The ABCD’s of Ministry

We had a fantastic turnout at our annual Fall Fundraiser in September. The desserts were delicious and the company was warm and friendly. Kurt (Family Development Program Manager) invited us to wrestle and wonder about transformation in our neighborhood?

Asset-Based Community Development looks first at what a community has to offer: diversity, community, pride, resiliency, resourcefulness. Of course we wrestle with problems and issues that confront our neighborhood, but wonder what would happen if the first thing we all saw in people was their gifts and strengths.

How do we discover assets? Listening and observation are key. What would happen if we were quicker to listen to our neighbors and act on what they think would impact change?

Taking action on neighbors’ ideas and collaboration. We wrestle with how difficult it can be to work together, even as Christians. We must find a balance between our need for outside resources and how best to utilize the wealth of resources in the neighborhood.

Training and equipping spiritually, relationally and economically. We wrestle with the disparities in education and opportunity we see in our community and we wonder how we can be a part of building capacity and helping people build new skills.

Community. The importance of doing this work together. We wrestle with how easy it is to be disconnected with our neighbors. We wonder what good things like mutual learning and trust might happen around tables and food.

Walking Alongside. In all of these things we are wrestling with, how we can best walk alongside families to provide space for reflection so that they can shape their own legacy?

Most importantly we celebrate when we see glimmers of God’s glory, goodness and love breaking through. We are so glad you choose to walk with us.