Ministry is Life

I have been reading "The Irresistible Revolution" by Shane Claiborne.  And he has got my mind thinking about a lot of different things.  I have been challenged to rethink some things that I have always believed or lived out but never knew why.  Mainly, his book has challenged me to live my life with people and not for people.
      We always hear people saying how they believe in helping the poor or poverty stricken people.  We hear this a lot from churches.  And people, myself included, help out at clothing drives, canned food drives, and food pantries every now and then.  We may donate money to charities that help the homeless but yet we never actually live with homeless or encounter them.  We do not know a single homeless person by name! We do all this while staying safe in our own culture and socioeconomic comfort zone. 
      Now when I read the Gospels in the Bible, I read how Jesus is always going out and living life with the poor, the lepers, the tax collectors, the prostitutes.  He does not just give someone else money or food to give to them.  He goes to them.  And he calls for us to live our lives in the same ways.  I am not saying we all need to be homeless, some of us will be called to do ministry in the suburbs with the wealthy, and that is fine.  I am simply saying that in any ministry that we do (ministry according to Jesus should be our whole lives) we need to be WITH people.  Forming relationships, living with them, laughing and crying with them.  And not just with people we feel comfortable with, but with people outside of our comfort zones.
    I have felt Jesus screaming at me the past year or so to go live with people.  Don't just show up at out reaches put on by my church once a month, don't just volunteer every now and then, but go and live life with the people I feel called to.  I am comfortable at my church and I am comfortable with my Young Life guys.  I do not believe that faith and ministry should be comfortable.  We should always be risking something.  This will look differently for me than it will for you. 
   But to get my point across, do not sit in your suburban home or apt and tell people you have a heart for the homeless.  Go be with them, join them for meals and spend time with them.  Not just donating old clothes and spare change.  If you feel called to really spend time with and share Christ with high school kids then go live with them.  Go to their sports games, go to their schools if you are allowed, take them grocery shopping with you.  Don't just volunteer at a bible study once a week.
  We are called to live our lives with people, to be in the middle of it all, not on the outsides offering our spare change or time.
Much Love
Opher