Friendship at the Margins by Heuertz & Pohl
I have to admit that when I first picked up this book, the thought did cross my mind that it was "just another social justice book". However, I became very engaged by the writing style (first-person stories rather than polemic), and the practical suggestions of this book.
Christopher Heuertz has spent 14 years as director of Word Made Flesh, an organisation dedicated to serving Jesus among the world's most vulnerable poor. Friend and fellow author Christine Pohl had experience in advocacy and refugee resettlement before becoming professor of Social Ethics at Asbury Theological Seminary in the States.
They speak from the frontlines of living out a concept for mission and ministry based on friendship. Whereas some organisations focus on content of the message; some on the practical assistance being offered, some on the political situation they are encountering, and some on their own purpose; Heuertz and Pohl believe that authenticity in mission, ministry and service can only occur if the focus is on the relationship.
The essential questions they are asking (and answering) are:
"¢ What difference does it make for mission, discipleship and the church when friendship with people who are poor is a central dimension of their lives?
"¢ What is the impact on those with whom we minister?
"¢ How are we changed?
"¢ What does it mean for the church, for reconciliation and for the practice of mission?
Their model is Jesus, the "friend of tax collectors and sinners" who routinely prioritised relationships, and brought love, hope and healing to those on the margins of society. They take further inspiration from John Wesley who had an experience that changed his choices and mission forever:
A young woman came to his door asking for help for herself and her baby. They were hungry and cold. Wesley was sympathetic but unable to give much assistance because he'd just spent almost all his available money to decorate his house. The pictures on his wall hung as painful reminders of the choices he had made.
Wesley decided from that point to befriend the poor to ensure he was aware of their needs, and his own capacity to help; to ensure he never became too removed from the plight of fellow humans.
While Christopher lives amidst the poor to fulfil that mission of befriending the poor, Christine has found creative ways of doing that from a distance. For example a church feeds several thousand orphans each day in Zimbabwe, made possible through a friendship with a family in Zimbabwe. The giving is thus more personal, and communication more immediate.
Another idea is to recognise those who are paid very little to make the fashions that we wear by volunteering a Personal Equity Retail Tax (say 12%), to be given back to the communities where the workers come from.
They write about the importance of sharing meals with the poor, as a way of establishing community. It can help breakdown the envy and paternalism that often characterises efforts to help the poor. Our attitude to our own possessions and consumption can be illuminated by opening up our lives to poor friends.
What is impressive about this book is that it talks about some of the very difficult ethical issues that arise in assisting those on the margins, such as whether you befriend a 16-year-old who was the perpetrator of violence after being forced into a revolutionary army? Or whether you continue to befriend a woman who refuses to give up her life of prostitution in spite of being offered alternative employment?
The authors mention that if you are living with those tensions, it is important to have a prayerful, truthful and loving community around you; especially someone with whom you can be accountable, who can challenge you about self-deception.
In the final chapters there is a reminder of how to live justly: with grace-filled generosity, and gratitude and celebration of what we have, holding onto hope of the transformation of others over time, and that our efforts will have some impact in God's design plan for the New Earth.
