Mission trip to Philly–at your own RISK
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Posted in General Articles by Amanda Dums on 5/3/2009
As a community, we take two mission trips together a year and this
spring we decided on heading to Kensington, Philadelphia where AIM used
to have a huge missions base. We’ve heard plenty of amazing stories
from people at AIM about Philly and the ministry there, we’ve all read
The Irresistible Revolution by Shawn Claiborne who’s one of the
founders of the Simple Way, a community endeavor we’ve modeled some
aspects of ComLife after. AIM’s actually donated a building to the
Simple Way’s Potter Street Community and we had hopes of getting to see
their community in action while we were in town.
I’ll suffice it to say, we had no such luck in any of these plans
materializing during our trip at all. In fact, this weeklong mission
trip to Philly looked drastically different than any other mission trip
I’ve ever been on. Why? Well for starters, we hardly ministered. Our
plans for the week took a much different focus because we realized that
there was some ministering that needed to happen within our own team.
In my last blog I talked about risk and its importance in building community. This week fo
r
us as a community was an important one. I think we could have had a
great week in Philly with a packed schedule of ministering to the
hurting community of Kensington. I think God would have blessed us and
we would have come home with some amazing stories under our belt. But
as a community, we had hit our wall, and there were some long overdue
conversations that needed to happen within our group.
So since our schedule was pretty wide open we took that time to begin to talk about some things that we had been hiding. It was a risk. We
didn’t have to open up about these things. We didn’t have to spend
hours each day walking through the crap that was going on in our hearts
and minds. We didn’t have to be honest with where we were at. We could
have just told ourselves that we were fine and moved on. We could have
believed that this community wasn’t that important, after all, some
people are leaving soon anyway so what’s the point? Why dig in
now? Just let it rest.
No one cares anyway.
It’s amazing how those lies settle in so quickly and easily, huh? But as a team we cast them aside and said, No, we are
going to talk about this. We are going to be frank about how things
affect us. We are going to be honest about what we’re feeling and how
we’ve been hurt by people’s words and actions. We committed to this
community and we are committed to this process.
So
we dove in. We started by taking a few minutes to write some things
down under three categories: Bright, Blurry, Blind. The bright things
were the conflicts everyone in the community knew were taking
place. Things like us always being late to meetings and never knowing
who’s driving or what vehicles are available to use-these things always
spring some kind of conflict. The blurry things were the conflicts that
are there, but no one really talks about. Maybe they are alluded to or
talked about in side conversations, but are never really resolved or
communicated clearly. Blind things were conflicts that we were having
personally, but have never told anyone about. These are the resentments
and issues that we’ve been harboring in our hearts that never reach
resolution because they are hidden within.
After
about 15 minutes we put all our pieces of paper in the middle of the
table and drew one out. Starting with the Bright topics we opened the
discussion. It went back and forth with each person wanting to be
heard, us learning how to listen, making mistakes, checking out,
getting passionate and cussing, growing weary, restoring hope,
clarifying intentio
ns,
and seeking resolution. It was quite a process that at times seemed to
be going nowhere. It’s amazing how much we can hurt each other in the
process of a few months together. There were issues brought to the
table that hadn’t been resolved since we all began in September last
year!
We
hadn’t really taken risks this big with each other until this
moment. We’d had opportunities to dig in before, but had passed them up
for ‘keeping the peace’, not causing any commotion, not rocking the
boat, or not making people mad. We were not really sharing our
hearts. We weren’t risking. What I’ve learned through this time is that
hearts can’t be healed unless there’s some risk. Bitterness and
resentment reign king until someone risks communicating some hard
things. Until there’s a hurt identified and an opportunity to
apologize, forward movement can’t really happen.
was a depth of community that we reached after our trip to
Philly. There was a raw and real sense of authenticity in our
interactions with one another.
I could finally say that we stopped playing community and started actually living it.
ComLife is not just a trendy little community experiment you join to
say you’ve been a part of something. ComLife is a platform where people
who long to live out a life of authenticity and passion come together
and RISK with one another the things within. It’s a place of
self-discovery…a place you can’t get to without other people. How
ironic is that? You can’t get to self-discovery without other people.
We long for it.
We were made for it.
God designed it that way.
never ever learned as much alone as I have learned with other
people. There’s no risk with just me. I need other people to take risks
with, and so do you. If that longing inside you is crying out for some
real relationships and real growth, I’d suggest finding some people you
can take risks with. Join a community that’s going after these things
and is willing to be real. See where it takes you and what God reveals.
If you don’t know where to start, check out ComLife-we’re
in this together, and we’re in it for growth. We seek to be real and
open and honest and loving and challenging. We’re accepting applications now until July 15th for our September 1st start date. It’s 11 months and it may just be the place where you can begin to take some risks.
Toya,
Thanks for sharing and reminding us all that we need to reach out to each other.
Love you,
Lenora