A Personal Pilgrimage
A Personal Pilgrimage
A Personal Pilgrimage
A Personal Pilgrimage
A Personal Pilgrimage
Holistic Ministry: What does this
mean?
• “So God created man in his own image, in the
image of God he created him; male and
female he created them. . . . God saw all that
he had made, and it was very good. And there
was evening , and there was morning—the
sixth day” (Genesis 1:27, 31).
• The starting point is a proper understanding of
the nature of humankind.
Holistic Ministry
• Seeing things as an integrated whole.
• Recognizes the interrelationship between all
aspects of an entity, problem, or topic.
• The Hebrew (Biblical) worldview was “holistic”
Concept of Shalom
• Later worldviews would tend to split the world
and humans into two: Body and Soul
God Cares for Us in Every Way
• Jesus when through all the towns and villages,
teaching in their synagogues, preaching the
good news of the kingdom and healing every
disease and sickness. When he saw the
crowds, he had compassion on them because
they were harassed and helpless, like sheep
without a shepherd (Matthew 9:35-36)
• He cares for their physical and their spiritual
needs.
God Cares for Us in Every Way
• Consider the birds of the air. . . . Consider the
lilies of the field. . . . They do not labor or
spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in
all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
If that is how God clothes the grass of the
field, . . . will he not much more cloth you? So
do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or
“What shall we drink?” or “What shall we
wear?” (Matthew 6)
When We Speak of our Mission,
What do We Mean?
• What is the “great commission”?
• “Go ye therefore and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them and teaching them to
observe all things, whatsoever I have
commanded you.”
When We Speak of our Mission,
What do We Mean?
• What is the “greatest commandment”?
• Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all
your mind. This is the first and the greatest
commandment. And the second is like it: Love
your neighbor like yourself.” (Matthew 22:37)
• Jesus says the greatest duty toward fellow
human beings is Love.
What is the Context of this Love?
• The Parable of the Good Samaritan is
instructive – Luke 10:25-37
• Who was the neighbor?
• Being a neighbor is the greatest
commandment!
• How many classes do we have on that?!
“Being a Neighbor 101”
• But we see how hard being a neighbor is.
Servants or Friends?
• Christ turned everything upside down:
• “The greatest among you will be your servant”
(Matthew 23:11)
• “The last shall be first, and the first shall be
last” (Matthew 20:16)
• “Your attitude should be the same as that of
Christ Jesus: Who being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something
to be grasped, but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant” (Phil. 2:56)
What does it mean to be a
Servant?
The Monkey and the Fish
Servanthood Definitions
• Openness: the ability to welcome people into
your presence and make them feel safe
(Biblical concepts of hospitality and shalom)
• Acceptance: the ability to communicate
value, regard, worth and esteem to the other
person (Biblical concepts of acceptance and
honoring one another)
• Trust: the ability to build confidence in the
relationship so that both parties believe the
other person will not intentionally injure or
hurt them (Biblical concepts of community
and communion)
Servanthood Definitions
• Learning: the ability to glean relevant
information about and from the other person
and culture (Biblical concepts of grace and the
priesthood of all believers)
• Understanding: the ability to see patterns of
behavior and underlying values that reveal the
integrated wholeness and integrity of the
people and their culture (Biblical concepts of
creation and the imagio Dei) .
Servanthood Definitions
• Serving: the ability to relate to people in such
a way that their dignity as human beings is
affirmed in godly ways, and they are more
empowered to live their lives (Biblical
concepts of ministry—diakonia)
Servants or Friends?
• “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant
does not know what his master is doing; but I
have called you friends, for all things that I
heard from My Father, I have made known to
you” (John 15:15)
• What is more difficult, to be a servant, or to
be a friend?
• Does not being a neighbor imply being a
“friend”?
• What are the implications for our outreach to
our “neighbors”?
How is this Possible?
• Only by the power of the Gospel
• God’s unmerited love toward us is the
example
• God’s unmerited love toward us is the power
To Sum Up
• An accurate understanding of the nature of
human beings
• God cares for all of our needs of Body and
Soul
• God gives us power to reach out to people in
all their needs
• True servanthood is being a neighbor—a
friend
The Benefits of Holistic Ministry
• A sense of satisfaction over helping someone
in need
• It demonstrates the love of Christ in a tangible
way
• It affords us an opportunity to exercise our
discipleship imitating God’s greatest
attribute—mercy
• We can see lives changed—and Christ’s
kingdom expanded
Challenges to Holistic Ministry
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The question of root causes
The temptation to implement an “easy fix”
The feeling of being used
The risk of taking someone’s dignity away
The greater complication of “getting involved”
What about “Root Causes”?
• Who sinned here, this man or his parents, that
he should be born blind? (John 9)
• How do we see the poor, the downtrodden,
those who are suffering?
• Jesus’ answer: “Neither this man nor his
parents sinned, but this happened so that the
work of God might be displayed in his life!”
The temptation to implement an
“easy fix”
• Some will assuage their conscience by
dropping a dollar in a cup
• Food pantries and clothes closets
• Donation of goods that don’t help because we
feel guilty throwing out.
• These things often perpetuate a needy
person’s desperate situation rather than help
it
The Risk of Being “Used”
• Often our desire to be helpful can lead to
unintended consequences. (Ted)
• We find ourselves in an unexpected, unusual
situation.
• We find ourselves in an adversarial
relationship with those we want to “help.”
(Clothes closet control)
• “And you call yourself a Christian?”
The Risk of Taking Someone’s
Dignity Away
• The relationship between the “haves” and the
“have nots” tears away at people’s self-image
• E.g. Suburban families taking gifts to the
homes of poorer urban families
• People begin to think of themselves as objects
of someone else’s pity.
• They lose hope—become fatalistic
Ancient Hebrew Levels of Giving
• Lowest Level: Give a poor person a gift with
his/her full knowledge that you are the donor.
• Third Level: Give an anonymous gift to meet
an immediate need.
• Second Level: Provide work that the needy
one knows that you provided.
• First Level: Provide a job for someone without
his/her knowledge that you provided it.
The Greater Complication of
“Getting Involved”
• Doing good holistic ministry is hard.
• “Holistic ministry provides probably one of the
greatest satisfactions that one could imagine.
At the same time, it is so very costly—
emotionally, psychologically, physically, and
financially. . . . Holistic ministry is giving and
serving above your ability, beyond your ability.
Doing holistic ministry is hard.” –Churches that
Make a Difference
• Alternatives to “one-way charity” are complex
to create!
Challenges to Holistic Ministry
Discussion
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The question of root causes
The temptation to implement an “easy fix”
The feeling of being used
The risk of taking someone’s dignity away
The greater complication of “getting involved”
Guidelines for Healthy Holistic
Ministry
• Never do for someone else, what they can do
for themselves (“Doing for” others what they
can do for themselves is charity at its worst).
• Never do for a community what it can do for
itself.
• Seek to preserve people’s dignity, no matter
what you do.
• “Move from Simple Charity to Substantive
Help” (Dr. Alyn Waller)
Las Pacayas
The Road to Las Pacayas
Agricultural Education
Agricultural Program
Cooking Over An Open Fire
Cooking Dinner
Brick Stove In Use
One Of The
Latrines
Supplied By
The Mission
The Congregation
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Guidelines Healthy Holistic
Ministry
Use your Head as much as your Heart
Due Diligence
Know the community that you want to “serve”
Invest in organizations that can do it, if you
cannot get involved personally
The magic of Exchange
Network
Don’t be afraid to think big: Vision
Don’t expect change to come from within
From Betterment to Development
Betterment
Development
Does for
others
Does with
others
Maintains
status quo
Strengthens
Capacity
Improves
conditions
Improves
possibilities
Gives things
away
Helps people
produce for
themselves
Alleviates an
immediate
community
need
Provides for
the long-term
health of the
community