Urban Immersion Reflections 4 of 4
One week after our Urban Immersion and I am coming to a close on my reflections on our experiences. It was an amazing time – we met so many incredible God-ambassadors, each with a story that could fill volumes. I wrote these posts in order to give you all (and remind myself years later) of the creativity in God’s imagination throughout this generation. I remember when all Christians did was “go to church”. Now it seems that with God on our side, there is nothing we can’t do!
After a clumsy and slow morning (we needed it after our late night on the streets!) we headed out to the north side of Austin, TX to the Storehouse. There we met Tim Abels, a Dell executive and passionate follower of Jesus Christ. He is actually the brother of Jay Abels, a man I met on my first short term mission trip down in Buenos Aires, Argentina!
When we arrived, all I can say is that we were a little apprehensive. We saw the outdoor sign and thought (great, I hope we don’t get stuck here for too long). I thought this would be another conscience-wipe for rich, guilty Christians. But I had heard the stories – that Tim and a few guys had started in his garage just giving things away to those who really needed them, and through a huge influx of donations have had to open up a 40,000 sq. ft. facility to hold all that they do there!
Walking in was like walking into many other thrift stores – clothes, furniture, old toys, and dismembered paperbacks filled the large open room that greets you as you walk in. It felt just like any other Goodwill, except you saw an occasional cross here or there. The prices I noticed were better than other thrift stores, but I had been told that it was FREE to anyone who needed it – what gives with the prices?
We sat down in a big back room, in a big circle with Tim, Jared Abels (another friend I continually find myself bumping into, and wonder what God has in store for our friendship), and a whole host of others who volunteer at the Storehouse. I was immediately struck at the diversity of people in the room – white, Mexican, Filipino, a deaf and blind man, old, young…they all were working on this dream together.
Tim began by sharing the vision – they want to be a presence of the Gospel to people who are in need and an hub for churches to work together through. And they do! We heard each volunteer mention a different church that they were a part of, and yet you could hear that those in the circle had become a church all their own!
The Storehouse provides a food pantry, ESL (English as a Second Language) training courses, finance courses, counseling, life skills training, a free medical clinic, disaster relief, job training (interviewing skills, etc), free worship space for new churches, housing (the police have a key to their building, and bring in victims of abuse during late-night emergencies), mentoring, work for those with disabilities, dental clinics, bible distribution, and of course a free thrift store.
“But how is it free?” I kept asking. Finally I got my answer. In crisis situations, people can come to the storehouse and take whatever they need without cost (take for example, a single mom has to leave an abusive dad, but has no furniture, clothes, cooking supplies, etc). She comes to the Storehouse, stays for a day or two. Counselors take on immediate emotional and spiritual traumas, while volunteer job consultants begin helping them find work if need be. Professional doctors come in to offer free medical help and examinations to the family and tend to their wounds. They are given financial counseling and prayed over by Christ-followers who believe that he is able to overcome any obstacle for them.
Then after they have gotten a place to live, the single mom is given a temporary job working at the Storehouse, earning “credit dollars” to buy more essentials for her new home away from the abusive man, who is not told where to find them. She makes $10 of credit each hour and at the end of the day can take home whatever she thinks she needs for her children, who have been at the Storehouse daycare. Over time, our single mom becomes attached to her new family at the Storehouse, and they share with her the Great News about Jesus Christ. She knows that Christ is among them there, and is baptized into a new life of love with a family she is already getting to know.
This is happening hundreds of times every year at the Storehouse! What is more amazing is that the volunteers simply can’t stop talking about all that God is doing! It just seemed that each person’s gift was being used in a way that was absolutely necessary to seeing the whole thing happen! From the precision of medical instruments to sorting hangers, everyone had a job to do. In a lot of ways it gave me a picture of what Ephesians 4 actually looks like:
“Out of the generosity of Christ, each of us is given his own gift…He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christians in skilled servant work, working within Christ’s body, the church, until we’re all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God’s Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ”
I think what I found most encouraging about the Storehouse was that it was a body that was “moving rhythmically” and in response to God’s Son, “fully developed within and without”. Not many churches are like this – if they do have a food pantry, people attend out of a need to serve their guilty conscience, not because they want to see people holistically redeemed.
Trina and I were left wondering what it might be like to see a Storehouse like this in Chicago – and what part we might have to play there…
