Poverty

Originally Written for the Westside Way on 12.05.05

I have recently been challenged to look at the word poverty through a new lens. Before the last few weeks I would not have categorized myself, or anyone I know, as being poor. This is because my definition was not deep enough. In our societal circles, poverty is easily hidden from sight. In fact I think I try to hide it from myself. Our environment actually encourages us to hide our poverty.

I have also recently read articles that challenge me to think about the underlying purpose of education. The purpose of education may be different depending
on the mission of any given learning institution, but one common underlying purpose of education is to eliminate poverty.

In three weeks, Steve and I will be in Thailand learning about some of the most heart wrenching problems that exist in our world. One of the roots of these problems is extreme poverty, which can lead to horrific sins committed against the most vulnerable and innocent. I anticipate that this type of physical and economic poverty will be easy to identify.

In our circles, another type of poverty also exists. This is the poverty of the heart. An example of this type of poverty became evident to me recently as I was reading a book by Gary Haugen that challenged me with this question: Why do we, as followers of Christ, not act when we have knowledge of the pain and poverty of others? (Matthew 25:40 “… I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”) Haugen’s response was that it is because of our own poverty of compassion, poverty of hope, and poverty of purpose. We do not have sufficient compassion to be passionate enough to act. We believe that the problems of this world are too big, so we never get started. We have not listened to God to get a sense of His direction, calling, and purpose for our life. It is this type of poverty of the heart that the typical American church member, Christian school student, teacher, and administrator can easily fall into.

So, if we are called to address issues of poverty (not just economic), how exactly do we do that? I sure wish there was an easy answer to that question. I have a hunch that those (me) who are living with a poverty of compassion, hope, and purpose could gain a clearer purpose, sense of hope, and more compassion for others by being exposed to and helping to address the poverty of others.

My perception is that this generation of students puts a high value on the relational aspects of learning. That is a core value to them. This makes modeling a key tool for teaching values, complex connections between principles, and what it means to be a servant leader and follower of Christ. Jesus modeled the way we all should live as he ate, traveled, worked, and interacted with his disciples. The disciples had the ultimate experiential learning environment and the results have changed our world.

My prayer is that we continue to grow in our ability to model Christ to others. If we claim to be a follower of Jesus yet our life does not attempt to reflect the life He lived, then we are damaging the cause of Christ. It will be exciting to look at our school and educational processes, honestly identify the poverty that exists, and in partnership with you, the Westside community, work toward eliminating it. The results could be amazing!