Latest / Neighbourly: Real Stories of Care and Community / Not Us and Them—Just Us: Lessons from the Well Café | Steve Griffin
Transcript
- 0:02Tell me your story. And that's what people are looking for. Is there someone out
- 0:06there who actually cares about
- 0:09my story? Every one of us has a story about
- 0:13someone who showed up when it mattered most. I'm Johan,
- 0:16and this is Neighbourly, a podcast about the ordinary ways
- 0:20people show extraordinary care. Every other week,
- 0:24Shannon Steeves s sits down with someone who's lived that out.
- 0:28Real stories of faith, kindness, and community in action.
- 0:32So grab your coffee and let's join Shannon at the table.
- 0:38I'm Shannon Steeves, and this is Neighborly. Today we're
- 0:41talking about isolation, one of the quiet realities shaping
- 0:45so much pain in our communities. My guest is Steve
- 0:49Griffin, a pastor in Calgary who leads center for the City at
- 0:53Center Street Church, where he spent years walking alongside people
- 0:56on the margins and creating spaces where isolation gives
- 1:00way to belonging. In this conversation, Steve invites us
- 1:04to rethink what it looks like to love our neighbor. Not by
- 1:07fixing, but by showing up. Okay, Steve. Well, thank you so
- 1:11much for coming on this podcast. Can't wait to chat with you
- 1:15today. Every episode, we start with a little icebreaker question
- 1:19just to kind of level things. So I'd love to hear who was a
- 1:22neighbor for you growing up that you will never forget?
- 1:26Yeah, it's probably a little bit of a different story,
- 1:30Shannon. I. I grew up in a neighborhood. I grew up in Ontario,
- 1:33originally from Ontario. There was a. A
- 1:37single mom, actually an older woman, that had one son and lived in a
- 1:41house in our neighborhood. And the house, you know, it looked like
- 1:45almost like it was a haunted house. It was boarded up and so on. And
- 1:48so. So I think she and her son, you know, there was just a lot
- 1:51of teasing and that kind of thing. And then one day, her son was actually
- 1:55beat up at school fairly badly. And one of
- 1:59the parents in the neighborhood said, you know, we're gonna do something about this, and
- 2:02reached out to that woman and then began a relationship, and that really
- 2:06changed things. And then the woman began to get quite involved in the neighborhood
- 2:10with other people. And we began to find that, you know, this really was
- 2:14a sweet person who'd had some very difficult circumstances.
- 2:18And to me, I tell that story because to me, that's a
- 2:21picture of what neighborhood can be moving us
- 2:25beyond, you know, sort of preconceived notions or judgments or
- 2:29prejudices or whatever the case may be. So that. Yeah, I'll never forget that kind
- 2:33of circumstance. That's beautiful. And I love that.
- 2:36Not just neighborhood's not just a physical place. It's also kind of this I
- 2:40guess concept, right. And this place of being
- 2:44and belonging, that's a really, I think,
- 2:48thought provoking example that so many of us can, can just think
- 2:51on. So I, and I think that's a great segue. Can you share a little
- 2:55bit more of your story and just how you got first
- 2:59connected to kind of the work that you do now?
- 3:02Yeah, it's a bit of a long, winding story. I would say
- 3:06that the place that I, that I came to
- 3:10was an understanding just through the various
- 3:13circumstances in life that I just was just very much
- 3:17called to a work with those in poverty. And so I for
- 3:20a long time was a pastor sort of in suburbia
- 3:25in the west, in Alberta, and really had nothing at all
- 3:28to do with vulnerable people and just went
- 3:32through some personal circumstances where, where I took on
- 3:36a different role at Mustard Seed Ministry here
- 3:40in Calgary and in Alberta, working with those who were homeless
- 3:44and then eventually just really felt God lead me to bring that
- 3:48world into the local church. And so I work church
- 3:52called Center Street Church, Calgary, one of Canada's largest churches.
- 3:56And we've built there over the last number of years a ministry center that
- 4:00ministers to new immigrants and refugees and ministers to
- 4:05those in poverty. And so we work with, we connect with about
- 4:081800 people a month. And one of the
- 4:12pieces that I think just really connects with your question
- 4:16is, and this podcast, quite frankly, is
- 4:20that the work that we do is within a cafe setting
- 4:24with those in poverty. And we call those that come their neighbors.
- 4:28And so that is kind of how we refer to them. And it really is
- 4:32about building. And so that's kind of
- 4:35impacts all that we do, including the work with new immigrants and
- 4:38refugees. But I really do feel that that is my primary call to
- 4:42really build a place of belonging
- 4:46and gathering for those in
- 4:49poverty so that they truly live out
- 4:53that reality that we are all neighbors, that we're tearing those walls down. And
- 4:56so I work in lead a ministry center called center for the City
- 5:00and lots of people come, as I mentioned. But. But it just really, that
- 5:04is what in ministry and mission, this is where I want to be. This is.
- 5:07These are the things I want to be doing. Wow. Well, there's so many, so
- 5:11many more questions I want to ask, but I think the first thing that really
- 5:15sticks out to me is when it comes to
- 5:18outreach ministries and especially in the church, I think
- 5:22we've seen a lot of variation throughout decades
- 5:26and in different contexts of what that can look like, at least
- 5:29that's been my experience that in some spaces
- 5:33it's you know, a food hamper. In some spaces, it's,
- 5:36you know, maybe a foster care ministry or whatever. But I think
- 5:40the way you have brought a vision into
- 5:44your church and to do that in such a relational,
- 5:48dignifying way, like you said, through a cafe setting, I think
- 5:51is really, really impactful and really
- 5:55the direction that I believe personally, we,
- 5:59as. As believers should be, should be going, that it's
- 6:02not just about providing the physical and the tangible things. It's
- 6:06also about the relational connection. And I don't think those really should be
- 6:10separated. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So I guess I want to hear
- 6:14more about that in your heart of bringing that into the
- 6:17church and helping, you know, the big C church kind of understand
- 6:21that maybe different way of. Of ministry. Can you speak to that a little
- 6:25bit? Yeah, yeah. I think the reality. We're in a
- 6:29large city and we're in a very large church, and I think the. The
- 6:33church has had, by intention, has
- 6:36had an investment or has desired an investment that, that
- 6:40everyone who. Who calls himself a citizen or
- 6:44is a part of the city, you know, that there is a place
- 6:48for them. And I think to me that just connects
- 6:51perfectly with my own calling and my own sense
- 6:55of the fact that this is what church should be.
- 6:58And we don't enter this in terms of, well, these are
- 7:02the many people that need to come in faith in Christ. And these are the
- 7:05things that we want to see in terms of what people are doing and how
- 7:08they're engaging in the church generally, but rather that there is
- 7:12place and that there is space
- 7:16for people to come to know that they can be fully who they
- 7:19are. And you mentioned the word dignity, so that there's
- 7:23dignity there. And there's an opportunity to say that
- 7:26no matter where you have come from, this is
- 7:30a place where you can connect in. And so what we hear from people
- 7:34all the time, and as I mentioned, we worked with hundreds of people, is
- 7:38this is my family. This is like family. This is my family.
- 7:42This is my home. Not this is like a home, but this is my home.
- 7:46And so people begin to connect in that way. And I
- 7:50think that, you know, psychologists say the number
- 7:53one problem in our society for those who are vulnerable is not.
- 7:57It's not housing, it's not food, it's not clothing, it's
- 8:00isolation. That's the number one issue that people have.
- 8:04And so. So I think there really is a call here in our. In our
- 8:08community, which we call the well Cafe, and drawing that from the idea
- 8:11of living water in the well. And that's that's where that's. That's drawn from,
- 8:15that truly, we want a place where people feel,
- 8:19well, maybe I can walk out of isolation and maybe I can walk out of
- 8:23some pain in my life. And as I sit around
- 8:26tables and as I connect with other people, which includes
- 8:30people, you know, from the community and people that might be volunteers here and that
- 8:34kind of thing, then that starts to make a difference. And I think
- 8:37that that is representative of what Jesus
- 8:41is calling the church to be. There is a place for everyone. And
- 8:45one of the examples I use often,
- 8:49as I've taught, especially in the last year in this is Zacchaeus and
- 8:52Jesus. Jesus looks at Zacchaeus up in the tree, the story,
- 8:56and says, I am eating at your house today. Come down. We're going to your
- 9:00house. So we don't hear more of this story, but to project
- 9:03that he's sitting at a table with Zacchaeus in his house, looking
- 9:07face to face, eye to eye, and beginning to tell
- 9:11me your story. And that's what people are looking for. Is there someone out there
- 9:15who actually cares about my story?
- 9:19You know, I was so moved at one point by a
- 9:22conversation I had with someone who is homeless. And I
- 9:26said, you know, what do you need? Like, what's the number one thing you would
- 9:29need in your life? And he said, that someone would want to have a conversation
- 9:32with me. I love that. That's my dream. And, like,
- 9:36that's heartbreaking beyond all comprehension,
- 9:40but that, you know, that kind of idea. So I think that
- 9:44that is what we. Jesus intends us to be,
- 9:47you know, the church to be. I love those stories and those specific
- 9:51examples that you've shared that really kind of made me think about this
- 9:55next question of. Has over time, have there been
- 9:58certain instances or conversations you've had with people that have
- 10:02confronted or challenged maybe some of your own
- 10:06comfortability or your own assumptions about what
- 10:09people need? Oh, yeah, I think. Yeah. You
- 10:13know, I think often, and I think the mistake that I made,
- 10:17even going in, even. Even having worked at the Mustard Seed, and it's. It's
- 10:21a. It's a ministry of the homeless and pretty well known
- 10:24out here. You know, you kind of think, oh, well, I
- 10:28know it. You know, I kind of know what it's like to work with, yeah.
- 10:31Homeless people and vulnerable people and so on. And I think
- 10:34what we learn and what I've learned at center street
- 10:38in terms of what we built over the last nine years is just really to
- 10:42not make assumptions about who someone is who's
- 10:45vulnerable or in poverty or what they're going through. And
- 10:49I'm very careful to never say, you know, I. That I can
- 10:52identify with someone because I can't. I can try and understand.
- 10:56And we can only minister to people that we are at least trying to understand
- 11:00where they're coming from, but I can't identify. And, you know, I think the
- 11:04reality is, is that some of the stories are
- 11:08so outside my own context
- 11:11that the number one thing I've had to learn to do is to put aside
- 11:14any kind of preconceived sort of notions, right? And, and just
- 11:18listen, right? And. And that's, that's the number one thing we can do rather than
- 11:22saying sitting down with somebody going, okay, well, you know, what do you need? And
- 11:25let me try, you know, and I think the thing is, is just, you know,
- 11:29again, it's. It's. I just need to listen to someone's story and,
- 11:33and I'll listen to it. And, you know, I guess it's active listening right now.
- 11:36Listen to it in the sense. Well, okay, I'm. I'm calculating what, you know, I
- 11:39need to say next or. But to just really realize
- 11:43that, you know, tell me kind of what that
- 11:46journey's been like for you. And I want to just let you know that
- 11:50we're here for you. And I think the picture, the picture
- 11:54I'm really trying to present, most of all, it's not about sitting
- 11:58down with someone. And I've got all the answers for your life that's going to
- 12:00change your life in some incredible ways. Because I'm not your hero. There's
- 12:04only one hero, and that's, of course, Jesus. You know, I might
- 12:08be a guide in some ways, but really what we're trying to present to people
- 12:11is Jesus is sitting here at this table with us. And so
- 12:14Jesus is the one that will really minister to what you
- 12:18need and to who you are and so on. And I think we
- 12:22have to approach it in that way because as I said, so many
- 12:25stories are outside of context and so many stories are
- 12:29so deeply heartbreaking that
- 12:33some of them, even when you first hear certain stories, you kind of. I don't
- 12:36even know if I can even believe this. And then you realize,
- 12:40of course, that. That because of the pain you're seeing,
- 12:43that it is something that's true. But
- 12:48I think that's the focus. It really is just that focus of being there
- 12:52in those ways. It's so simple,
- 12:55right? And yet sometimes we
- 12:59just want to share what we think is best. And time and time
- 13:03again, thankfully with the Holy Spirit and remind us that
- 13:07that's not the point. It's just like you said, just being.
- 13:11And just being a safe, listening ear
- 13:14for somebody. Absolutely. Yeah. You mentioned a little bit ago you talked about
- 13:18volunteers, and I'd love to hear more about
- 13:23what that, I guess it looks like at the center
- 13:26because, you know, we're really, as a podcast,
- 13:30but as an organization, we really want to help, you know, average, ordinary
- 13:34people see their. Their call to
- 13:38love their neighbor. And I guess not just see that, but step
- 13:41into that in practical ways. And can you share what
- 13:45does. I guess what does volunteering look like at the center? But also, how
- 13:49have you helped coach and develop people as you've been
- 13:53learning and growing yourself with serving those that are
- 13:56in poverty? Well, I wrote a
- 14:00book that was one thing I did. It's called Come to
- 14:04the Mobilizing the Church to Love on the Margins.
- 14:07And the book was written. It's the second book I've written in
- 14:11this kind of context, but it really was written
- 14:15to help people understand what it
- 14:19is to sit down at tables with people in poverty and
- 14:22to just get to know them and to enter in and recognize that we
- 14:26receive as much, if not far more, than they ever receive from us,
- 14:30that kind of idea. And so I think the volunteer piece is
- 14:34the first thing for us, and it takes time to do
- 14:38that, but it's to really build
- 14:41a unified team element. So people move away
- 14:45from this idea, which we have heard so much at
- 14:49different times. Hey, you know, here's something that I'm going to
- 14:52offer to someone in poverty, and it's just going to. It's going to
- 14:56change their life. They need me, and I can offer this and so on. And
- 15:00really trying to steer people away from that as we mentor them
- 15:04and saying, you know, we are. The Bible says that God is
- 15:08no respecter of persons. That means we are all equal in God's sight. And this
- 15:12idea that when we're coming into this setting in this.
- 15:16In this example, you know, the well Cafe is that we are
- 15:19just one people and we're together. You know, we're a missional community
- 15:24together, and we're just learning from each other and we're trying to grow
- 15:28along with each other, and we need to be here with each other for the
- 15:30long haul. And so I think that's the most important thing because I think that
- 15:34people want to. We're a large church, and there's kind of two really
- 15:38big areas in which you can volunteer in this church, and that's with children's ministries
- 15:42and not everybody has children, so on, so they want to be involved in that.
- 15:45And the other is this area center for the city. And I
- 15:49think we're trying to get people's minds away from. Oh, well, you
- 15:53know, I feel like I should volunteer someplace because, you know, the
- 15:56preaching pastor said I should, or whatever the case may be, move
- 16:00people away from this to the reality of call. You
- 16:03either have a call or you'd like to explore a call of what it is
- 16:07to walk with the poor. And again, walking with the poor is there for the.
- 16:11You're there for the long haul, and you're there to invest
- 16:14and build relationship and have them do the same with you. Right.
- 16:18And so I think we've really. We started very, very
- 16:22small, the cafe kind of setting. We started in 2018. We had 20
- 16:26people and three volunteers attending. Now we do a hot meal twice a
- 16:30week. We see 700 people come. And I have 190 volunteers
- 16:33involved in that. And it really has just been that slow building
- 16:37of. This is the work. This is what it means. It's
- 16:41not about doing something. It's about being called into
- 16:45something. Right. And so I think that that's, you know, and so the book that
- 16:48I wrote is really just anybody who's not involved in that and wonders if
- 16:52that's for them. You know, it's an encouragement in that way.
- 16:56The first thing that I make mention of in the book is the fact that,
- 16:59well, we're actually all called to minister to the poor. It's very clear in the
- 17:03gospel. So there's that. Right. But how we do that is. Is,
- 17:07you know, different for each person. But. But yeah, so I think that's what we're
- 17:11really trying to, you know, and I think that I mentioned a little bit before,
- 17:14too, but us versus them want to tear
- 17:18down that wall completely. This is us. This is us
- 17:22together. This is. This is. We're just journeying together in something,
- 17:25and Jesus is there in the midst of it. Mm,
- 17:29that's so good. I. I love what you said that it's really
- 17:33not a question of if we're called. It's more so just
- 17:36how. How God is asking us to step into
- 17:40walking with the vulnerable people in our lives
- 17:44or maybe just starting by being around people, stepping
- 17:47outside of our. Our bubbles and our. Our comfort zones and
- 17:51all those things. Absolutely. I wanted to just
- 17:55ask. You mentioned a few stories. Is there any. Any other
- 17:59stories that you feel like you want to share that really capture the
- 18:02heart of. Of why the center exists or
- 18:06just how You've seen that growth and development over
- 18:10time. Anything that comes to mind. I. Well, I think there's,
- 18:14like there, there are many, you know, and I think we, we. And
- 18:17I'll mention, you know, one or two specific. But I think
- 18:21one of the line. One of the kind of taglines we've used from time
- 18:25to time is everything we do rises and falls on
- 18:29story, right? You know, on people's story, we got numbers, we got
- 18:33larger numbers and so on, but the numbers really don't matter. It
- 18:36doesn't matter if there's 20 or there's 200 or whatever that
- 18:40number is. It really is a ministry that
- 18:44focuses on people kind of one at a time, right? And that's
- 18:48kind of where we want to be. What, you know, where are you at? And
- 18:50so I mentioned story. And so we, we kind of use these three elements
- 18:54where we say, you know, tell us your story, and we'd love to have an
- 18:57opportunity to share our story, you know, why we're here, as well as. As a
- 19:01volunteer, whatever the case may be, and then join his story. Join the fact
- 19:05that God has a story for you, you know, that, that. And God is
- 19:09leading you into that story. And, you know, I think it's. If people
- 19:13find a place even when they're in the midst
- 19:17of a very, very broken story, and yet they know
- 19:21I need to keep coming here because there's enough
- 19:25here that connects with me. And so I think one of the most
- 19:28dramatic stories in the last few
- 19:32years as being I was dealing with
- 19:36someone. We had an ongoing kind of connection and
- 19:40relationship. And he kept coming. He'd come for meals and so on. And one
- 19:43day I just sat down, had a deeper conversation with
- 19:47him, and he told me a story
- 19:51of child sexual abuse that was
- 19:55beyond. Was heartbreaking. It was, you know, he went into.
- 19:59He went into some. Some graphic kind of detail and,
- 20:02and didn't even tell me the whole thing. And. And then he said to me,
- 20:06I don't know where God was when that happened. And I feel like
- 20:10God has let me down, and I don't know if I can ever
- 20:14forgive God for that. And I just felt by the Holy Spirit to ask
- 20:18him a question. I said, well, then why are you here? Like, why do
- 20:21you come here? Right? Because he came to the cafe and he was also actually
- 20:24attending worship services at our church. And
- 20:28he said, because I believe that if I have the
- 20:31opportunity to find God, if there's a place where he is, it has
- 20:35to be here. And just in terms of what he experienced out
- 20:39of community. And so he's searching for
- 20:43God there, you know, and so I think
- 20:47stories like that, which are difficult stories,
- 20:50and a lot of the stories which are the really important stories are
- 20:54difficult stories. It just is, you know, and we hear stories
- 20:58where people are not, you know, having as deep a level
- 21:01of kind of brokenness or difficulty, and they're coming and they're being a part of
- 21:05things, and they may be low income and so on, but I think what those
- 21:08stories do is they really show us that
- 21:12God is present and God exists in this place. And.
- 21:16And, you know, I. I was dealing with, or just
- 21:19ministering to and walking with an indigenous gentleman
- 21:23and. And had committed his life to Christ, but
- 21:27was. Was still in. In alcohol addiction
- 21:31and was struggling. And so he'd show up every once in a while and come
- 21:34to sometimes not so much at the cafe, but at the
- 21:37church, and we'd have conversations and we'd connect and so on. And
- 21:41then he said, you know, I really need some food. And I said, well, I'll
- 21:45get an emergency hamper together for you and meet me at the church. And
- 21:49he didn't show up. And then about 10 days later,
- 21:53a gentleman came to me and he said,
- 21:57I need to see Pastor Steve. And I said, well, that's me. How can I
- 22:00help you? And he said, can we sit down and talk? And I said,
- 22:04yeah. And so we sat down and he said,
- 22:07I'm this gentleman whose name was Blair. I'm this gentleman's.
- 22:11He's my brother. And we lived together. And I went home the other night and
- 22:15found him passed away. And he said, I need to come and find you.
- 22:19I need to talk to you right away, because I just want to let you
- 22:22know that Blair struggled his whole life not finding.
- 22:27Not finding belonging anywhere, not finding that he's a part of things anywhere
- 22:30and struggled in this brokenness, struggled in this addiction
- 22:34until he came to the well and he said, I want to let you know
- 22:38that that was his family, that that was the only place he found where he
- 22:41had meaning. And, you know, like, stories like that, they're hard to
- 22:45hear. And what I mean by that is it's hard to
- 22:49even take in that what we are doing has
- 22:53that kind of impact until you stand back and go, well, this isn't us.
- 22:57Yeah, this isn't us. This is Jesus. This is the Holy Spirit
- 23:01at work. And this is what God does. That God does
- 23:04every single day with hundreds of
- 23:08people here, hundreds of people in Winnipeg, hundreds of people right across
- 23:12our country. Right? You know, and I think those are the kinds of stories that
- 23:15we want to continue to hear. And there's just. There's. There's more
- 23:19and more and more of those kinds of stories where. Where either
- 23:23there's those very hard things or people just simply say, as I
- 23:27mentioned earlier, you know what, this is a place of belonging for me.
- 23:31And one of the things that we really have focused on, I think, in
- 23:35the last year, is that we were a place of rescue.
- 23:38So that when people come out of wherever they've been in brokenness,
- 23:42that as they sit at a table with other people or they get clothing in
- 23:46a line or whatever the case may be, what they.
- 23:49They come to understand is that rescue, which can then lead
- 23:53to reconciliation, which can then lead to restoration.
- 23:57That. That is a possibility. And it's a possibility
- 24:01because of community. Right. And we use this,
- 24:05you know, and we call people that we serve
- 24:09neighbors because we really care about the fact that
- 24:13we're not just focused on what happens within a cafe,
- 24:17within a church building, but we're really concerned about a church
- 24:21without walls, where we're looking into the community and saying, this
- 24:24happens in neighborhoods. That's where it starts.
- 24:28My dream is that people that we minister to will leave
- 24:33the cafe, still continue to attend there, but when they leave,
- 24:37they go into their own places where they live and most are housed,
- 24:40and they, you know, they. They minister and connect
- 24:44with other people in those ways in neighborhoods. Right. So,
- 24:48wow. So profound and this
- 24:52deeply, deeply relational. Our director, Wendy, she
- 24:55always says she even finds that it's not a lack of
- 24:59resources that are out there, but a lack of connection. The
- 25:03resources get found one way or another. People give or whatever it
- 25:07might be. But when there's connection,
- 25:10that transforms so much.
- 25:14Another episode of a podcast I talked about with somebody, they talked about
- 25:17just saying yes to, you know, when God asks us to move our
- 25:21feet or to. To take a step. And so I think
- 25:25my last question really is. Is about that, that
- 25:29for people who are listening to this and are stirred by what
- 25:32these stories you've been. You've been sharing, but maybe aren't in a, you
- 25:36know, a pastoral position like you or in an organization like myself,
- 25:40in doing this kind of work full time, what does it look
- 25:44like for them, for the average family or
- 25:47young adults or older adults or whoever, I guess, who don't
- 25:51know where to start, what would you encourage them to do?
- 25:55You know, I think the very beginning point
- 25:58is to just be aware to. To just open our eyes as
- 26:02believers, as Christ followers, and see what's around us. And
- 26:06so really, when I talk about neighborhoods, that's where it is as neighbors
- 26:10in neighborhoods. What's happening? Who am I seeing
- 26:14on the street? Who am I seeing in the grocery store? What kind of
- 26:18stories am I picking up on? All of those kinds of things. And I
- 26:22think that this idea of walking with the poor or walking with those
- 26:25and vulnerable is just paying attention and saying, is there some way that,
- 26:29yeah, I can pray for someone, I can have a, a kind word
- 26:33for someone. You know, so many people that, that, you know, if
- 26:37you situation, you see someone panhandling on the street or, or something
- 26:40like that, that's the, you know, in traffic, doing that or, or whatever. I
- 26:44mean, often there's just so much fear in even saying hello to
- 26:48someone, you know, and, and, and talking to them and maybe getting a bit of
- 26:52their story and so on. So, so I think that that's the place that,
- 26:55that we start where we just, we're aware of that and we're looking around this.
- 26:59What does that mean within neighborhoods? Because we don't live in a
- 27:03society as much as we once did, where we are
- 27:06aware of, even on our street, right? Who are our neighbors on our street and
- 27:10who are we connecting with? And so we don't. We tend to retreat into our
- 27:14homes and that kind of thing. So I think that's the first thing, and I
- 27:17think the next thing is it doesn't matter where you do it. I
- 27:21think the, the reality is that when we're talking about those who
- 27:25are vulnerable, whatever that vulnerability looks like,
- 27:28that we simply want to befriend those people and find
- 27:32ways. And so sometimes that's a case of going to where they are. And
- 27:36so, yeah, volunteering is very locally, and we can do
- 27:39that kind of in a number of different contexts and so on.
- 27:43But again, it's this idea where Jesus says, the
- 27:47poor you will always have with you. So what does that mean? Is Jesus
- 27:50saying, well, okay, so ignore them? No, he's definitely not saying that.
- 27:54Is he saying, be aware of them? Yes, he's saying that. And he's
- 27:58saying, is there some way in which you can connect
- 28:02with them and make a difference with them? Because guess what?
- 28:06And this is the other kind of piece of that is that you also are
- 28:09poor. We're all poor. We're all broken. We're all in
- 28:13need of things. We all have these things that we've struggled with and that we
- 28:17need to work through. And there have been times for all of
- 28:20us in our lives where someone has been there, right? And so it just really
- 28:24is that. It's being there. And so being aware, being there. Finding ways
- 28:28in which we can just go and just make a difference. You
- 28:31know, again, it's that moving out of isolation and out of pain and into
- 28:35connection. So. And it doesn't take being a pastor. It doesn't even take being part
- 28:38of a formal ministry. It really takes just, where is Jesus going to
- 28:43use me today? Right. And. And I get up. I. I don't really.
- 28:46I don't focus, to be honest. We have a fair, large ministry and
- 28:50so on. I don't really focus on leadership, and I don't really focus
- 28:54on that piece. What I really focus on is service. I get up every
- 28:58morning and. And my prayer to God every morning is, show me how
- 29:02you want me to serve, where you're having me serve today. Right. What does
- 29:05that look like? You know, as opposed to, hey, I'm the boss and I'm,
- 29:09you know, whatever, you know, nobody calls me
- 29:13boss, by the way. So, you know, just go in and let's
- 29:17just serve together. And I think there is nothing more critical
- 29:20that we all grab ahold of from the Gospels than
- 29:24that Jesus came as one to serve,
- 29:28and we are called to serve, and we need to find where that service
- 29:32is for each of us. Yeah. Amen. Thank you. Thank
- 29:35you so much for that. If people want to learn more about
- 29:39the center, how can they do that? So you can go to
- 29:42cschurch ca, which is our general
- 29:46website, and you'll find a button there that says center for the
- 29:50City. And so just click on that button and it'll bring out
- 29:54all the information and contact all the things that
- 29:57we do. It's all going to be there. Yeah. Is there anything else you want
- 30:01to share, Steve? Anything that you feel like is on your heart? I
- 30:04think just. And, Shannon, thank you for some of those questions. And I
- 30:08think that is my heartbeat coming out of those questions that
- 30:12people would be leaning into Jesus and
- 30:16praying about. What does it look like for me? Because
- 30:20God has called us all to walk with those who are in
- 30:23poverty, walk with those who are vulnerable, walk with those in need. What
- 30:27does that look like for me, right where I live, right where I
- 30:31am, and God, would you show me that? And so I think that that's.
- 30:34I think that that's really just my encouragement to people to really lean into
- 30:38that and know that God, you know, God has something there for you.
- 30:42There's a biblical principle that people sometimes
- 30:46get wrong, and they say, well, if God calls me
- 30:49to something and I don't do it, then someone else will do it. And actually
- 30:53that's unbiblical. If God calls you to something and you don't do it, you
- 30:57it won't get done because it was for you and God had
- 31:01a specific purpose for you. And then there's judgment for the
- 31:04fact that we didn't do that. Right, that we were disobedient. And so I think
- 31:08that's the great place for
- 31:12us to be, to really think, yes, God has something for
- 31:15me, Father God, show me what that is so I can lean
- 31:19into it. Amazing. Thank you so much, Pastor
- 31:23Steve. I have been so blessed this conversation and I know so
- 31:27many others will be as well. Thanks Shannon. I love being with
- 31:30you. The stories we share here remind us that CARE
- 31:34doesn't have to be perfect to be powerful, it just has
- 31:38to be present. Neighborly is an initiative of Care Impact,
- 31:42a Canadian charity equipping churches, agencies and communities
- 31:46with tech and training to care better together. Visit
- 31:49Care Impact, careamp ca or to find out more about the podcast
- 31:53sponsorships, being a guest or just dropping us a line, visit
- 31:57NeighborlyPodcast CA. We'd love to hear from you. Check
- 32:01the show notes for the link or hop on our Care Impact Podcast group
- 32:04on Facebook to join our podcast community. I'm Johan.
- 32:09Thanks for listening and keep being the kind of neighbor someone will never
- 32:12forget in a good way.
- 32:16Turning over tables Tearing down
- 32:20walls Building up the
- 32:23bridges between the stones
- 32:27of these Turning over tables
- 32:31Breaking off chains When I see you
- 32:35in a stranger I'm no longer a
- 32:38slave.
- 32:49Between us all.