WHAT TO DO NEXT

The following are just a few of the ideas of what you can do as a result of this weekend. Any of these can be done individually, but we encourage corporate action within the context of a group. These are just ideas, and so you are encouraged to be creative.

Further study:

Grigg, Viv. Companion to the Poor: Christ in the Urban Slums. Monrovia, California: MARC Publications, 1990. (5)

Lupton, Robert. Theirs is the Kingdom. San Francisco, California: Harper Collins Publishers, 1989.

Sider, Ron. Just Generosity: A New Vision for Overcoming Poverty in America. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1999.

Sider, Ron. One-Sided Christianity?: Uniting the Church to Heal a Lost and Broken World. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1993.

Sider, Ron. Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger. Dallas, TX: Word Publishing, 1997.

Wallis, Jim. The Call to Conversion: Recovering the Gospel for These Times. New York, New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1981.

Action you might take:

Find a “Mission Waco” type place in the nearest city and volunteer. Ministries among the poor are always in need of help.

Find out what your church does for outreach and missions and get involved. Often, church leaders do not think anyone is interested in the church in missions and ministry among the poor so it goes ignored. Talk with your pastor about opportunities in your own church.

Share what you learned and saw this weekend with friends, family and your church. You might inspire them, and you will be held accountable for what you experienced as well.

Find a safe place where you can ask the poor and homeless questions and learn directly from them.

Groups you can contact:

Center for Student Missions is a short-term missions group who specializes in plunging groups in urban missions. Their website is csm.org.

Compassion International

World Vision

Habitat for Humanity

World Relief at wr.org

If you are interested in finding out more about the persecuted church you can contact Voice of Martyrs at vom.org, Safe Harbor International at safeharborinternational.org, or look at persecutedchurch.org for more links. Other human rights watch groups include Human Rights Watch (hrw.org) and Amnesty International (amnesty.org). Through these groups you can learn more and join in existing campaigns to stop torture and oppression.