Monday 17 October 2011

An unusual Saturday morning in the drop in

So it was Saturday morning at Northampton Jesus Centre and business as usual... or was it.. well not exactly... yes the JC was open, that was usual but sat in the drop in on my arrival was a small group of young men and a young woman all considerably under the age of 30. They were in good spirits, apologetic that a few of the crew were still asleep & so there were just enough of them to open up. "Tim (not his real name) is doing a ring round to get some more people out of bed". I looked over at Tim & thought "If Tim rang me & told me he was at the Jesus Centre & needed me to come in I'D get out of bed!"
(Sure enough we got two more additions less than an hour later!)
So what was so unusual about all of this? Once a quarter we invite our young people to open the Jesus Centre. It's the only time the Centre is virtually fully 'staffed' by young people under 30.
Everything was fine up until right near the end. Tim was signing people in at the window & giving out sandwiches the rest of the guys were chatting to people, playing scrabble & organising showers and clean clothes for those who need them.. there was a good atmosphere. People seemed to respond positively to having different faces around. Tim is a new volunteer but he's already got to know all the regulars and made friends.
Just as we were getting ready to close, Fred (not his real name) came in. He's a regular, in his early 50's, a drinker, not always in the best of moods or easy to please. However, on this occassion he seemed very quiet & within minutes collapsed in a seizure. Things got a bit hectic for a few minutes... we called the paramedics... cleared the drop in and made sure Fred was still conscious.
Fred had had 3 small seizures by the time the paramedics arrived. They tried to pursuade him to go into hospital, concerned that if he had another one he might bang his head on the pavement. Tim and his friend tried to talk him into going with the paramedics. But Fred was having none of it. Then suddenly Tim changed tack & said "Why don't you come back to our place* Fred.. you can get something to eat and a sleep & as soon as you feel well enough we can drop you back in town" (*Tim & his mates live in a large farm house with other Christians in intentional community). Fred had a half hearted banter for a few minutes with Tim & the paramedics & tried to get up & leave but in the end he gave in and agreed to go with Tim & his friends for a few hours.
One of the paramedics was amazed "you guys are fantastic" she exclaimed to Tim & his friends.
Nothing unusual for us.. it's part of what we do as members of New Creation Christian community http://www.newcreation.org.uk/ as an extention of our Jesus Centre project http://www.jesuscentre.org.uk/.
But there was one more thing that was unusual about that Saturday morning shift that challenged me far more than the guys taking Fred home for a few hours. It was watching people responding to Tim signing them in & giving them sandwiches.
Tim lost his sight suddenly about 2 months ago. The last time I'd worked a Saturday morning shift with him he'd been sighted. The next time he'd come in he'd lost the sight in one eye. Now that he'd begun to adjust to he couldn't wait to come in to help out in the drop in. Having experienced homelessness himself he can relate to guys like Fred. But in the midst of a tragic situation he's found hope & determination to keep living... I wish he could have seen the look on Fred's face when he invited him home....

Friday 14 October 2011

How to motivate participation in community activities

more sound bits from Dave Andrews www.daveandrews.com.au

1. Communicate your vision- be passionate & vulnerable. Share your hopes, fears, dreams & frustrations
* Get people to share about the kind of community they'd like to live in (or Jesus Centre they'd like to be part of maybe?)
Focus on the vision & the good things NOT on the problems. Focus people on the positive reasons for engaging with change.

2. Communicate the vision through stories
"Stories are inclusive.. stories are inspirational.. they put flesh on the bones of our airy fairy ideas"
" ...every story they hear encourages people to believe that they too might be able to make the dream come true!"

3. Demonstrate the vision in your own life
"Talk is cheap. Actions speak louder than words"

4. Invite others to participate with you
"We can cultivate the vision in the lives of others by articulating, communicating and demonstrating  the vision of community we have in our lives and inviting others to participate in the community we are developing with us"

5. Celebrate the realisation of our dream
"If we are to keep going, all of us need to celebrate every single breath we take and every single step we make.. and encourage those around us to do the same"

Motivating your church to get involved with their local community

Here are some sound bits from an event I went to yesterday called "Be the Change" http://www.communitymission.org.uk/ . Reflections & experiences from Dave Andrews a Christian who lives in intentional Christian Community in Australia and is passionate about loving people in his local community & getting other people involved http://www.daveandrews.com.au/

"Lord grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change.
The courage to change the one I can
And the wisdom to know that person is me"

1. Change your idea of church
"The church was never intended to be those who were called out of the community but those who were IN it but not OF it"

2. Change your image of church
"The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked through the dough" (Matt13:3)
"Note the yeast only does it's work when it is mixed into the flour to such a dgree that you cannot tell the difference between the yeast and the flour... it is only then that it makes a difference"

3. Change your model of church
" Don't look for something great to do for God... Paul says those who would follow the example of Christ need to empty ourselves of our ambitions to do big things, so we can respond to the call to do little things with a lot of love over the long haul"

"Christ moved in amongst us in the neighbourhood, as one of us. He did not try to be different. He lived the same life and experienced the same hassles as everyone else. He emptied Himself... Christ made himself available to the people as their servant... When it came to the crunch Christ did not cut & run. He was prepared to pay the price for His commitment to people- in blood, sweat & tears"

Other sound bites:
For those who are afraid of anything that isn't tried or tested or might be seen as controversial
* It wasn't the greatest start to Jesus' ministry to turn water in to wine (which theologically these days would be a bit controversial for some denominations) or simply because His mother insisted that He did it!

Here's a great one for those of us that feel we never get anything done because we are constantly interrupted by other people making demands on us:
"Jesus' whole ministry, if you read the Gospels, was to be constantly interrupted by people. Sometimes He was even interrupted by other people whilst being interrupted by the first lot of people"

Or for us achievement focused, task orientated types
"Always do with others what you could do far more effectively and efficiently on your own"- OUCH!

Friday 7 October 2011

Visitors Vs Volunteers or....?

This morning we've had to close our drop in. It's never an easy decision to make and the debate always boils down to visitors vs volunteers which feels uncomfortably polarised. At least this morning out of a minimum team of 3 we have 1 volunteer so we've been able to offer sandwiches, giro collection and booking laundry in.
When staff and Team leaders are showing signs of stress & 'compassion fatigue' and there's a shortage of willing & able volunteers do you open at any cost because otherwise vulnerable visitors wont have access to services like showers & a hot drink what should you do?
The answer lies somewhere within our mission statement "Expressing the love of Jesus daily in worship,friendship and help for every kind of person"
It starts with our own relationship with Jesus, our corporate worship together and out of that comes the life to offer friendship and help for all. It doesn't say that we promise to provide a drop in facility 6 days a week. It says we promise to express the 'love of Jesus' to everyone daily. Even, Jesus didn't feed the 5,000 8 hrs a day 6 days a week. He knew when He, and the disciples needed time out away from the demands.
So the decision to open or close is generally made at our brotherhood time together between 2 or 3 of the senior staff team. If there's no sense that the team, however big or small is connected with the Holy Sprit life or has any awareness of God's love to offer people it is far better to close. If we think we can run things for very long without the Holy Spirit we're on dangerous ground. We will end up a bunch of stressed out 'do gooders' and whilst people may receive material help, they wont receive anything of real value which is any different from anything they'd get for a slightly longer walk to the soup kitchen. 
If we give in constantly to the pressure to simply meet the demands by being available we deny those who could, the opportunity to take responsibility for their lives and find a different solution.
After 20 years working with volunerable people I learned fairly early on we don't matter nearly as much to most of them as we like to think we do and for those in genuine crisis there is always the grace and wisdom to find a solution.
So decisions to close should never be easy but they should not leave us feeling guilt ridden. Instead they should take us back to the source of Life, who has promised to supply all our needs, if He is truly central to all that we do then both visitors and volunteers will know His blessing and provision. Sometimes He just has to get our attention.