Fall quarter is over and students have left for Winter Break. This week I've spent some time reflecting and evaluating the quarter, asking God to give me clarity as to how he moved in me personally but also in the ministry as a whole and in the lives of students.
The tutoring ministry at the Rebele Family Shelter
is one of the significant highlights in my mind. This fall quarter we
expanded the ministry. We were down at the shelter two days a week
tutoring the children and are looking to be down there on an added day next Quarter to make it three days a week.
We are seeing how blessed it is to be a blessing to others. This last week we stayed after and ate dinner with the families. One of the case managers pulled me aside and shared about how the tutoring program is one of the most significant services going on at the shelter. It gave me the chills and I thank God for the impact we're having. The UCSC college students who are serving as the tutors are growing in their understanding of what it means to be "sent" ones and to live out a tangible expression of following Jesus in the culture and community God has placed them in. It's also been inspiring to see the communitas lived out and therefore the significant relationships being developed among them us as we serve together. James in his letter states, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." I think our time at the shelter is a tangible and contemporary expression of the ethos of James' words.
If you have the time check out this article, describing how the shelter has assisted homeless families and has done it very successfully. It is an honor be down there serving the children and being the hands and feet of Christ to others in a very tangible way. I'm excited also how this ministry dovetails with our on going conversation of seeing God give birth to a new missional order here in SC county.
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