"They Will Rebuild the Cities" — BJM's Unique Ministry Model
By Annie Sears, Youth Ministry and Communications Staff
Annie leads a tap class for a group of young leaders in the fall of 2019.
One of my favorite things about BJM is our unique philosophy of ministry. We look to Isaiah 61:
"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners.
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
the oil of joy instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the Lord
for the display of his splendor.
They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
They will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations."
Notice I emphasized they. Our staff simply shares the good news. Then the women and girls (the they) are the ones who change the world.
When we befriend a woman living on the streets, we’re both transformed as our stories intersect and as we speak truth to one another. That’s how we see Jesus model friendship. In that friendship, our staff has the freedom to bind each others’ broken hearts, proclaim freedom for one another, and provide the resources at our disposal when the woman names what she needs.
When we visit our friends working in strip clubs, we bring the highest quality makeup and perfume; we carry a crown of beauty and the oil of joy into a space where these women are often overlooked and undervalued.
When we put on our leotards for ballet class or pull on our costume before our theater performance, we are all putting on a garment of praise instead of the spirit of despair that often hangs over our neighborhood, or the spirit of stress that comes with schoolwork, or the spirit of needing-to-grow-up-too-fast because of the Tenderloin’s unique context.
Those are the simple things we as staff members do. But it is they who do the hard work of rebuilding and restoring the city. They are already doing it.
My theater and dance students have unparalleled insight and compassion because of the neighborhood they live in, and they’ll carry those experiences into their futures as politicians, entrepreneurs, teachers, artists, parents, and anything else they want to be. The women who work in the strip clubs know how to best combat the injustices they face because they are the ones living it. Women living in isolation or on the streets don’t need rescuing; they need compassion, good news, and someone to believe that they are worth listening to and befriending. If we want to combat the cycles of poverty and violence women often find themselves in, we need to listen to those women and allow them to lead.
Our staff simply provides the tools to build pathways. The women and girls we work with are the ones who decide where those pathways go, and they’re the ones who walk confidently down that pathway into their bright future. When they flourish, we all flourish.