leading them to the Saviour.

These are the internal battles I have almost on a daily basis.

Then there is another reality that we face weekly if not more frequently. We have gotten to know some families from the same poor area close to the church. It has been exciting to get to know them a bit and plant seeds in their lives and even see some of those seeds begin to grow. We are realizing at the same time that these people live in another sub-culture of their own, one that we know almost nothing about. It is hard enough to understand a culture that isn’t our own (Mexican culture in this case) but then add to it their sub-culture and it can be overwhelming. These people have some resources and can be industrious if they need to be. At the same time they know how to ask and are used to receiving as well.
I have done considerable reading and research on “How to Help Without Hurting” this lower economic class of people and let me tell you, IT IS COMPLEX AND DIFFICULT! Just today I received a call from one family in that area asking me to come to the hospital and if I would pay for medication for one of their daughters who just had a baby. The word was that it was serious and both mom and baby were in danger of dying. I called our friend Marcella and Sheri as well, (since they both have had more contact with the family than I have had) and off they went. Even now they are at the hospital ready to pay for medicine (even though now we find out it isn’t as urgent as first thought – something I suspected from the beginning). Earlier in the day as they were waiting at the hospital with the family, the request was made for lunch. So off Sheri went to buy chicken, the whole time wondering how necessary it was. Yes they hadn’t eaten yet but that is nothing new for them. Often they go without meals because there is little to no money around. In this families case part of the reason is because the money is spent on illegal drugs to feed their habits.
So you begin to ask yourself, “Am I enabling them to continue in their drug habit even though I am simply trying to help them and show Christ’s mercy to them by buying some chicken”? I told Sheri to be generous in so far as meeting the urgent needs. The extras really need to be looked after by the family. They do have some resources and can be industrious if need be but if we just hand over what they are asking for, then we rob them of their ability to be industrious. The question is where is the line between helping them help themselves in healthy ways and maybe just being cheap? I really don’t think we are cheap and I don’t want others to view us that way either so sometimes I might give more than I really should and by extension, do something for someone that they really could have done for themselves inadvertently rob them of dignity.

Do you see what I mean when I say that helping the materially poor can be complex and difficult? Just like many requests are made of us, let us make one plea to you now. PLEASE PRAY FOR US! We need Christ’s wisdom!

At the end of the day we are blessed to be here as we strive to be the hands and feet of Jesus, and we are blessed to have you on our team! Thanks for praying!

Lane and Sheri