Prosperity through community - Tuesday, March 17, 2009
An article I wrote for Urban Connections, a Mennonite Missions Network publication:
http://mennonitemission.net/Resources/Publications/UrbanConnections/Story.asp?ID=1382
Steve Kimes is pastor of Anawim Christian Community in Portland, Ore., a church with a membership made up of the poor and outcast from “normal” society—the impoverished, the homeless, the mentally ill and those on public assistance. As a worship and community space for those who are marginalized, congregational leaders also work to educate society about true causes and realities of poverty and to fight against the dehumanization of and prejudice against the homeless.
Lately, Anawim Christian Community has been having its 15 minutes. Anawim is a community church among the homeless and mentally ill in Portland, Ore., and the media has slowly tracked to our door. A couple local papers have interviewed some of our members and a local magazine is stalking me, the pastor, (with permission) to see what I do. And National Public Radio interviewed one of our regular volunteers. A common question we answer is “How has the recession hit your church?”
I hem and haw and talk about donations going down. Which is true—some of our larger donors have backed off. But I am embarrassed to tell the truth. That the recession is great for our church.
Urban Connections - March 2009
1. On Our Street: Marvel at Miracles By Regina Shands Stoltzfus – We live in days that are ripe for miracles. As we focus on the troubled economy and the impact on ministry, we also see the possibilities of experiencing something so remarkable that we cannot keep quiet about it.
2. Prosperity through community By Steve Kimes – The recession is great for Anawim Christian Community in Portland, Ore. Because it is a community of the poor, its resource base is growing. They have found that the more mouths they have to feed,the more God provides.
3. Community and relationships break free from economy By Ron Copeland – Christ calls us to create completely new economies, like the one growing in Harrisonburg, Va., instead of relying on what is accepted in the Western world.
4. Bridge of Hope: Healing in relationships By Lynda Hollinger-Janzen – Bridge of Hope aims to end and prevent homelessness for women and children through creating local affiliates that bring together professional staff and church-based mentoring groups to empower single mothers. There are currently 16 operating affiliates and four more in the start-up process in seven states.
5. Resources: Ministry in troubled economy – When seeking information to help you interact with those affected by todays economy, check these online resources, selected by Mennonite Mission Network staff members.
6. Urban briefs: News from your street – What stories are making news across the urban church world?
7. Opportunities at upcoming gatherings – Three planned 2009 gatherings will allow participants to engage missional, urban and immigration issues with experts and colleagues.
8. Talk back: Letter to the editor – Continue the conversation.
Anawim has a lot of ministry going on. We offer three meals a week and I help run another. We give away clothes, offer showers to people on the street, and provide worship services and Bible studies for those who wish to follow Jesus in our particular way. But it is mostly run by the poor for the poor, by the homeless for the homeless. A large percentage of our donations come in $1 and $5 bills, from people’s disability checks or a bit from their part-time jobs.
So how does the recession helps us? Because we are a community of the poor. The more poor that we welcome, the more our resource base grows. We have had our best year ever since the recession began, last December. Yes, it is more mouths to feed, but the more we have, the more God provides.
*****
One person called me recently and said, “I’ve recently stopped being homeless and I want to give back. How should I do it?”
I replied, “When you were on the street, what did you want most?”
She thought and responded, “I really wanted a place to go to the bathroom and some hot coffee in the morning.”
I smiled and said, “Then maybe you should buy $5 gift cards to Starbucks and give them to people on the street, so they can have some coffee and a place to go to the bathroom, if only for a morning.”
Mutual aid is as much knowing what the poor need, as it is giving.
*****
Adam Smith is much maligned. He is considered the father of capitalism, which is seen as the economics of greed and selfishness. It must be remembered, however, that Smith’s Wealth of Nations was meant to be more of a description of market economics, rather than the creation of it. And more than this, Smith never intended greed to be centerpiece of economics.
Before he wrote his most famous work, Smith wrote a short book of moral philosophy called The Theory of Moral Sentiments. “Sentimentality” as Smith described it, is nothing more than empathy, which he considered the basis of moral philosophy. In order for us to be moral beings, we must consider the needs and hopes and desires of the other. In the same way, if we are to have a sound economic community or society, we need to understand others' needs in order to meet them. In the end, although he did not realize it, Smith was describing the community in Acts 2:44-45, “And all who believed had all things in common… sharing with all, as any might have need.”
Our society has never really experienced this beautiful synergy, except in small pockets. Today, capitalism is seen as an opportunity to create need in those who have excess, rather than meet need in those who have lack. Even “stewardship” is frequently seen as increasing wealth for later distribution rather than distributing wealth for present increase of all.
*****
In Anawim, we took the economic philosophy of empathy on in a radical way. To begin, with the support of our local Mennonite congregation, I quit my full-time job which supported my family of four and we became homeless for eight months. Some of our friends (perhaps all of them) thought we were crazy. They asked how we could help the homeless when we were homeless ourselves. But we trusted, like some modern loaves and fishes tale, we would always have extra to provide to those in need. And so it has been.
In response to our faithfulness to give to the needy, God has gradually given us more and more. And as our economics increased, so did our opportunities to meet the needs of the poor around us. One meal turned to four. A living room we stayed in became a two-bedroom apartment, which held six of us, which then became a six-bedroom house which is filled with our extended family, most of whom used to be homeless.
More importantly, however, is how the homeless and the mentally ill who attend our church have stepped up to the plate of service. As we hit the edge of burnout, the community steps in and gives us relief. Now we have meals that are set up and cleaned up by street people and worship that is participated in by everyone. Some folks may sing loudly and off key, but it is all the more joyous for all that.
*****
And, just recently, Anawim has made their bravest step—they invited the middle class to our community. This is a difficult step, for the middle class has a tendency to take over that which they consider to be inadequate. But most of the middle class who join us understand that Anawim is to be run by the poor for the poor.
And we are seeing Anawim become a more well-rounded community because of the middle class, both culturally and economically. The homeless have much to give: serving hands; a readiness to work at a moment’s notice; a willing heart to give what they have to those in need; the knowledge of where one can get one’s basic needs met today. The middle class also has much to give: the ability to pay for labor done; a drive to meet basic needs such as food and clothing; a growing respect for the poor.
Right now, as more of the middle class understand what it means to be poor, there is an opportunity for more empathy. Empathy creates community. And community based on empathy creates an economy in which all the community’s needs are met. Anawim isn’t there yet. But we’re getting there.
We have a certain kind of prosperity. Most of us are still on the street, and many of us are still hungry some days. But we know that we have people who care about us and truly want to see our needs met. That is a kind of wealth many people don’t have.
Read more about the practice and theology of Anawim at www.nowheretolayhishead.com.
Talk back: To respond to this story, e-mail urbanconnections@mennonitemission.net. Subscribe to this and other e-mail lists through Mennonite Mission Network.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Styxx
On page 6 of the article, there's a couple paragraphs on Styxx, who stays with us. Styxx liked it so much that he wants to send Bart "a box of cigars."
http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/issues/archives/articles/0409-holy-diver/
Sleeping Homeless
Pics like this makes people think that the homeless are lazy. People see the homeless sleeping on benches, in churches, at meals, and they think, "No wonder these people are homeless! They sleep all the time and never get off their butts to work!"
What most people don't know is that when the homeless sleep, it's because they're tired.
Sleep is one of the hardest things to do when you are homeless. The police roust you in the middle of the night on occasion, but even when they don't you are listening for them. Or for kids who want to beat you up. Or for stray animals. Or whatever else that might harm you. Or it just might be really cold and you don't have adequate warmth.
The point of being homeless is that you don't have four walls and a roof. This automatically means less security than a housed person and less protection from the weather. That's a given. Well, this also means less sleep. It's hard to rest when you don't feel safe, when you might get rousted at any time of the night. It's hard to sleep when your bed is wet. It's hard to sleep when the ground you're sleeping on is so cold that your body temperature drops.
So the homeless often catch up on sleep during the day. Which makes them look lazy. But many of them are just trying to not go insane. Some of them succeed.
Pic was taken by Portland Monthly Magazine
http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/issues/archives/articles/0409-holy-diver/
Magazine Article On Steve
Portland Monthly Magazine did a pretty long article on me and Anawim. It's cleverly written, and if you want to have a "Steve intro", it's a pretty good one:
http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/issues/archives/articles/0409-holy-diver/
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Happiness Is Not Personal Happiness
I am on a few philosophy forums, in which we respond to questions and posts with reasoned analysis—or at least that is the hope. One of the questions that sometimes circulate is sometimes phrased, “What is the greatest good?” or “What is the best life?” Most participants respond with a concern for their personal happiness, wanting to live a life of pleasure, or of intellectual or spiritual joy.
And why not? It is taught to us by our parents, by television and other media that the greatest concern for us as individuals is that we be happy, that we have all of our hopes and deepest desires met. There is nothing wrong with that, in and of itself. All the great religions and philosophies have personal joy and inner peace as a goal.
However, to obtain that happiness, we often forget what we must do to obtain that happiness. I believe that unless we work to bring joy to others, we will never find joy or peace within ourselves.
A couple, after having fallen in love, decide that they will live together, and make a commitment together to be a community. Once two people begin to live together, they find that their happiness is no longer just dependent on their own concerns, but also concerns for the other. If their partner is unhappy, then they are unhappy as well. So their peace depends not so much on striving for happiness themselves, but for trying to bring peace and contentment to another.
This basic principle grows the more we are involved with others. As we have family, we need to work for peace for all. The longer we are in a community, we find that the needs of the community are tied to our own. If we live in a city of a million people, any one unhappy person we meet on the bus or the street could ruin our day. Soon we find that our happiness is not a personal commodity, as if we were an island to ourselves. Rather, contentment for ourselves is dependant at least on every other person we meet. And, to a lesser degree, to every other person in the world.
Thus, I believe that our happiness cannot be created by meeting our own needs and fulfilling our own desires. Rather, happiness is to be found in relationship, in community.
I grew up in a middle class suburban community, insulated, where I never met anyone with real needs. Our way of life and consumption was what I thought of as “normal”. My ideals all changed when I lived in a few urban areas in India and Bangladesh. There, I was followed by beggars and saw my friends living in poverty that I had never experienced. I realized that those in need were just as human and just as good and bad as I was. They were my equals, but many of them are condemned to spend their lives picking through garbage piles for whatever benefit the hundred others who had been through that same pile had left.
After my wife and I had moved to Portland, OR, we began listening to and having community with the homeless. As I listened to the stories of the homeless, and began to share their experiences myself, my own joy and sorrow became tied into their own. But what I realize is that this is true for every single person who relates to my homeless friends. Every person who gives them spare change so they would be left alone, every man who says, “get a job,” every woman who spends a few moments chatting with the homeless, every person with hope who smiles at a homeless person—that small event changed their own level of happiness. It was an experience, built with other experiences with other people, that creates their own sense of well-being or grief.
Should we participate in creating other’s grief, then we ourselves live lives of grief. But if we participate in other’s sense of well-being, then we can create well-being for ourselves. Thus, I believe that “the good life” is found, not in seeking our own happiness, but in seeking other’s well-being.
Yes, we can certainly create a sense of joy in ourselves if we get drunk, or if we watch a movie. But if our contentment is based on outside forces changing our own mood, we will soon cause sorrow in others who participate in our life. Self-focus ends up draining those who love us. But if we instead focus on assisting others to obtain happiness, whether in the short term or long term—
If we give hand warmers to a stranger who shivers in the cold
If we give a hamburger or energy bar for a person holding a sign declaring their hunger
If we spend a half hour in conversation with someone who is desperately lonely
If we share a movie we really enjoy with someone who has no pleasures in their life
If we invite to a family holiday meal one who has no family to share it with—
Then the happiness we share will be ours as well. I believe that there is no personal happiness. There is only happiness we share with others, especially with those who have little joy in their lives.
And why not? It is taught to us by our parents, by television and other media that the greatest concern for us as individuals is that we be happy, that we have all of our hopes and deepest desires met. There is nothing wrong with that, in and of itself. All the great religions and philosophies have personal joy and inner peace as a goal.
However, to obtain that happiness, we often forget what we must do to obtain that happiness. I believe that unless we work to bring joy to others, we will never find joy or peace within ourselves.
A couple, after having fallen in love, decide that they will live together, and make a commitment together to be a community. Once two people begin to live together, they find that their happiness is no longer just dependent on their own concerns, but also concerns for the other. If their partner is unhappy, then they are unhappy as well. So their peace depends not so much on striving for happiness themselves, but for trying to bring peace and contentment to another.
This basic principle grows the more we are involved with others. As we have family, we need to work for peace for all. The longer we are in a community, we find that the needs of the community are tied to our own. If we live in a city of a million people, any one unhappy person we meet on the bus or the street could ruin our day. Soon we find that our happiness is not a personal commodity, as if we were an island to ourselves. Rather, contentment for ourselves is dependant at least on every other person we meet. And, to a lesser degree, to every other person in the world.
Thus, I believe that our happiness cannot be created by meeting our own needs and fulfilling our own desires. Rather, happiness is to be found in relationship, in community.
I grew up in a middle class suburban community, insulated, where I never met anyone with real needs. Our way of life and consumption was what I thought of as “normal”. My ideals all changed when I lived in a few urban areas in India and Bangladesh. There, I was followed by beggars and saw my friends living in poverty that I had never experienced. I realized that those in need were just as human and just as good and bad as I was. They were my equals, but many of them are condemned to spend their lives picking through garbage piles for whatever benefit the hundred others who had been through that same pile had left.
After my wife and I had moved to Portland, OR, we began listening to and having community with the homeless. As I listened to the stories of the homeless, and began to share their experiences myself, my own joy and sorrow became tied into their own. But what I realize is that this is true for every single person who relates to my homeless friends. Every person who gives them spare change so they would be left alone, every man who says, “get a job,” every woman who spends a few moments chatting with the homeless, every person with hope who smiles at a homeless person—that small event changed their own level of happiness. It was an experience, built with other experiences with other people, that creates their own sense of well-being or grief.
Should we participate in creating other’s grief, then we ourselves live lives of grief. But if we participate in other’s sense of well-being, then we can create well-being for ourselves. Thus, I believe that “the good life” is found, not in seeking our own happiness, but in seeking other’s well-being.
Yes, we can certainly create a sense of joy in ourselves if we get drunk, or if we watch a movie. But if our contentment is based on outside forces changing our own mood, we will soon cause sorrow in others who participate in our life. Self-focus ends up draining those who love us. But if we instead focus on assisting others to obtain happiness, whether in the short term or long term—
If we give hand warmers to a stranger who shivers in the cold
If we give a hamburger or energy bar for a person holding a sign declaring their hunger
If we spend a half hour in conversation with someone who is desperately lonely
If we share a movie we really enjoy with someone who has no pleasures in their life
If we invite to a family holiday meal one who has no family to share it with—
Then the happiness we share will be ours as well. I believe that there is no personal happiness. There is only happiness we share with others, especially with those who have little joy in their lives.
Real Change Is Owned Change
Three weeks ago a historic meeting took place. It may not have repercussions that change the nation, but it was significant for East Multnomah County, for Portland and Gresham, Oregon.
The event was this: a group of forty homeless people met and talked about what services they wanted for their community in Gresham. I believe that this will change up to a half a million people’s hopes and expectations, perhaps more.
This may seem insignificant. After all, community and neighborhood meetings like this take place in every urban neighborhood in the United States, every month or two. How can one community meeting among a small group of homeless people be important? It is important for the following reasons:
1. It showed that the homeless exist in East Multnomah County
Although a meal for the poor has been served five days a week in Gresham for twenty years, if any other church or organization goes to the city of Gresham and asks for assistance from the city for the homeless, they deny that there are any homeless in Gresham. They say that the homeless live in the urban areas of Portland, not the suburb of Gresham. In this way, the city of Gresham doesn’t have to take responsibility for the homeless they have. When the forty homeless men and women met in a small church in Gresham, it showed that they did exist and have existed for decades.
2. The meeting showed that the homeless are a community
Often the homeless are called “transients”, as if they didn’t permanently live in the county, but were just passing through. This meeting showed that the homeless not only lived in the area permanently, but also that they are a community, able to speak with one voice to their own problems and to come up with their own solutions.
3. The meeting showed that the homeless want to work toward their own solutions
Most of the time “solutions for the homeless” come from well-meaning middle class folks or professional lobbyists, assuming that they knew how to solve “the homeless problem”. That day just a few weeks ago, the homeless showed that they can create their own solutions, and they are willing to work for them. In this time, the homeless came up with three ways they want to help themselves, with some help from outside, but they are willing to put in the necessary labor to begin and to maintain all of these notions.
Although most of America have wanted the homeless to pull themselves by their own bootstraps, but rarely have the homeless been given an opportunity to speak for themselves. Every community has problems, whether the urban homeless, a small town in a rural area, a minority Latino population in Los Angeles or a primarily white suburb of Miami. What is often forgotten for the poor, however, is that any solution that is created for them must also be created by them. If the poor are given a service without their input or assistance, then a number of effects occur:
-The poor don’t feel they need to work for it, because the service was a free gift
-The values of the middle class are promoted, instead of the values of the community being serviced
-The goals of the poor aren’t met because the poor weren’t consulted as to what their goals are
I believe that if a community—any community—is to be assisted, the community must own the assistance. This can be seen in a single individual. If a person wants to make real change in their lives, from overcoming addiction to maintaining an exercise program, he or she has to want that change, without any outside pressure. It is a cliché, but still true: “If you are going to change, you have to want it for yourself.” If this is true for one person, it is even more true for a community. If real change is to happen for the poor, then the change must begin with the poor.
It is my hope that this meeting in Gresham, OR might be replicated among every needy community all around the world, and that the service workers might listen to the solutions, asking for continual input and volunteer labor from those receiving the services. In this way, there may be an infrastructure for the needy that would actually support the needs and goals of the needy. And then, as a few more become needy in our ailing economy, the power to help themselves would already exist for them.
I believe that the seed for helping the poor is within the poor community itself.
The event was this: a group of forty homeless people met and talked about what services they wanted for their community in Gresham. I believe that this will change up to a half a million people’s hopes and expectations, perhaps more.
This may seem insignificant. After all, community and neighborhood meetings like this take place in every urban neighborhood in the United States, every month or two. How can one community meeting among a small group of homeless people be important? It is important for the following reasons:
1. It showed that the homeless exist in East Multnomah County
Although a meal for the poor has been served five days a week in Gresham for twenty years, if any other church or organization goes to the city of Gresham and asks for assistance from the city for the homeless, they deny that there are any homeless in Gresham. They say that the homeless live in the urban areas of Portland, not the suburb of Gresham. In this way, the city of Gresham doesn’t have to take responsibility for the homeless they have. When the forty homeless men and women met in a small church in Gresham, it showed that they did exist and have existed for decades.
2. The meeting showed that the homeless are a community
Often the homeless are called “transients”, as if they didn’t permanently live in the county, but were just passing through. This meeting showed that the homeless not only lived in the area permanently, but also that they are a community, able to speak with one voice to their own problems and to come up with their own solutions.
3. The meeting showed that the homeless want to work toward their own solutions
Most of the time “solutions for the homeless” come from well-meaning middle class folks or professional lobbyists, assuming that they knew how to solve “the homeless problem”. That day just a few weeks ago, the homeless showed that they can create their own solutions, and they are willing to work for them. In this time, the homeless came up with three ways they want to help themselves, with some help from outside, but they are willing to put in the necessary labor to begin and to maintain all of these notions.
Although most of America have wanted the homeless to pull themselves by their own bootstraps, but rarely have the homeless been given an opportunity to speak for themselves. Every community has problems, whether the urban homeless, a small town in a rural area, a minority Latino population in Los Angeles or a primarily white suburb of Miami. What is often forgotten for the poor, however, is that any solution that is created for them must also be created by them. If the poor are given a service without their input or assistance, then a number of effects occur:
-The poor don’t feel they need to work for it, because the service was a free gift
-The values of the middle class are promoted, instead of the values of the community being serviced
-The goals of the poor aren’t met because the poor weren’t consulted as to what their goals are
I believe that if a community—any community—is to be assisted, the community must own the assistance. This can be seen in a single individual. If a person wants to make real change in their lives, from overcoming addiction to maintaining an exercise program, he or she has to want that change, without any outside pressure. It is a cliché, but still true: “If you are going to change, you have to want it for yourself.” If this is true for one person, it is even more true for a community. If real change is to happen for the poor, then the change must begin with the poor.
It is my hope that this meeting in Gresham, OR might be replicated among every needy community all around the world, and that the service workers might listen to the solutions, asking for continual input and volunteer labor from those receiving the services. In this way, there may be an infrastructure for the needy that would actually support the needs and goals of the needy. And then, as a few more become needy in our ailing economy, the power to help themselves would already exist for them.
I believe that the seed for helping the poor is within the poor community itself.
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