I'm Off To Minnesota!?!?
Monday, September 25, 2006
Many of you will remember that I interned with InnerCHANGE, a Christian order among the poor, last summer in San Francisco. That incredible experience was the original reason I started this blog, and if you scroll far down the page you can read about that time in my life. This year I will be an apprentice with their team in the Phillips Neighborhood of Minneapolis, MN!
What Will Benjamin Be Doing?
In a phrase: house-church planting. I will be mentored and trained by long-term church planters as I work alongside them to establish appropriate expressions of the church among the urban poor. That includes finding a place to live and (hopefully!) a part-time job in the community.
Who Is InnerCHANGE?
Good question. They are not a missions board, denomination, church, or corporation. They are an order, a community built on shared commitments and lifestyles, such as the Benedictines and Franciscans of old. In their own words: "We are communities of missionaries living in poor, marginalized neighborhoods around the world; places most people want to avoid or ignore. We seek to live out the good news of Jesus among the poor, both with words and deeds."
It's a beautiful thing - please check out their great new website!
Why Minneapolis?
I have always been curious/interested/passionate about church planting - and Minneapolis is the only US based InnerCHANGE team doing it. Besides that, God seems to have orchestrated things so that I am going to be a very good fit and complement to the team already in that city.
"The Minneapolis team was established in 1995 in collaboration with mission-minded Bethlehem Baptist Church. We are incarnationally anchored in the "Zone," an area in the Phillips Neighborhood, which is the largest, most diverse, and most impoverished neighborhood in Minneapolis. Our friends and neighbors include Native Americans (Phillips has the highest concentration of Native Americans in an urban neighborhood in the US.), Hispanics, African Americans and Africans among many other people groups."
-From the InnerCHANGE Minneapolis Team Website
Why?
This will no doubt come as a shock to many of you who expected me to be returning indefinitely to Yakima, WA after my month of travel. Believe me, I was expecting the same and it threw me for a loop too! My intent from the very beginning of my travels was that if I came upon any opportunity, I would pursue it and pray for God to guide me in it. 5 days before I was scheduled to be back in Yakima, I ran across the InnerCHANGE website and saw that their apprenticeship orientation was starting in just over a week - I had a chance! I realized that the application deadline was technically May 1st, but I called anyway. To make a long story short, because the InnerCHANGE people knew me so well from last summer, they gave it a shot and found a great fit for me on the Minneapolis team. After speaking with the team leader on location in Minneapolis, I decided it was a good choice and went for it.
What Can I Do?
Pray and ask God what He is requiring of you. (Consult Micah chapter 6) Look around: who around you is invisible to everyone else? What "least of these" has fallen through the cracks? Ask God what you can learn from that person, and how you can begin a relationship with him or her.
Please pray for me! I will be continually updating this blog with stories, prayer requests, and pictures. You can also subscribe to this blog and receive an e-mail notification every time I update this. Enter you e-mail in the Blogarithm box under my picture at the top right of this page.
Live by faith; listen and obey.
What Next?
All the details are still being worked out, but I will be flying to San Francisco on Wednesday for orientation with new apprentices from all over the country. October 2 I will land back in Seattle to drive my Jeep loaded with precious few possessions 1578 miles to Minneapolis.
Woohoo!!!! God is good.
Posted by Benjamin Washam 4:49 PM
Labels: Minneapolis
1 Comment:
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1:05 PM
May the GOD of all Peace bless you and keep you in Christ Jesus our LORD. Amen!
