Brokenness: How to help without hurting
This year we took our HopeTown team on a very intentional journey to discover "how we can help the people in Ocean View without hurting them". We realised that sometimes some of our actions which seemed very compassionate and kind, actually came out of our own brokenness and need to be accepted, loved and recognized. It was a great process for the team and we questioned our hearts deeply. Still now, our team is in this process and not everything we do has pure motives. But we are on a journey and don’t want to shy away from our revelation of selfishness in ourselves. We are on a journey to discover Jesus in and around us more and more.
I like Steve Corbett’s quote: "Until we embrace our mutual brokenness, our work with low-income people is likely to do more harm than good. I sometimes unintentionally reduce poor people to objects that I use to fulfill my own need to accomplish something. I am not okay, and you are not okay. But Jesus can fix us both."
#brokenness #learning #teamlife #mission #ministry #churchleadership #lovingpeople #compassion #whenhelpinghurts #hopetownoceanview
About the author: Doris comes originally from Switzerland, is married to a Irish husband, has lived for nearly 9 years in Cape Town, and is raising 3 teenage kids to be world changers. She founded and leads a ministry called HopeTown, reaching out to the youth at risk in the former township of Ocean View. Her heart beats to combine ministry and discipleship on the ground with business opportunities to make the ministry self-sustainable, long term, and with training and job opportunities for the marginalised young people. Her love of giving second chances is also seen in her enjoyment of shopping second-hand markets!
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Lessons from the Least, the Last, and the Lost, All Nations Weekly Devotion by Blake Staton, M.Div.
All Nations Pocket Guide to Church Planting by Dr. Pam Arlund (in many languages)
All Nations Storytelling Resource
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