We’ve made it to South Africa. My team and I will be serving alongside an NGO here called Impact Africa. Most of our days will be spent building relationships with the people living inside various squatter camps that surround our base. The reality for many of these people is they have come from all over South Africa and other surrounding countries to find work here in Joburg. Most of the time, people are able to find some temporary employment and many even have educational backgrounds that should qualify them for long term employment positions. Unfortunately, that’s just not the reality here. As is the case for many in hard situations, people are looking for answers. When life is difficult, I find it easier to pull God out of my pocket and see if I can just pass the blame off to him. At the same time, there are moments where God is the only source of hope that I can find. Really the only difference between the two is my attitude and perspective. Similarly, I’ve encountered both types of people in these communities and its been really humbling to be able to try and listen to/love them well.
The other day we met a lady in the morning and asked if we could help her with any chores. Not believing we were genuine in our offer, she declined but politely told us we could help if we came back this afternoon. To her surprise, that’s exactly what we did. She was shocked when she saw the same crazy, white people knocking on her gate that afternoon. We came in and she allowed us to help her wash dishes and cook (really she was more teaching us the cooking part). With no other motive than to just love on this woman and relieve her of the monotony of her daily chores, she began asking questions. The most pressing one for her was, “Why do you want to help?” After a few minutes of asking about her story, we realized she was a believer and got to show her different places in Scripture where we get our “why” for trying to love on people and meet them where they’re at. You could see Holy Spirit working in her heart as she continued to ask good hard questions but then see the truth click for her when she began applying truth to her life and situation in the community. That was freakin cool. Even better, she invited us back to her home later this week and you can bet we are gonna be there to love on her some more.
In reflecting on this experience and others like it, I saw Jesus just smiling and saying, “Now this what church should look like.” My current read for the last few days, Come Matter Here by Hannah Brencher, talks about the church in this way too and it’s too good not to share.
She writes,
“Church happens when we show up and God gets to move in and through the ways we love and care for one another […]
That’s the only way church works–in a building or in a home: if we are willing to put down our guards, our fears, our things that make us afraid to be different, and meet one another.
They realize they are one piece–one piece that needs you to do its part in loving others, communing, asking tough stuff, and singing back to God with robust songs of gratitude. To them, it’s not about crafting an experience that will leave others out; it’s about something REAL.
I think that’s truly what Jesus wanted when church became a thing. I think he always wanted the church to act as an invitation, a place to go to wrestle through faith together. We are all invited to do the work. The Jesus I read about had one simple question and then one command to follow it.
‘Do you love me?’
He asked this question the times to Simon Peter (John 21:15-19)
‘Do you love me?’
Not, ‘are you perfect?’ Not, ‘do you never sin?’ Not, ‘are you holding your life together?’ Perfection was never God’s prerequisite. I have to believe he knew exactly who he was asking for when he reached down to us.
‘Do you love me?’
And if you love me-if your answer is yes–then feed my sheep. That was his command: feed my sheep.
I translate ‘feed my sheep’ into a lot of different action steps: show up for my people. Stand at the door and welcome them in. Listen to their stories. Stay attentive. Give until it hurts. Stay in the mess with people. Dig in the deep end. Walk in shoes that make you uncomfortable. Speak hard truths. Ask hard questions. Feed my sheep. Stay up through the night. Get them breakfast. Meet them at diners. Sit in their uncertainty. Give them your shoulders and your tired arms.
Stay up. Wait for people to come home. Just wait. Be a light that is still on when they finally come home. I like to imagine a church where the doors are unlocked and the sign is always glowing bright and reading, open.”
I’ve experienced “church” (I’ve also called it community) in this way only a few times in my life. Though I keep looking for it, the Father keeps telling me, “this is not something you’re going to find. You’re going to have to build it.” Cool. Good talk God. But then I step back and realize just how life-giving this can be and how many people have been hurt when this is not done well. My heart is burdened for all of the people trying to find God but end up running into people that make them feel more ashamed of themselves or not good enough for Jesus. My favorite kind of church is when everyone has come to the end of themselves and the only option they have is to just look up to Jesus. It’s good stuff and Holy Spirit is all over those moments. Wanting to be known and loved and Jesus is just waiting for us to see that he’s been there the whole time with his arms wide freakin open. Finally stepping outside of myself, I see God. It’s only through choosing to be loved by the Father, that I am able to love other people well. I know Jesus is there in those moments because I’ve done nothing but say yes to showing up. Thats the church I want people to experience. I have a few weeks left in Africa but showing up doesn’t end here. I’ve got the rest of my life to show up and meet people where they’re at.
Please continue praying for my team and I as we finish our time here in Africa. Pray for opportunities for us to just show up and meet people where they’re at. Pray we continue to fight against lies and cultures that have twisted the beauty of what the church can be for those who are hurting.
