Obviously, and of utmost importance
at Grace Resources, working with those in poverty and the homeless the major
challenge is to help people regain hope.
Our mission is to empower people to thrive with dignity, not just
survive, through training, education, food, clothing, shelter, medical care and
spiritual investment. Most of the people
we work with have given up on hope, more as a self-protective survival
mechanism than anything else, so that when they come to us they aren't really
looking for change. Most of the time
they are going through the motions of survival, unaware that there is
hope! Until a person regains hope he or
she cannot believe that such change is possible, and therefore he or she isn't
going to seek change.
Unfortunately, our work is becoming
more and more of a challenge. The
combined effects of lack of affordable housing, extreme poverty, decreasing government
supports, the challenge of raising children alone, the changing demographics of
the family, domestic violence, and fractured social supports are all
contributing to an increase in the poor and especially homelessness. As the gap between housing costs and income
continues to widen, more and more families and individuals are at risk of
homelessness.
By the time these people come to us,
they've been through the very worst, and somewhere along the way they lost all
hope. Many feel abandoned by the world,
and especially the society, in which they live.
Forced to move frequently, double up in overcrowded apartments with
friends or relatives, live in their car, or send their children to stay with
relatives to avoid shelter life, often they are hidden from view. Here in America more than 1.6 million
children are homeless! In fact,
according to the National Center on Family Homelessness, "among
industrialized nations, the United States has the largest number of homeless
women and children. Not since the Great Depression
have so many families been without homes." Homeless families comprise about a third of
the total homeless population!
It is to our shame as a nation that
one in every thirty children in the United States will experience homelessness
this year. Between 2012 and 2013 the
number of children experiencing homelessness increased by 8 percent
nationally! In 13 states it increased by
10 percent or more, including the District of Columbia! Why is this happening? How is this happening?
Seventy-one percent of our
single-parent families consist of mom and kids.
Without childcare, and a way to pay for it, many of these women cannot
obtain a job, not because they are unemployable, but because they have no one
to watch their children! Those who do work
find that housing costs and the cost of childcare exhaust a greater percentage
of earned income. Here in Southern
California childcare can cost between $15,100 and $18,350
per year per child! You do the math!
There are a few other statistics
that should be mentioned here.
Single-parent families are among the poorest in the nation and, as such,
are extremely vulnerable to homelessness.
Many family shelters do not accept men into their programs, causing
families to separate when they become homeless.
Among all homeless women, sixty percent have children under age 18, yet
only 65 percent of them live with at least one of these children! Among all homeless men, 41 percent have
children under age 18, but only 7 percent live with at least one of their own
children! Traumatic experiences,
especially domestic violence, precede and prolong homelessness for families.
Families experiencing homelessness
usually have limited education. Fifty-three percent of homeless mothers do not
have a high school diploma. Most of them
don't believe they can succeed in education.
Most of them don't believe they have what it takes to be independent! Twenty-nine percent of adults in homeless
families are working, so a job is not the final solution! When Sareena at the left first came to us she was homeless and hopeless. This year, eight years later, she realized a dream, graduating from college with a 3.9 GPA!
Is there a solution? The answer to that question is an emphatic
"absolutely!" Real solutions
to this problem involve a four-way partnership between homeless families,
trained evangelical church-based mentoring groups, trained case managers, and
evangelical local small business owners.
Some models that have achieved great success don't include the
latter. For practical purposes this
writer added this particular component.
What do we do? We work together with each family
individually to encourage and empower them to thrive with dignity, to regain
hope, to grow, develop, and achieve independence. Naturally, this writer is talking about a
continuum of care model that will take time, tremendous effort, sacrifice on
the part of all, but surprisingly less money than one might imagine.
Development is a process of ongoing
change. Remember, many of these dear
people don't believe they can change.
Even more important to remember is that development is not done to
people or for people but with people. Promoting an empowering process in which an
individual can change and improve his or her life in all areas of relationships
is the key dynamic. In fact, the main
goal of development work is for an individual to take charge of his or her life
and community.
Never do for someone what that person
can do for him or herself! If he or she
needs help, give it, but if they do not, your giving may cause harm!
Rather than thinking in terms of
producing houses or other material goods we should instead pursue a process of
walking with the materially poor so that they are better stewards of their
lives and communities, including their own material needs. Far more important in this process is their
spiritual need. Paul said it so well in
Philippians 4:11-14: "Not
that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever
circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and
I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have
learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and
suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens
me. Nevertheless, you have done well to share with me in my
affliction." (NASB)
One might ask at this point, why this
writer is not talking about the popular idea of producing houses or other
material goods? I Timothy 6:6-8 gives
the answer: "But
godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. For
we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it
either. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be
content." (NASB) For all of us
the key is godliness with contentment. I
trust God completely, and follow Jesus implicitly! Humble means or prosperity don't matter. Jesus matters! My cry with the Psalmist at this point is
simple: "Oh, that my steps might be
steady, keeping to the course you set."
That is from Psalm 119:5 in The
Message.
In reality, it is much easier to
focus on relief because we have a material definition of poverty. It is far easier and quicker than development,
and much easier to raise funds to support those efforts. Yet even if working with the poor through
relationships is much longer term, isn't that what we who follow Christ are to
be about? Growing and developing people
through long-term discipleship is hard, sometimes seemingly impossible
work! That is why we need Jesus in the
mix!
What does our solution look
like? In the end, it looks like
discipleship. At the shelter level we
develop a relationship with our families, and introduce them to our trained
evangelical church-based mentors who are individually committed to long-term
care. Working hand in hand with the
caseworkers from the shelter and the pastoral staff of the churches that
participate we encourage our parents to grow and change, and we strive to give
them hope and confidence. We invite them
to participate at church, provide certified safe childcare so that parents can
learn and work, and take all the risks that entails for everyone involved in
the process. At every appropriate
opportunity we present Christ and invite people to trust Him.
Local business owners who share the
same goals of discipleship work hand-in-hand with these families, and when they
are ready, provide opportunities for employment, first as an intern, and then
as a paid employee. Unless these men and
women are involved from the very beginning they can have no idea of the entire
process, and that is very important, especially when training someone for employment
in his or her business.
Collaborative efforts of this nature
require constant communication, healthy relationships between the caseworkers
and mentors, pastoral staff, and businessmen and women. Prayer is so important, and getting together
to pray over these people we are serving is the only thing that will keep us
going, and keep them motivated! Above
all, we must remember that if Christ is not in it, anything we try to build is
an effort in vain.
People need the Lord. I need Him.
You need Him. We need Him. Let's covenant together to reach out to our
struggling homeless families with unity and power in the Lord. You and I can bring the Lord Jesus into the
lives of needy people with real power and life-changing results!
