Church of the poor - Jesus Army

Continued from overleaf
you the criticism that you have
an affinity with a communist
political ethic. To what extent
would you refute that claim?
I say in my book (The Irresistible
Revolution) that if we really
discovered Christ’s call to love
our neighbours as ourselves then
capitalism as we have it now
would be impossible and communism
would not be necessary.
We are not creating a system but
we are creating a relationship
with people in poverty.
Redistribution is only meaningful
as much as it is rooted in
love and relationships. It is not
a prescription for community
but a just description of what
happens when we live our lives
alongside people who are hurting.
If we really have genuine
friendships with the poor then
redistribution is inevitable – we
see that in the early Church.
They ended poverty in the early
Church and we believe that we
can do that again.
Tell me about the fire – how
have your local community
dealt with the trauma?
It was awful in many ways.
There was a real feeling in the
neighbourhood that this didn’t
have to happen – it wouldn’t
have happened in other neighbourhoods.
But there is also the
real, beautiful hope of people
pulling together. The Red Cross
said that they didn’t have many
people staying in the local
shelter on the night of the fire
because so many people in the
neighbourhood had opened up
“
their homes to each other.
What does your practical
response to the situation look
like now?
We have a coalition of neighbours
affected by the fire and we
have raised tens of thousands
of dollars from around the
world in order to rebuild homes
– we’ve just begun work on two
houses. We are excited to see
homes restored and people
moving back in.
This
Do you see the fire as persecution
for what you’re doing for
Jesus?
The fire started in the warehouse
– it wasn’t like our building
was set on fire. But there is a
sense that when you live among
the poor and marginalised you
enter into suffering – or at least
solidarity – with them. You
become vulnerable to things
like this, things that you would
never need to worry about in
other neighbourhoods.
What has been amazing about
this situation is that it puts us
on very equal ground with our
neighbours. In our meetings
we’re no longer the heads of a
non-profit organisation – our
neighbours are bringing us
clothes and telling us they want
to help us rebuild. There is a real
sense of bearing each others’
burdens. It’s what incarnational
love should look like.
we are creating a
relationship with
people in poverty
In your book you quote Bonhoeffer:
‘The person who loves
their dream of community will
destroy community but the
person who loves those around
them will create community.’
Is this the simple recipe for
success that churches should
follow?
For sure. We can see it in
congregations that have a seven
point, five-year programme for
church growth – but then people
in the congregation just rip
each other apart. The same can
be true in social justice circles
– people can have a great vision
for changing the world but be
pretty hard to live with. In one
community I went to, they had
T-shirts that said ‘Everybody
wants a revolution but nobody
wants to do the dishes’. That’s
the challenge – to live out the
revolution every day in not just
the great things but in doing the
small things that we do with a
lot of love.
My friend Brooke says that
the most radical thing that we
do is love each other again and
again, and choose to do that
every day.
JL
”
article first appeared in the
Autumn 2007 issue of Faithworks
magazine, copyright CCP Ltd 2007,
reproduced with permission.
www.faithworksmagazine.info
For more on Shane’s community,
visit www.thesimpleway.org
The Simple Way are launching
a new website designed as a
connecting point for people
interested in or already living
in intentional communities like
The Simple Way, around the
globe. Visit www.communityofcommunities.us
for more
information.
The Irresistible Revolution is
published by Zondervan £7.99
/ ISBN-10: 0-310-26630-0
Jesus Life One/2008 Page 16
www.jesus.org.uk