A couple came by the church to visit with me today.
This couple has been attending our church for at least a month now. They said "this place is warm and feels like home." After talking today I discovered pieces of their story.
In 2007 the male was released from prison having served 25 of his 50 year sentence. Its tough living in one world for a quarter century and then being kicked out and sent away into another (picture Shawshank Redemption). Think about how much change has happened in the last 25 years. In our day and age so much changes every 5!
They were both looking for work (which I believe to be sincere). However, obviously, work for a felon is hard to come by; and honest, dependable, quality work even harder.
Churches might have a part to play in all this.
Mobilizing the people of God to practically meet individuals coming out of prison can help them with reentry. When I look at the types of people the Gospels record Jesus spending the most time with they look to me like people coming out of prison. They were avoided by "righteous/religious" people, pushed to the margins of society, and typically were not kind or cordial but mean, dangerous, and were getting what they deserved.
A new heaven and new earth might look like followers of Christ helping stop the incarceration cycle.
Showing posts with label advocacy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label advocacy. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Monday, December 5, 2011
Voting With Your Dollar
I've been reading a lot about creating and using sustainable businesses to bring about social change. Jason Saul's book Social Innovation, Inc.: 5 Strategies for Driving Business Growth Through Social Change has allowed my liberal arts brain to get a dose of economic business stimuli. Here's what I've learned so far...
-Businesses are more powerful (and wealthier) than government (hello, Apple).
-Businesses cannot merely be "philanthropic" as they continue on towards their goals. The social change we hope for must be the inherent goal of the business itself
(e.g. McDonalds cannot simply boast about how much they give to certain charities every year. Through changing their business goals and strategies they must seek to bring systemic change to problems like obesity and low-wage jobs).
-The most influential vote we have is not at the polls in November, it is our dollar and where we choose to spend it.
Because as a customer, citizen, and contributor to society you earn credit/influence in the form of little green slips of paper. And wherever you deposit those slips of green paper is where you are allocating your support for different companies. You say, "Target, I like the feeling I get when I go to your store and purchase your merchandise. Keep it up." Or, "Starbucks, I like the way you treat third world coffee farmers. Keep doing what you are doing."
Businesses of our economy want our money (our vote). It's our job to buy responsibly, carefully, and with integrity. Take note of two final things: the best way to empower the poor is to provide work so that they can have influence and a vote, and the government cheats in a way because through mandatory taxes they can bypass the need to make the customer happy.
Just some thoughts from a wannabe economist.
-Businesses are more powerful (and wealthier) than government (hello, Apple).
-Businesses cannot merely be "philanthropic" as they continue on towards their goals. The social change we hope for must be the inherent goal of the business itself
(e.g. McDonalds cannot simply boast about how much they give to certain charities every year. Through changing their business goals and strategies they must seek to bring systemic change to problems like obesity and low-wage jobs).
-The most influential vote we have is not at the polls in November, it is our dollar and where we choose to spend it.
Because as a customer, citizen, and contributor to society you earn credit/influence in the form of little green slips of paper. And wherever you deposit those slips of green paper is where you are allocating your support for different companies. You say, "Target, I like the feeling I get when I go to your store and purchase your merchandise. Keep it up." Or, "Starbucks, I like the way you treat third world coffee farmers. Keep doing what you are doing."
Businesses of our economy want our money (our vote). It's our job to buy responsibly, carefully, and with integrity. Take note of two final things: the best way to empower the poor is to provide work so that they can have influence and a vote, and the government cheats in a way because through mandatory taxes they can bypass the need to make the customer happy.
Just some thoughts from a wannabe economist.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
I work as a Buckner Children and Family Services Community Minister, which means, I have many coworkers across the nation in local churches doing the same kind of community development work that we are doing at FBC Norman. Below is a story that one of my good friends and coworkers shared with me of her ministry at her local church in Knoxville, TN.
She writes...
"I wanted to share something with you that happened this week that reminded me about why we do this. One of our community ministry clients is an elderly, mildly retarded man who goes to our church and has NO immediate family. I assigned my MSW intern to work with him. One of her jobs has been to help him get on a budget, because he sometimes runs out of money at the end of the month. And when that happens he completely panics. I had him bring in all his bills so that she could go over them with him. In that process, the intern found out that he has been paying $118 a month to ATT for phone, internet and every other service they offer AND he doesn’t know what the internet is. A sales person at ATT ripped him off. The intern called and with Lifeline his bill will now be $13 a month. This week we really did make a difference in someone’s life."
This is what we do as Christ followers. We advocate for the orphan, the widow, and the marginalized. We are continuing the picture that Jesus began painting of Heaven coming to earth.
She writes...
"I wanted to share something with you that happened this week that reminded me about why we do this. One of our community ministry clients is an elderly, mildly retarded man who goes to our church and has NO immediate family. I assigned my MSW intern to work with him. One of her jobs has been to help him get on a budget, because he sometimes runs out of money at the end of the month. And when that happens he completely panics. I had him bring in all his bills so that she could go over them with him. In that process, the intern found out that he has been paying $118 a month to ATT for phone, internet and every other service they offer AND he doesn’t know what the internet is. A sales person at ATT ripped him off. The intern called and with Lifeline his bill will now be $13 a month. This week we really did make a difference in someone’s life."
This is what we do as Christ followers. We advocate for the orphan, the widow, and the marginalized. We are continuing the picture that Jesus began painting of Heaven coming to earth.
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