Our faith hinges upon loving God and neighbor. Loving our neighbor is a simple command with complex implications. Each “A” lab will help us to understand how to love others and act on their behalf in a way that is consistent with the character of Jesus and His mission of reconciliation and redemption.
Calendar Of Events
Below are a trailers to a movie and a documentary that address the type of engagement with poverty found in our third formation objective, which is to learn about (and practice) methods of engagement with the materially poor that are reciprocal and relational that result in lasting impacts.
Read chapter 8 from “When Helping Hurts” and watch Lupton’s traing on Betterment vs. Development.
The Line is a documentary about poverty, but not in the way you might think. It depicts four people in material poverty who come from very different backgrounds, driving home the point that poverty is no respecter of people, challenging some of our assumptions about the poor, and offering ways for Christians to be involved meaningfully. After viewing, you may want to use these questions to focus your reflection and journaling time.
The lab is in full swing and has already proven to be a moving and meaningful experience for it’s participants. Read the full report here.
Our lab was fortunate enough to have three distinguished speaks share their experiences living, working and raising their families in under-resourced communities.
Woody Bowen
Woody is the associate pastor at Sozo New Covenant Fellowship and is the author of Broken Jesus, Shattered Bride, a book about the faith community breaking down denominational barriers to build the Kingdom of God.
www.sozonewcovenantfellowship.com
Katie Delp
After graduating with a business degree from Texas Tech University, Katie spent a year committed to service and loving her neighbor with Mission Year. This experience led her to live in South Atlanta for the past 12 years where she is the COO of FCS Urban Ministries.
www.fcsministries.org
Adam Hoyt
Adam lives and works in Clarkston, GA, hometo thousands of recently-moved-to-the-U.S.-refugees and other immigrants. He is a Community Chaplain for Friends of Refugees, for whom he also runs an employment center (Cafe Clarkston) and a community garden.
www.friendsofrefugees.com
Our first experiment challenges us to examine forming friendships at the margins. You can download the experiment materials below:
Experiment One Description
Experiment 1– Friendship at the Margins
Bhutan Maps
Greg Hayes shares his thoughts about our first experiment
This Sunday we began to unpack a Biblical framework for poverty and our shared brokenness. Check out this recap if you want to get a quick overview and this week’s assignment!
This video is a brief introduction and recap of the first week of LABS 01: Action on Behalf of Others. You can also download the icebreaker questions we covered in class:
Week1 Icebreaker Questions
Welcome to Lab “A,” Action On The Behalf Of Others. Below, you will find the materials covered in our introduction to the lab.
Intro Handout
Calendar and Assigned Reading
Suggested Reading List
Glossary
