Merritt Harris's Blog
october in Chicago. / 10.16.08, 03:13 PM
how are you all doing? here are some of the things that i’ve been doing and learning.
i work four days a week at a ministry called Breakthrough in west chicago. its basically a transitional home and homeless shelter all at once. i love it. my job is mostly odd jobs and relational. i hang out with our guests who are all currently homeless. we have classes for training the men to get jobs and we help them get apartments too. (i work in the mens shelter side, though there is a womens ministry called Joshua just down the street)
being here is eye opening, the stereotypes and prejudgments i had about homeless are almost all wrong. these men are brilliant. many of them i would even go to for council. many of them are passionate studiers of the Word. and most of them are far from lazy. people here either messed up somewhere along the line or just have no one to back them up when they fall.
its beautiful how much these friends teach me.
i’m also in a curriculum reading with my housemates, we just finished “Restoring at Risk Communities” by John Perkins. great book. if you are at all interested in Urban Ministries or the likes, i would highly recommend this book.
In general, our whole ministry focuses on relational impact. we aren’t out on the street telling sinners to repent (though, i’m sure God can and has used that method very effectively) but we are getting to know the people, seeking their hearts, and showing them to Christ.
we live in a dangerous part of town, my team is in East Garfield Park, which is west of downtown Chicago. Getting to know our neighbors is also a large part of our ministry here. i have made a couple of friend and the developing relationship is as painful as it is good. it burdens me to see how racism effects even my friendships, not only racism in the black brothers, but in myself. If you’ve only ever lived in a neighborhood that is primarily your race, how can you really know how you act when you’re a minority? i didn’t come in to Mission Year thinking anything about racism, but i’m learning so much about how its long rooted in our history, and it still lurks in the bones of our country. are you willing to say you reconcile before your black brothers, yet never live with them? are you willing to say you’re reconciled but for some reason your church is all white? (this argument goes both ways, because reconciling is a team thing)
anyways, i’m learning more than i imagined learning. its a wonderful thing.
there are many reasons for me to hate it here, but i love it. its where God has put me and its right.
if you can’t tell, i’m so passionate about this! its amazing. and now i see that serving the unprivileged is a life style, not an occasion. i’m only here for a year, but thats not the end of it for me. this is the beginning.
feel free to ask any questions, i’ll reply if i have time to get online. (no computer at home)
thank you all for your prayers, they mean a lot to me.
merritt
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Yes! A new post, and it was such a sweet one!! Praise the Lord that you are loving it and learning so much. I am so happy to hear that you are doing well. I will continue to pray for you my friend
By Molly Kaizer / Oct 20, 10:31 PM / #
great to hear what God is showing you about his creation. yes, we are all fearfully and wonderfully made. Couple of weeks ago I saw John Perkins speak at the John Perkins Lectureship Series right here in Memphis. I bought his new book “Linking Arms, Linking Lives”. You’ll probably also read stuff by Ronald Sider.
Learn stuff by doing and teach others by doing.
Keep pressing on for His kingdom.
Hans
By hans / Oct 29, 10:18 PM / #