Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) seems to be a hot topic in missions lately. Earlier this year I took a course taught by Joel Zwier & Joel VanDyke at a local seminary about the ways in which a community can utilize the resources that are
already present within it. It was not a conventional seminary class - we started our mornings in the Scriptures, reading passages that provide us with principles for community development or resource-management. Many of the passages spoke about the idea of 'downward mobility', which is also a topic discussed among our network of leaders around the world. These leaders are wrestling with the call God has given them to live radically, and have created the
Street Psalms Community as a place to discuss what God is teaching them. You can read reflections from this community on downward mobility
here (great articles & resources, by the way!).
We discussed the challenges of a community managing it's own growth and development, and resisting the urge to 'manage' things from the outside. In the afternoons, we hit the streets. We learned how to map a community's resources- everything from the talents of individuals, companies, NGO's, geographical places, and natural resources. That includes the guy who's got a hot dog stand on the corner and the homeless kids members who hang out in the alley. We interviewed members of the community immediately around the seminary, asked them to share their thoughts about the atmosphere in their neighborhood, their dreams for its growth, their talents & interests, and their willingness to participate in change.
Mapping a community and encouraging them to take ownership in their own growth is a difficult process, it takes lots of time and energy. Yet I would love to dedicate more time to a project like that here in Pinula where I live... though it would be a long & invovled project I'm sure! Someday God might bring about that opportunity. As a
member of that community now I can really participate in growth instead of 'managing' it.
However, even
more difficult than community asset-mapping is this concept of downward mobility. Every fiber of our being fights against it; even when our heart says 'Yes, this is the path that Jesus walked!' our self-preservation instinct says 'No'.
In the words of Kathy, borrowed from the Geography of Grace article mentioned above:
"Downward mobility is nurturing a way of living that is really only about one thing—relationships... and open-handedly & open-heartedly loving people in tangible ways. this
requires an incredible amount of time, emotional and spiritual energy,
and grace. It means I must completely throw out the old measures of
success and look in one direction and one direction only—where God’s
spirit is at work in the hearts and lives of the people right in front
of me."
Kevin & I continue to wrestle with this radical call to a life of 'descent'... especially as a newly married couple, always thinking about our future family, thinking about establishing a home, about stability. But that's where it is important to think about what
direction we are looking. Where is God's spirit at work in the hearts and lives of people around us?
Please pray for us as we continue to wrestle with God's radical call on our lives as we serve him here in Guatemala.
Shalom,
Kim <><
