I want to say my experience this
past week at doing “local missions” was exactly what I expected. But honestly,
what I experienced was not what I imagined in the least bit. I need to start this post off by saying; I was
completely oblivious to what was 5 minutes from my house. I knew there was
poverty in my county. I knew that people were in bad circumstances. But, I had
no idea that there were whole communities like the one we served. I had the
privilege of leading a team of 20 youth to serve the kids of the Washington
Square HOC community. HOC stands
for “Housing Opportunity Commission.” After a little research, there are 26
different HOC communities throughout Montgomery County.
So for one week, we had the
privilege of serving this one HOC site.
The atmosphere felt so similar to an atmosphere I’ve experienced before.
It felt exactly like the orphanage I’ve been privileged to serve on multiple
occasions in Mexico. Most of these kids are just as neglected as the orphans in
Mexico and need just as much love poured out on them. Yet, as I’ve thought
about it for the past few days, most of these kids are in even greater need
then the Orphans in Mexico.
While these kids have a house to
live in, they are often without food, often surrounded by parents that are either
drug addicts, alcoholics, or abusive, and they are not shown love at all. What’s different in the orphanage in
Mexico is the fact that a staff that loves the Lord surround the orphans on a
daily basis. Most of these kids in these HOC communities have never experienced
the love of Jesus.
So for a whole week, we had the
privilege of pouring out the love of Jesus on 38 kids at Washington Square. We
hung out with them for hours each day, playing kickball, four square,
basketball, football, going on nature hikes, going to see a concert. And then
each afternoon we headed over to the park to do “joy camp.” Because a storm
destroyed the park that the Emory Grove HOC community would typically use, the
team of youth would bring their 25 kids over to our park and we would do camp
together.
Joy Camp consisted of crafts,
games, skits, teaching a lesson and memorizing Hebrews 12:1-2 together. For two
hours each afternoon for five straight days, we taught around 60-65 kids about
Jesus. We taught them how we are sinful and need a Savior and that Jesus has
authority over everything and therefore can help us in any situation of life.
One of the highlights for me was having the kids memorize Hebrews 12:1-2
together with hand motions. We practiced it over and over again, making sure we
had it down.
On Friday night, we threw a cookout
for the community. The kids brought a lot of their parents and other people
showed up for hot dogs and some games. An awesome moment happened when the kids
performed/shared the verse for all the people who came that night. They not
only memorized the verse, but they shared the gospel with a hundred or so
people that came to the cookout that evening.
Now, while one week of constant
camp is an awesome experience for those kids. I have a concern that we would
hurt them more then help them if we were not to follow up with ongoing
ministry. I’m excited about leading a team over there each week for the rest of
this year to show them Jesus’ love, but I think there is even more that we can
do. We have 26 communities like these in Montgomery County, with multiple other
poor communities that aren’t even classified as HOC. God calls us to serve the
poor and bless them. We have been blessed immensely, shouldn’t we be seeking to
serve those in need around us? A few scriptures that came to my mind are below:
Matthew 19:21, “Jesus said to him,
‘If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and
you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’” (Mark 10:21 and Luke
18:22 say the same thing)
Matthew 16:25, “For whoever would
save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find
it.”
James 1:27, “Religion that is pure
and undefiled before God, the Father, is this; to visit orphans and widows in
their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”
These
children and these communities need Jesus love poured out on them. They need
grandparents, men, women, boys and girls that have experienced the grace of God
to come and bless them. It could be in small ways such as hanging out with them
once a week, or in bigger ways like spending Christmas morning with them. I
don’t know, God will make it clear in which ways we can continue to bless and
show the love of Jesus to them. But, I think we all need to re-evaluate the way
we are living our lives day to day. We need to seek God and see if He is
calling us to something more. He not only is calling you as his son and
daughter, he is commanding you as his son and daughter to go and make
disciples.
There is something terribly wrong with the picture of us
living five minutes from these communities in the comfort of our homes and 3
cooked meals a day and not doing anything about helping those in need.
I want to end this with the familiar verses of Philippians 2.
I think it will serve as a good reminder that we are followin in Jesus’
footsteps. It’s his example and it’s his death that even enables us to serve
those in need.
Philippians 2:4-8, “Let each of you
look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have
this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in
the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but
made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness
of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient
to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
Let us stop living for ourselves
and look for ways to be servants and serve those in need. Starting with our
communities and then overflowing into the world. For Jesus last command to us
was “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.”
Let’s continue to seek hard after the Lord and ask Him what
He wants us to do to spread his kingdom where we live.
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