Transformation

I am now working with an awesome organization here that involves a few different areas and serves different needs. It is all about connecting, mediating, the Church and the city.

They work in diverse areas from connecting women from shelters to transitional housing with Church families, to mentoring kids coming out of Juvenile Hall to organizing meetings with key city and church leaders, helping the Church become aware of the actual needs in their community.

I LOVE IT. There is such a need for connectors in our society. We've got so many institutions, which serve a good purpose, but they also have become an excuse to pass on responsibility for our society.

Schools educate our children. Churches tell you all you need to know about God. Child Protective Services fix child abuse. Businesses provide services and banks steward our money. The government keeps bad people at bay. Our community is not our neighbors, it's our friends.

It would be nice if it were true, and I think we're all guilty of pretending to ourselves that it is, because if we come to the place where we're able to admit it's not true, and that we have a responsibility in this, then we're left wondering where in the world to start. That is where connectors come in.

the Church is teeming with resources and skills, but they're too often delegated to Church only (and I'm not saying it's wrong to use them here, I think Church comes before outside of Church, just like your family must be healthy before you are a leader in the Church), and so often they're not used even in the Church.

I love that the answer is not another organization, it's the organization equipping people to be the answer.