I have been asked to take part in a muli-blog conversation with Anthony Prince http://westcoastcm.wordpress.com/ Henry Zonio http://www.elementalcm.com/ and Glen Woods www.glenwoods.wordpress.com. Please join in!
Poverty, natural disasters, disease, abuse, neglect, depression, divorce- the list of doom and gloom goes on and on. If you are anything like me you probably ask yourself: Where is God in all of this? Why doesn’t He just stop it? There are billions of hurting people on this earth and I am only one person; what could I possibly do to make a dent?
What if God had miraculous plan- and it involved you?
Ethos Project started as a small group of young adults that met in our home weekly for faith discovery and discussion. It didn’t take long for them to express their discontent with the state of Christianity in the Church today. They were tired of sitting on their butts Sunday after Sunday gorging themselves on bible verses, worship songs, Christian self help books—for what?? During various discussions they further expressed dissatisfaction (among other things) with the local church’s lack of engagement with our community’s culture and its needs. How they felt like the love of Jesus had been being hoarded inside the church walls and ironically, those in need of it were kept out due to our selfishness. We encouraged them to take their frustration and direct it into positive action instead of negative reaction. And that they did! I will never forget the day when one of our leaders said with deep conviction, “…guys…can we just stop talking about it and actually go DO something about it?!” After that shift in perspective, the group meetings took on new purpose. EP became a place of meaningful friendships and a movement of positive influence.
Although we were born into an inherently “evil” world, we were also born with the DNA of our Creator etched in our souls. And when we join Jesus in his mission to bring hope to this world- we unlock the “superpower “of Love within all of us. How can love make a difference our community? It can be groceries for a struggling family. It can be a conversation with a Starbucks barista. It can provide diapers for a year for a single mother. It can be help moving a neighbor who was forced out of their home. It can be replacing an elderly woman’s stairs so they are safe for her to climb. It can be an encouraging post on Facebook. God doesn’t have to seem so far away.
At, Ethos Project we believe that “average and ordinary” people can do extraordinary things. We are honored to collaborate with those that believe that the smallest things can make the biggest difference. We are inspired by those who live a lifestyle that reflects love on a daily basis. It is like we are in the midst of…everyday heroes.
“…if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing.”
www.ethosproject.info
Shauna,
Last night I shared a meal with a young family, a dad, mom, and two boys (4 and 11). Their eleven year-old asked a similar question to the one you posed at the beginning of your post. He asked, “Why doesn’t God just stop people from killing each other. Doesn’t he care?” I didn’t gloss over his question. Neither did I give a pat answer. Rather, I shared that God is not afraid of hard questions, and I assured him of God’s love in the face of tremendous evil in the world. I pray that now and in the future he will be inspired to action, both with the message of the gospel and its behavioral implications.
Thanks for this post and for what you do. It is inspiring.
Glen,
Thanks for putting this all together…this writing project is inspiring. It is so exciting to know that there are awesome people out there like you three who are thinking of the future of the church like this. This lifestyle of missional living needs to be nurtured from the womb! Most of the volunteers and leaders that work with Ethos Project are young adults who are unmarried or newly married who will soon be parents within the next few years. It will be interesting to watch their ethos transfer to their children.
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