How can we effectively address the needs of a community of poverty? Below is our plan.
First, we will seek to form a “study-action group” of 10 to 15 persons, in the McAllen area and in Reynosa, motivated by the love of Jesus, to adopt a specific community we are getting to know in Reynosa. The group will meet weekly to pray, study principles and precedents of effective ministry among the poor, and plan and implement concrete projects in the adopted community. This will be like a typical church’s “cell group,” except that its purpose will go beyond mere Bible study and fellowship among ourselves to include practical action to empower the poorest of the poor of our region.
Second, the study-action group will conduct a weekly fellowship dinner in the community. Two or three members of the group will visit the community each week, bringing sandwiches or other food, to worship with the residents in a local “templo” and eat with them after the church service. The point of this is to get to know the people and their needs.
Third, we will begin English classes for advanced English students on both sides of the border in which the students work on promoting this project in English and contributing their professional expertise, connections, etc. These classes will bring together Mexican maquiladora managers, professionals, and residents of the community.
Fourth, we will raise funds to hire a full-time Mexican Christian community development worker to coordinate the efforts of the study-action group, the English students, and other volunteers to address needs in the areas of health, nutrition, education, job skills training, etc. Before this person is hired, he or she will work together with the study-action group and the Border Hope “brain trust” to develop a detailed plan. (Currently, the “brain trust” includes a Harvard-trained economist, a Mexican journalist, a Mexican lawyer with ties to World Vision Mexico, a psychologist, a bilingual medical doctor, and others.) Specifically, the development worker will coordinate the efforts of community residents, Mexican and American volunteers, and consultants to do projects of the following sort:
- The weekly fellowship dinner, in which the members of a local study-action group and volunteers get to know the residents of the community.
- Literacy and elementary school education for adults (possibly with INEA, a Mexican government agency).
- Promote reading of the Bible and other materials in homes.
- Tutoring program for children / monitoring of education.
- Youth programs.
- Job training.
- Organize a food-buying cooperative to reduce food costs.
- Appropriate technology (solar cookers, composting toilets, etc.).
- Agriculture.
- Address the lack of access to a quality education that the children of this area are currently experiencing.
- Coordinate a program in which residents of the community receive assistance to attend vocational training courses, are placed in jobs, and pay back into the revolving fund out of the resulting earnings.
- Etc.
Fifth, we will periodically review what has been accomplished, revise our plans as needed, and seek to replicate the program in other communities of poverty.
This plan is predicated on the following core convictions, which we believe are central to the message of the Bible and the mission of Christ:
- It is the duty of every Christian to personally and practically attend to the needs of persons who are suffering and being excluded.
- Both rich and poor come to experience spiritual wholeness and a new and empowering sense of identity as they live as a “new community” that functions on the basis of love and compassion for all, rather than on the basis of advancement at the expense of others that leads to alienation in society.
This project is not about “throwing money at” problems. Nor is it about engaging in sporadic “hit and run” ministry that does not permanently change lives. It is about forging strong connections between a marginalized community and the broader community. It is about building a web of lasting relationships in which people of diverse backgrounds and needs and resources come together into the same circle of deep and mutual caring in the spirit of Jesus. In this context we will seek to implement effective measures to empower those who have been excluded and deprived of basic needs. The development worker we hire will be merely the tip of a larger iceberg of care, support, shared insights, and connections; his work will greatly leverage the efforts of a broader network of people involved.
Our aim is to be a “high-touch” ministry. We therefore do not seek only the money that donors can give. We would like for each supporter, where local or from afar, to experience the blessing of knowing the names and problems and opportunities and successes of specific people that are being helped, and hearing their voices and seeing their faces, personally, via periodic conference calls via phone or Skype, and/or visits the supporters may make. At each step we will also seek to keep supporters aware of our progress by means of this blog.
Would you like to participate? See the page “How to Help.” Thank you in advance!
