Here’s my third (and final) post on Velvet Elvis:

“And now it is our turn. It is our turn to step up and take responsibility for who the church is going to be for a new generation. It is our turn to redefine and reshape and dream it all up again. It is our turn to rediscover the beautiful, dangerous, compelling idea that a group of people, surrendered to God and to each other, really can change the world.

…So what is a group of people living this way called? That’s the church. The church doesn’t exist for itself; it exists to serve the world. It is not ultimately about the church; it’s about all the people God wants to bless through the church. When the church loses sight of this, it loses heart… Why blame the dark for being dark? It is far more helpful to ask why the light isn’t as bright as it could be.”

In my mind, this passage sort of “piggy backs” on the passage in my last entry. Rob continues to encourage the church to be a “serving machine.” To bless people through the church, and to not expect anything in return. For me, this also emphasizes why the work we’re doing here with Paradigm Shift is so meaningful. Our goal is to empower local churches to serve the poor. We want to work ourselves out of a job and to help churches create sustainable ways of impacting the working poor in their communities. I am truly encouraged by our vision, and I pray that God continues to use us as a tool for His work. And as a tool to change the world. Why not dream big? : )

I enjoyed reading Velvet Elvis so much that I decided to write a few more entries on passages that held significance for me.

“When we choose God’s vision of who we are, we are living as God made us to live. We are living in the flow of how we are going to live forever. This is the life of heaven, here and now. And as we live this life, in harmony with God’s intentions for us, the life of heaven becomes more and more present in our lives. Heaven comes to earth… There is this place, this realm, heaven, where things are as God desires them to be. As we live this way, heaven comes here. To this place, this world, the one we’re living in.

…For Jesus, heaven and hell were present realities. Ways of living we can enter into here and now. He talked very little of the life beyond this one because he understood that the life beyond this one is a continuation of the kinds of choices we make here and now.

For Jesus, the question wasn’t, how do I get into heaven? but how do I bring heaven here?

The question wasn’t, how do I get in there? But how do I get there, here?

…Jesus’ desire for his followers is that they live in such a way that they bring heaven to earth.

What’s disturbing then is when people talk more about hell after this life than they do about hell here and now. As a Christian, I want to do what I can to resist hell coming to earth. Poverty, injustice, suffering–they are all hells on earth, and as Christians we oppose them with all our energies. Jesus told us to.”

In this brief passage, Rob reminds us that our role as Christians is to bring heaven to earth. He encourages us to lose any agenda we might have, or any ulterior motives…and to just love on people and to serve them. He tells us to do this for no other reason than the simple fact that it’s what Jesus would do. And it’s what He wants us to do. For me, this chapter in the book really reminded me of why I’m in South Africa. And it challenged me to continue trying to love and serve people in a real, authentic way.

A dear friend of mine recently loaned me Rob Bell’s Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith. I had been wanting to read this book for at least 2 years, so I was really looking forward to diving in. Not surprisingly, the combination of no television and ‘unreliable’ access to the internet has provided me with an abundance of spare time to read. This is actually one of the things I’ve been most grateful for in my time here in South Africa.

As I was reading, one line in particular struck me. In a conversation Rob has with a Christian therapist, the therapist says, “Your job is the relentless pursuit of who God has made you to be. And anything else you do is sin and you need to repent of it.”

Wow. Powerful stuff, huh? My prayer for myself–and my prayer for our team–is that we all continue to relentlessly pursue who God has made us to be. In the spirit of honesty, I am really not quite sure what that will look like in my own life. But I am definitely excited to see where He leads me  : )

A week ago last Wednesday, one of my teammates and I had the unique opportunity to visit one of the largest townships in all of Johannesburg, Alexandra (fondly referred to as “Alex”).  For those of you who are wondering what a township is …under Apartheid, blacks and “coloureds” were confined to specific residential areas—so there was a clear distinction between where whites lived and where non-whites lived. These areas were called townships.  Nowadays, these communities (generally located on the outskirts of cities) are still incredibly underdeveloped.

One of our entrepreneurs had traveled all the way from Alex to Robin Hills (about an hour by taxi) in order to attend our business training course.  Consequently, we felt we owed it to her to travel to Alex to assess her business and discuss the possibility of receiving a microloan.  This particular entrepreneur is a baker.  Every morning, she wakes up around 4am–spends 2 hours baking scones–and then sells her scones on the corner of her street to people on their way to work.  She has very little money, and the R72 (R36 round trip, times two separate meeting occasions) she spent on taxi fees to get to and from the training was probably a significant sacrifice.  

She and her sister (and their two children, ages 11 and 18 months) share a living space.  Their “house” could not have been more than 10 feet long by 10 feet wide. A large bed occupied much of the room, and there was no running water anywhere to be seen.  The most noticeable appliance was the stove, where our entrepreneur faithfully bakes her scones each morning.

Yet, despite this “lack” of materials possessions, I have never felt more welcomed into a home in my entire life.  As Greg and I walked in we were greeted with warm smiles and big hugs.  We were asked to sit in their only two chairs, with a third chair serving as a coffee table.  Our entrepreneurs’ sister promptly cleaned the only four cups they seemed to own and began to prepare tea for the four of us.  We had to ask our entrepreneur some pretty serious questions about how she would, logistically, attend each weekly meeting.  We were very clear in the fact that if she were to receive a loan, each weekly meeting was mandatory—and missed meetings incurred a fine.  Our entrepreneur had clearly thought out a plan of action for how she could get to and from meetings—and reminded us that sacrifices are necessarily if you want to advance in your business.

Leaving her home, I knew there would definitely be obstacles to encounter throughout the course of the next few months—but she had unwaveringly won my support.  I believe in her.  I think she can (and will) succeed.  And most importantly, she reminded me why I moved 10,000 miles away from everyone I know and love.

If you’re interested in learning more about Alex, please feel click here.