The Beautiful Disappointment. Colin McCartney

anchor of stability and hope in the community. Her love for the youth was seen in that she knew every one of them by name. She was the real deal, a genuine, caring and tough guide. In return, the youth listened to her as she was revered by every one of them. She had earned their respect and it was well deserved.

      The second factor was the emergence of UrbanPromise. Many people in the community have told me that they have noticed a huge difference in the ethos of the neighbourhood ever since UrbanPromise has been involved. In fact, there is a direct correlation between the end of murders and the start of our program. Since we have been in Warden Woods, no one has been killed there! (This includes Patrick. Though he was from this community, he was gunned down outside of the neighbourhood in another housing project a few miles away.)

      Over the years, I have come to understand that positive community change is not the result of any sophisticated children’s or youth after-school or summer camp programs we operate. It is also not because we run a fancy mothers’ program. In fact, our programs are not that fancy at all. We operate a bare-bones program light on the programmatic side, but heavy on the relational and love side. What we lack in ornate bells and whistles and fancy, expensive programming is well made up with loving care from our staff. We, like Kwendie, earn respect through our commitment, dedication and genuine love for our people. Simply stated, our programs are just vehicles that allow loving relationships to take place. To us, they are not the be all and end all, but simply a means to the end, which is to create a loving and gracious environment where God’s power flows. Our task is not to run programs, but to craft an ethos of love and grace. Our goal is to create holy places where the love of God can be experienced. These holy places are safe environments where children, youth and mothers can be real and share their heart struggles with each other without fear of judgement or slander.

      It is evident to all those who live in Warden Woods that the community has changed for the better simply because God is present through love. Influences like Kwendie and UrbanPromise have brought so much love into the community. By being instruments of love, God is more present than ever before.

      “God is love.” (1 John 4:16, NIV)

      It cannot get any simpler. It is not a secret—God shows up when love is present. We are making a difference in these communities simply because God is manifesting Himself in the love that is present through the relationships that take place in our programs. By allowing love to flow from our staff to those we serve, we also are seeing love reciprocated among the children, youth and their mothers. Our community is a tremendous group of people who have the opportunity to break out of the fear so often present in marginalized communities. Love is the antidote to fear.

      Though we may have brought love into the community, we have also discovered that there are many wonderful people living there who also have a lot of love to share. Together, through love, we are all experiencing God. The results are astounding as we are seeing entire families transformed. Hope is restored, not only to those we serve, but also from those we serve. God is definitely in the community, and it is His shalom (peace) that is making a difference. This is the secret of ministry. Not more elaborate programs. Not more costly facilities. Not more rules of conduct or more PhDs. Just lots of love.

      It is refreshing to know that those of us who cannot afford to build massive buildings or attend prestigious places of higher learning can still have the most powerful transformative tool at our disposal—God’s love. Our mission as Christians is quite simple and that is to unleash God through love. John 3:16 is a loud declaration of God’s mission plan of love when He sent His Son to us:

      “For God so loved the world that He gave (or unleashed love) His Son.”

      This ministry strategy of love was lived out in the person of Jesus. Everywhere He went, He loved. Contrarily, the religious leaders of His day believed that the way to do ministry was to manipulate and rule with power and fear over the people with all types of religious rules, laws and programs. Jesus shattered their strategies by His loving actions as He boldly declared, “the kingdom of God is near” (Luke 10:9, NIV). How? The answer is simple—look at Jesus. The kingdom manifests itself on two fronts: loving words and loving actions. Jesus preached love through what He said and also by what He did. When you study His life, you discover that His love wasn’t just talk. It was also communicated by His lifestyle.

      You can read His loving words as recorded in the Gospels. Better yet, you can see His loving actions concretely through His healings and acceptance of those who were deemed unclean and unacceptable by the religious ruling party of His day. There are many lessons here for how we, as Jesus’ followers, are to speak and live.

      First John 4:16 states: “God is love.” John doesn’t say that God just speaks love. John states that God is love. In other words, every thought God has, every act in which He participates, every thing He sees automatically occurs through the lens of love. Love is who He is. It is not limited only to what He does or says.

      The disciples and Paul continued this ministry strategy of love. We read in the Book of Acts how the early Church members loved each other through practical examples of sharing meals together and caring for the poor and the widows. What were the results of this love in action? The Church grew rapidly and in quick succession. Many people were impacted, not only because of the apostles’ preaching, but also because their preaching was accompanied by actions of love. Just like Jesus—loving words and loving actions.

      In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul stresses the pre-eminence of love in all we do. It is important for us to understand the context in which he wrote these words. This passage of Scripture is part of a letter Paul wrote to the church in Corinth that he had founded on his second missionary journey. Shortly after he left them, they slowly fell apart in schisms fueled by pride, immorality and lawsuits. In other words, this was a church that clearly lacked love. In response to the factions and anger within this church, Paul pens the inspired and famous love chapter. He hits the nail on the head when he writes:

      “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.... And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7,13, NIV)

      This isn’t just flowery, poetic literature to be read at weddings. This is dynamite we are dealing with here. Explosive material that can impact people’s lives, communities, cities and countries! These simple verses on love, which so many of us have heard many times before, are powerful truths that we need to live out in our lives, communities, work places, schools, ministries and churches. They must be a priority. Do you see how practical love is? According to Paul, love is not a feeling but action. Love without action is nothing. But love with action is the greatest of all things.

      I believe there is a love famine happening in our society. Too many of our schools, businesses, gathering places, churches and ministries lack this priority of love. The goal for too many of our organizations and businesses has been based on business strategies that lack the need for an ethos and culture where love flourishes. Our CEOs may have great organizational charts, goals and profit strategies, but what they lack is the substance of love. This is seen so often when companies reward their CEOs with obscene bonuses in the millions of dollars for running huge profits and making their stockholders happy at the cost of laying off thousands of workers. Something is wrong when this is seen as success, where the few get rich while many lose their jobs. In their eyes it is clear that the bottom-line definition of success is not how people are treated, but how much stocks go up. Where is the love? I sincerely wonder what would happen to a company that emphasized love as “the greatest of these” over and above greed. I think the company would not only succeed financially but soulfully as well.

      “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” (1 Corinthians 13:1 NIV)

      If we lack love, we are like a resounding gong. Have you ever heard a gong clanging? Now imagine this happening non-stop. It would be like having to sit in a classroom while someone scraped nails down the blackboard for hours on end. It would drive you insane and cause you