Empowering to Thrive

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!