Share what you have

According to the Grimsby Telegraph, the average family in the UK will spend around £700 on Christmas in spite of the current economic recession, meanwhile 2/3rds of the world wont have enough to eat. How should we respond as Christians?
Jesus' teaching was plain: share what you have; whether it was the widow's mite, or the boy's 5 loaves and 2 fish. If everyone followed this simple principle no one would need to go hungry this Christmas.
At this time of year it's not just  food that homeless or rootless people need. Here at the Jesus Centre we want to share what God has given us with those who come to us. Things like His love, joy, peace, forgiveness, a sense of belonging to a family, of being valued for who you are rather than what you have. More people attempt suicide during Christmas week than any other time of year. That's why we try and stay open over the holiday period when most of the agencies close. The fact that our visitors know that our volunteers aren't paid to care about them and have given up their time is often, the greatest gift we can give to them.

Whatever your doing over the holiday period please take the time to share what you have with those who might need it, even if it's just your time and a listening ear.

An alternative nativity story

Scenario 1- Once upon a time there was a drop in in Northampton... On Saturday 24th December a group of people who were hungry, cold with nowhere to go turned up to see if there was any room for them to come in... but they found the doors shut and locked and a sign saying that due to insufficient volunteers the Centre was closed until Wednesday 28th December. So they went away still hungry, cold and with nowhere to go.

Scenario 2- Once upon a time there was a drop in in Northampton... On Saturday 24th a group of people who were hungry, cold and with nowhere to go turned up to see if there was any room for them to come in...fortunately a group of volunteers had opened the Centre & they were welcomed in, offered showers, hot drinks, sandwiches and cake, and found people who were ready to listen to them in a warm, friendly atmosphere.

More people commit suicide in the week between Christmas and New Year than at any other time of year. 

Help us to help them

If you want to be part of a team of volunteer cover over the holiday period get in touch!

The bird with a broken wing, called Lisa

Every so often you have an encounter with a visitor to the Jesus Centre which is incredibly humbling and reminds you of why (on a good day) it is such a privelege to work here. Lisa (not her real name), was one such visitor. In her late 20's, like a little sparrow with a damaged wing, she came to the drop in window, fortunately on an afternoon when it was a Your Space session, our women only drop in, and for her, fortunately it was empty. For me I was feeling like I was wasting my time hanging around waiting to see if any of the regulars would turn up. Then suddenly I spotted her at the window. She was reluctant to come in, but when I offered her the option to talk privately & explained there was no one else around she agreed. I knew I had to be very patient and very gentle (neither of which are my particulr strong points!) if I was going to get her to unfold her damaged soul and tell me the reason she'd come. 

She was desperate, she needed help, she'd tried to commit suicide a few weeks earlier; she'd been diagnosed with a personality disorder and she had come today because she was all alone and she hopeless & so she'd decided she needed to get out of the house & be amongst people before she tried to overdose again. Her voice was quiet and racked with pain and I could sense her hopelessness. To her I would have appeared cool, calm & in control. On the inside I was thinking ' I need to phone the emergency mental health team, this woman's serious and I feel out of my depth right now to know what to say or do...' but I also managed to send up a desperate prayer, "God please help me to be gentle & give me the right words to say". I handed the situation over to God and relaxed.

She unfolded her damaged soul & let me have an insight into what was causing her pain....I knew in my spirit that God had brought her here today, because he wanted her to know that He loved her, cared about her, knew all about it & wanted to begin the process of healing....  so I decided to start by telling her that. Then I asked her if she believed in God & if she'd like to write him a letter & tell Him how she was feeling. As she wrote it, I prayed inside that God would help me to know what to say & do next. What she wrote was beautiful and honest and deeply humbling. It started simply with a cry from deep with her, "God please help me". It apologised for not living a good life, described the pain she was feeling, the abuse she had suffered and asked God for His help. As I read it out I hoped she felt what I sensed, which was God coming down and wrapping His arms around her and reassuring her that He had heard her. It felt an incredibly privelege to have been let into her life. Me a total stranger, from a stable Christian upbringing, who knew nothing of the pain she shared. I scambled around in my soul for a time when I'd felt desperate and shared on my experience of my Father's sudden death in my late teens and my fall out with God about it and my own desperate prayer, which had been much more "God I'm angry, I don't understand & you had better come up with an explanation for this because right now I'm not impressed!". 
I wasn't about to promise her a quick fix solution, 'pray this prayer, take this pill & it will all be ok.' For Lisa and many others I meet, God isn't some going to wave a magic wand & take away what happened, He may not even take away the memories. What happened, happened, it was wrong and it had caused pain and damage, mentally and emotionally to such an extent that Lisa had developed a personality disorder to separate the adult from her abused child. None of that was going to change over night, but I shared that I believed that God could heal the memories and the scars it had left could heal and He could ease the pain that they caused. Inside I prayed that God would turn up & at least do that for her. She looked more relaxed and said she felt more at peace. Having assured me that she no longer felt suicidal I let her fly off with an invitation to return any time she needed to talk or pray again. I've not seen her again. I pray to God that she's still alive and ok somewhere and that maybe I'll see her again.


After, she'd gone, I sat for a few moments thanked God for her and the opportunity He'd given me. So often in the drop in you can feel overwhelmed by the need, demands and emotional suffering of people. But that afternoon I was aware that God had come down to Earth and got involved in our painful, rotten world. He is willing and wanting to get His hands dirty. Are you?

Finding a 'YOU' shaped hole

One of our fundraising strap lines is "Help us to help them to start again"... many times that is as true for the people who come offering to volunteer as it is for our visitors. As Volunteer co-ordinator I get to meet a wide range of people, with various challenging circumstances and my challenge is to find a volunteer gap that will fit them. Most other places wouldn't thing it was worth the amount of support you have to put in to make this kind of volunteering work. But here at the Jesus Centre we must ensure we do not become the 'Have's' serving 'the have nots'. It can do wonders for someone's self esteem to be given a chance to help out. And let's face it Jesus didn't hire an accountant to run his common purse! 
  The woman with anxiety & depression who's been a victim of domestic violence but is also experienced in cafe serving. The Step Up visitor who someone takes the time to get to know & discovers they have catering qualifications. The young man with Aspbergers' who proves a real assett on reception. What you have to look for is the 'diamond in the rough'. Equally you can meet people who on the outside appear totally together ' who then tell you about their bi-polar disorder, depression, or battles with alcohol.
Many of the people I've interviewed over recent months have lost hope or confidence that they will ever work again...
Here at the Jesus Centre we give them an opportunity to take their place and find their value in making their contribution. It's not without it's challenges. but as our mission statement states we are here to "share the love of Jesus with every kind of person with support, friendship and help for all" and I believe that should include our volunteers.

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....

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!