When you hear the word poverty what comes to mind?
Maybe you think about the neighbor without reliable transportation? Maybe it’s the family across the street that struggles to pay for basic necessities. Maybe you think about those who don’t have enough food to eat on any given day. Maybe you think to yourself, “What more can me and my church do?”
What if understanding those in poverty meant digging deeper into an individual’s experiences and how those challenges shape the decisions they make? How do we go beyond meeting a need for a day, and provide support that creates lasting change and lifts our neighbors up?
On October 24, Vern Reed joined The Diocese of West Missouri to help us explore these questions. Based on his book, Loving Your Neighbor as Yourself, co-authored with Dr. Ruby Payne, Reed helped participants take a deeper look at the realities of poverty and what we can do to support those within the cycle.
Through Loving Your Neighbor as Yourself, Reed’s workshop focused on the perspectives that can shape how individuals experiencing poverty think and respond to different situations, and how those not in poverty often lack the knowledge of why those decisions are crucial to the individual in that moment.
The workshop included a day of learning about the different models (how people in poverty vs. middle class vs. wealthy think and experience the world), working in groups to understand what our churches are currently doing for our neighbors, and listening to stories about those who have firsthand experience in poverty.
As part of his time with us, Vern Reed sat with Zach Phillips, Communications Director, to talk a bit more about his book and what we can do as Christians to support our under-resourced neighbors.
Through thoughtful consideration and meaningful conversation, we can begin to challenge ourselves to break down the barriers (known and unknown) and discover what it means to truly love our neighbors and walk alongside them in their journey. Please take the time to watch the interview below and begin to consider what you and your church can do to love your neighbors as yourself.
