Giving Dignity

Last night I sat with a friend eating some gelato in an area called Gastown. Which is only a couple blocks from East Hastings street on the Downtown East side of Vancouver. An area infamous world wide for being an awful place. As we sat we discussed everything from childhood memories to poverty. As we discussed poverty we got down to causes, issues and the nature of poverty in our city. 

Sitting there a woman named Sharon came up and asked if she could talk to us. I welcomed her to our table and shook her hand introducing myself, and my friend did the same.

As we began talking she explained the hardships she was facing, and what her night most certainly looked like. She asked for some financial relief of her situation. It is a place I have found myself often, and a place where I do not feel comfortable helping.

But I have two ways in which I will help:

1) I'd be happy to help them find resources to help them out (to which she had already explained she had exhausted) 

2) I would be more than happy to chat with them over a meal. My way to provide brief companionship and some nourishment. 

Sharon was not interested in what I had to offer so she moved on. 

As we sat there I thought to myself, Sharon is a hurting person. Sharon likely had an illness, addiction or a social situation which lent aid to put her in the place she is. But none of those things prevents us from giving dignity to her. 

Jesus Christ constantly reminds his disciples and us through these words that it is important to love others as He loves us. And I believe a place where we need to start is out of a place of giving dignity and respect to those who don't have it.

It is in these moments that we can share the love and heart of Christ. 

I will be honest, there are times when I am frustrated by the number of people asking me for money. There are times when the thought that the individual probably put themselves there crosses my mind. 

But  have to remember that I never deserved the love of Christ. I have done nothing to deserve dignity and respect of others in many cases outside of being a creation of God. And people no matter who they are, whether Sharon on the streets or the Queen of England deserve 2 things. 

1) To know that Jesus loves them

2) To know that they are created in the image of God and because of that; they have worth and deserve dignity and respect.

So when you meet someone this week who is needing some dignity and love, would you open up your heart and give them a moment. And I guarantee if you look for them, you will find them. 

Whats Star Trek has taught me about Ministry

I went to a local fair and they had an exhibit called Star Trek- It had props, costumes, scripts, sets the whole 9 yards everything you could want to see and more!

Now I am more of a Star Wars guy but I do love me some good Star Trek too! Lately, Amy and I have been working our way through the Star Trek movies (Thank you Netflix)

I started to think about what benefits/skills the Captains would bring to Ministry.

Captain James T. Kirk:

GO with the feeling inside- While Kirk went with his gut reaction, we have the Holy Spirit to guide us, and if we were smart we'd listen to it.

Keep a diverse team- Spock, McCoy, Uhura, Scott and Sulu. This is a team that is made up of people with different strengths and weaknesses. In ministry we often try to do everything on our own, but the fact is we all have weaknesses. We need to find people to work with who can fit within our weak spots and we need to let them shine.

Keep learning: If there was anything Kirk did really well, is he learned from others so he could adapt and be flexible. We need to do this in ministry to keep fresh, otherwise we become stale and less effective.

Captain Jean Luc Picard:

Have your priorities in order: Picard always put his crew or the people he was helping before himself. He also made sure to always complete his prime directive of every mission. There is an order of who we need to take care of: Our families and ourselves then others- if we don't take care of ourselves we will be useless to work with anyone else.

Ask for help: One thing Picard did well was ask for help. When he knew he was beat he would get help. We need to do the same thing in ministry. Sometimes we need to get ideas from other people, sometimes we just need help getting a task done. No matter what you need help with, make sure you ask.

What are some leadership lessons you have learned?

-Kyle