Messy caring

We’re good at doing good works, but how good are we at really caring for people? The Salvation Army value ‘Care for Others’ encourages us to reclaim the heart of the gospel.

It’s easy for us, living in 2017 to take for granted the huge cultural and social revolution that began with Jesus and his teachings. To give us a fresh perspective, let’s put ourselves in the story of Roman occupied Israel, when Jesus was born: 

The Romans have invaded all aspects of your world and ensured that the most important thing in life is to work your way up the hierarchy of power.your way up the hierarchy of power. The worst possible fate is to be at the bottom of the ladder, powerless and outcast. No one will look after you then. You’re diligent in doing favours for those above you—you ensure their comfort, and in turn, they will look after you. If you move up the ladder, you can then wield a bit more power, and others will be obligated to ensure your comfort. Still, at least you are not a woman. (In fact, you’d rather be a dog!)

You’ve been appalled lately by this extremist rabbi called Jesus. He’s said that power means nothing. Ha, shows what he knows! Jesus says it’s better to be poor and powerless, which is obviously ridiculous. Rumours are flying around that he has touched a leper, and has been seen with those scumbag tax thieves. Worse still, he includes women as his followers and even talks to them.

The scandal of Jesus

Jesus certainly did many wonderful and miraculous things while on earth, but the real scandal of Jesus was that he loved the unlovable. The Salvation Army care for others is driven by our devotion for Jesus. All our community services— foodbanks, addictions services, social housing, Employment and Education, post-prison integration, Family Tracing, and more—are a response to the love of Jesus. He told us to love one another. Love our enemies even. Care for our neighbours—whoever they are. Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the prisoner, look after the sick, welcome the stranger (Matthew 25:41).

But what we notice in Jesus is that his practical good works were only ever a fruit of his deep care for others as people. Whenever Jesus healed someone, he did so because they moved him.

‘In the Salvation Army we’re driven by good works—and that is great, it provides practical help. But we can get caught up in good works, rather than caring for people,’ says Jono Bell, national practice manager for Salvation Army Community Ministries. ‘ The most important thing that Community Ministries gives people is hope. Yes, you’re meeting a practical need when you give them a cup of coffee or offer a service they need, but you’re providing hope. We talk a lot about the importance of listening, because people are starved of relationship.’

Spaces of belonging

The greatest need for people who come to Community Ministries is the need to belong, reflects Jono. ‘The biggest issue I see for people—especially those who are on the margins or the most vulnerable— is social isolation, so we need to create spaces of belonging.

‘Sometimes in our organised church we deceive ourselves into thinking that if we turn up to church we’re connected. But we need spaces outside of that, whether it’s bringing somebody into your home for a meal, or whether it’s stopping and having a conversation with somebody that you feel awkward talking to, and just maybe some practical caring will come out of that.’

While the Salvation Army’s Community Ministries ‘epitomises caring on a daily basis around the country,’ says Jono, the challenge for us as Salvationists is not to leave it to the professionals. For Jono, some of our most inspiring stories are simply of individuals meeting a need. ‘One Salvationist was going out buying bakery food and handing it out. It wasn’t an organised programme, it was a response to a need in their community.’

In addition, it’s not just the obviously deprived who need our care. How many people that seem to have it all together are quietly suffering from loneliness or grief? And how many people within our corps, or even within Salvation Army leadership, desperately need a caring hand on their shoulder?

‘I only do what I see the father doing,’ said Jesus (John :, paraphrased). is is a wonderful model for our own spiritual life. The Holy Spirit can open our eyes to unseen hurts and needs, and our response is simply to act as the Spirit moves us.

The messiness of caring

Perhaps the biggest diff works and genuine caring is that a good deed can be done once, but caring requires time and personal cost. We’re privileged in the Salvation Army to see lives freed from addictions, prisoners transformed and the poor given hope. We should tell our success stories and encourage each other to continue our work of transforming society.

But what is often hidden is the messiness of choosing to walk alongside others. Jono provides a good example: ‘We had a guy who had just graduated from the Bridge addictions programme. He’d found a flat and was doing well, but needed a way to get around, so I said he could have my bike. He came round for dinner and we gave him our bike. And three days later the bike was gone. Whether it was sold for money or whatever, that can be frustrating, but the thing is not letting your heart get hard.’

From his experience in youth work, Jono also knows it often takes years of ‘journeying together’ before we see real change take place. He was excited recently to get a text from a young woman. ‘She was involved with a youth gang and drugs, and we journeyed with her for a couple of years,’ recalls Jono. ‘She acknowledged that we were available to her, without trying to judge or fix her. We started from a place of relationship, and as trust grew, we had opportunities to speak into her life.’ Years later, she has a good job and restored relationship with family.

At Community Ministries, providing eff ective care means not only meeting people at the point of crisis in their lives and providing a plan through the crisis, it also means helping them gain skills so they can take more responsibility for their lives. is may mean challenging their behaviour, and ensuring they make decisions for themselves.

Our responsibility is to off er care. But, ultimately, how they respond to that care is their responsibility. ‘ ere’s a guy at my church who asks for money every week,’ says Jono. ‘He’s happy with his life, so I think that my job is just to make it a bit easier for him. When we give someone fi ve dollars, it’s up to them how they spend it.’

When Jesus walked with us on earth, he whispered that a new kingdom was emerging, where the poor, broken and ugly got to sit at the banquet table. We join this feast as just another broken soul, and we get to be part of the kingdom.

Jesus calls us to care—full-heartedly, unequivocally, painfully, messily, and ultimately transformatively. We hope and pray our care will transform the lives of others. But we know it will transform us.

Learn more about our Mission Plan & Values | www.salvationarmy.org.nz/MissionPlan

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by Ingrid Barratt (c) 'War Cry' magazine, 22 April 2017, pp20-21
You can read 'War Cry' at your nearest Salvation Army church or centre, or subscribe through Salvationist Resources.