Within the walls of Amor Ministries, we celebrate the diversity of our team. In the spirit of iron sharpening iron, we intentionally meet to talk about divisive issues within the Church and society as a whole. The goal is to learn from each other, walk away with a better understanding and deeper respect of our differences, and achieve a heightened sense of  common ground. The topics we discuss are drawn from recent news articles. Please take a moment to tell us what you think about any or all of these topics.

• Should Christians boycott?
  • Florida churches boycott Pepsi
  • Sojourners semi-boycott of advertisers for Limbaugh, Hannity, and O’Reilly
• How far does our support of free speech go?
  • The “I hate Obama” pastor in AZ
  • Do you have the right to flip off a cop?
• How is our faith lived out?
  • Differences between conservative and progressive Christian activists
  • Should a coach be allowed to take his players to a church event to be baptized?

Recently Amor was able to raise the funds to build a home for a family in need in the state of Chihuahua, outside of the city of Ciudad Juarez. This area has been particularly struck by the lack of groups this year, and many families have been waiting for almost a year to receive a home. When we told the pastors in the area that we had the funding for a home, they volunteered to be the labor to build it. Over three Saturdays in August, they built a home for the Gardner family. Nancy Gardner is a single mother with a five year old son, a three year old son, and a one year old daughter who lives on a salary of $25 a week. The family had been living in a small, one room shack, and had been waiting for an Amor home since December. After the pastors’ hard work, they now have a home of their own. We took some pictures during the building process. Check them out to see what the community in which we were building is like!

I recently read this quote from Oswald Chamber’s My Utmost for His Highest:

“A missionary is someone in whom the Holy Spirit has brought about the realization: You are not your own.”

Chambers goes on to talk about 1 Cor. 6:19, “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself.”

What exactly does it mean to “not belong to yourself”. I mean, we are physically controlling our bodies, making each movement on our own, right? I feed myself, clothe myself, bathe myself, etc.

I think what he is saying (and what Paul in Corinthians is saying) is that as missionaries (which I believe as Christians that is our goal – to spread the Gospel to those who haven’t heard it, making us all missionaries no matter what our profession) we have to realize that even though we have been put in physical control of ourselves, our lives, and the paths we choose, as missionaries we are called to something greater than the comfort of our daily routines. Through Christ we have tremendous value – a value worth the death of a King – and we are called to give that life back through serving the Lord and his people. And that is why I am sitting here today – uprooted, friendless, in a city far from home. Because I don’t belong to myself, and my comfortable life back home. I knew that if I stayed in NYC (and didn’t come to Amor as a year-long intern) I would be “belonging to myself” and not serving the God whom I do belong to – the God who wants me here.

Joanna Flavin is serving as a year long intern with Amor Ministries. You can read more on her personal blog, www.theflavins.com

I will begin this review by asking you to close your eyes and imagine I am a) someone of great influence in your life who is b) standing in front of you c) with a book in my hand d) entitled The Blue Sweater, and e) telling you to “Read It.” You should read it. Really.

What author Jacqueline Novogratz has done here is create an honest account of her struggle with the “questions about justice and compassion, power and money, and the randomness of where we are born and how much that determines who we become.” More importantly, she has allowed us a deep look into her experience working with the poorest people on this planet – a journey far more insightful than any how-to-end-poverty-in-one-generation manual. She boldly faces the failures of traditional charity while creating hope in a system of giving that is implicit in its creation of dignity.

Likewise, Novogratz confronts the systems that disallow the success of honest entrepreneurship, be it governmental corruption, traditions that subjugate women, or inert religion. One comment about the Rwandan genocide that destroyed so much of her work and so many lives in that country should be a warning about the distortion of faith;

Religion had played such a tragic, disappointing role: When thousands of people had fled to the churches for safety, they found not sanctuaries, but killing fields. Some priests and nuns became modern Judases, and the masses, previously so beholden to authority, ensured that neither house of God nor shrine was sacred.

In another experience, she is forced to confront the pitfalls of the very system she is trying to create.  While working in the Mississippi Delta, Novogratz realized “how easily capitalism can be manipulated to oppress the most vulnerable.” This led her to understanding that “good public policy must accompany market-oriented solutions that are undergirded with an imperative of moral leadership.”

But these lessons aside, it is the amazing optimism coursing throughout the pages of  The Blue Sweater that leaves the most indelible impression. It is this theme of Hope that makes this book a “must read” and it’s story of redemption that makes it remarkable. Or, as so aptly stated by a survivor of the Rwandan genocide:

In the end, goodness triumphs over the bad. It is our challenge to do good and to serve others without waiting for the good to be returned. I am convinced that those people cultivate universal love will have good fortune on earth. In serving others, I found light in a place of utmost darkness.”

You should read it. Really.

We are committed to providing resources for you to make the most out of your mission trip, whether with us or elsewhere. With that in mind, we are crazy about Deep Justice Journeys by Kara Powell and Brad Griffin. Or, to put it in even stronger terms; if I were King of Short Term Missions, this would be required reading to help you prepare for working in a different culture. The video below is of the author, Kara, discussing why the book is beneficial. Take a look, then get the book.