Walking the Jesus way

Last school holidays I had the pleasure and privilege of telling and facilitating space for some of God's Story to be experienced at NCOH Youth's camp in Walkers Flat on the Murray.  NCOH is the Northern Community of Hope - a church in Daveron Park with a real heart for the community around them, a church for some of the real broken people just coming as they are and experiencing God.  I was there as part of the Access the Story team - speaking out the meta-narrative of God, and to be honest I was pretty excited to have been asked to go because I felt validated by the Access the Story crew as a capable communicator, leader or maybe even just as a leader.  It was an amazing week, of ministry opportunities, of trying things a little out of my comfort zone, of watching and responding to the community and culture and of new friendships and perceptions. My friend and colleague Trav whom I accompanied on camp shared his reflections here. There was a few things I learnt about myself and God's heart in me through this experience.

1. God's story is inviting and meaningful for everyone.

I had done a little of storytelling and facilitating of story based experiences with groups before, and a lot in my own youth group.  The thing which stood out to me was that for some people, God's story is really new, something they haven't heard before.  It is powerful to the first time hearer as well as the person who have heard it a million times before.  God's story is full of invitations to join in, to lament with and to see joy.  God's story isn't just for the white middle class, God's story reaches into the lives of those from a diverse background.

2. The fringe of society needs to be embraced.  People matter. 

Its easy to fear what we don't understand.  But what I realised was that all people matter.  I knew that, but to truly live that out looks different and is difficult.  Its hard to not cross to the other side of the street when you see someone who looks dodgy, its hard to change your conversation from eyes down and no to truly listening when approached in the street.  When we take the time to listen and to embrace all the way to the fringe of society, we can find a far richer expression of faith, life and community.  The leaders at NCOH do that really well with their youth.  They don't just look for solutions for the perceived needs, they listen to the stories and share life with people.  I think Jesus was a bit like this. I want to be more like this.

3. Labels and expectations from society on people are unnecessary.

By the standards of society, many if not most of the youth at this camp have failed. They could be summed up as drop kicks, ferals, and a burden on society. It would be easy to sum them up that way, to expect them to behave that way and live up to the labels they have been given. However what i realised was that in fact there was more to these kids than them simply not being at school, and wandering the streets. There was more to them than being unemployed and uneducated. These kids had experienced things and lived in conditions which made everyday successful if they survived and if they had something to eat.
These kids are gifted, talented, passionate people. They express themselves in music, dancing, sometimes even in fighting. But they are good at it, they love it, and they have gifts to share with others through these talents.  We need to give them the space to do these things. what they have to offer is worth listening too.
These kids aren't ferals. These kids are passionate and talented.

4. Broken people attract broken people

Sometimes I think that it's in our brokenness in which we can best lead.  It's in the knowing of who we are and the path we have walked that informs our understanding and our compassion and empathy.  During this camp I had brief and sometimes fleeting moments of sitting and listening to young people and their stories.  And even more occasionally I had a couple of brief moments to share my story.  In moments of reflection on what it meant to understand God as a good father in the tension of father figures.  In moments of reflection of family and brokenness and the understanding that normal isn't as clear anymore.  It was in these moments where I learnt to listen, to hear stories and I learnt that sometimes God gives you a stirring for certain people because of similarity.  I am learning to own my brokenness and that rather then pushing my brokenness away, to embrace it and use my brokenness and what I have learnt through it to inform my listening, my empathy, my heart.

Most of what I learnt during this week at camp was about perception and how I viewed people.  God is stirring my heart more and more for people who are broken and marginalised. I hope that as I respond to where God leads me and to the community God places around me, I will do it with a heart of openness and willingness to learn from all people, like I did while on camp with NCOH Youth.

God is moving in all parts of our world. God isn't just for the white middle class, God meets us in the broken parts of society and walks the streets with us.   I am learning to notice what God is doing in these places and value the people who make up these communities.