Josh Kaufman-Horner's Blog
A Dated Introduction to Mission Year Oakland: / Dec 19, 10:27 AM
Mission Year is not currently serving in Oakland – but this introduction served us well for a number of years – and may yet again!
The San Francisco Bay Area is fertile ground for revolution.
Just a few decades ago this area was the epicenter of movements attempting to challenge many core values in our nation’s culture. In San Francisco “hippies” sought utopia through immersion in drugs and rock & roll. At the same time students at Berkeley protested the war in Vietnam and pushed for greater freedom of speech. Here in Oakland the Black Panther Party openly carried rifles, as they demanded jobs, decent housing, an end to oppression by police, and reparations for slavery.
These movements challenged some of the core values of their culture (materialism, conformity, corporate ladders, and peace through strength) and explored a variety of ways to respond to core questions about the purpose of life. Many of their responses were deeply misguided and yet I believe Christians can appreciate the questions these movements raised about their culture.
In the beginning of Romans 12:2 Paul tells us, “Be counter-cultural” (the affirmative version of “Do not be conformed to this world”). The hippies, students, and Panthers effectively followed this admonition. They were counter-cultural.
Mission Year is a different kind of revolution. The entire verse of Romans 12:2 says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.” While Paul calls Christians to be counter-cultural he also is very specific about the Kingdom culture God wills for them to adopt. In his first letter to Timothy (6:17-19) Paul says:
“As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.”
As the City Director here in Oakland part of my role is to help our Mission Year Team Members, “take hold of the life that really is life.” My hope is that our Team Members, both during and after their Mission Year, have their minds renewed by a biblical vision of Kingdom culture in which God provides richly for us so that we may provide generously for others.
This year in we’ve had almost 30 Team Members living out their faith in word and deed on the streets of Oakland. We’ve seen miraculous transformations in the lives of neighbors and in our own lives. Women still fighting addiction have been baptized in local churches, children have been inspired to develop their academic skills, and men who were lonely have been given support. The miracle of friendship has blossomed between our Team Members and their neighbors. These friendships cross lines of race, class, age, and culture. It’s entirely unbelievable and yet every Mission Year these miracles occur. If you could take a neighborhood walk with one of our Team Members you could start to appreciate the magnitude of God’s work, through each of them, in Oakland.
Mission Year is, thus far, a small movement against a culture that values competition over compassion and greed over generosity. As our Oakland Team Members and other young people across the country devote their lives to loving God and loving others a revolution of generosity is just beginning.
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