Katrina Soul Search

by Ben Messner

Description

New Orleans is different. It's not just another FEMA project. A city twice the size of Nagasaki in 1945 has been devastated. An American city.While the mainstream media has lost the plot, debating the nuance of words like ?evacuee,? and passing the political blame for breached levees and bungled evacuations, the Church is in danger of missing its greatest moment since the Civil Rights movement.Remember, Martin Luther King was a pastor. His marchers were congregation members. Their cause show more required an activist response by the body of Christ.Justice and mercy exist at either extreme of the same continuum. The balance between them can only be maintained through an activist posture. But whereas the Civil Rights movement required the activism of a just cause, Katrina requires the activism of a merciful heart.These kinds of compelling opportunities only come along for the Church once in a generation. This is our moment. It will take at least three years to put many of New Orleans? families back on their feet. We can't switch the channels. We can't look away from the Tonys and Alices. To do so would be to surrender the one great chance that we, as the body of Christ, may have in our lives to reaffirm our corporate identity as healers and difference-makers. It would be to turn our backs on our destinies.By the time you read this, the drywall on most homes might be pared away. The roofs might be covered. But New Orleans? pain will still be raw and the opportunities to touch it will be undiminished.Adventures in Missions (AIM) exists to connect the Church to ministry. Like everyone, we had the opportunity to consider, ?What is God asking us to do in response to Katrina? Just as we still have that opportunity every new day we wake up.This is the story of how AIM answered that question. show less