"Kids" @ Stone Creek

Last week was a really exciting time for the Apartment Complex Initiative.  The ministry was the cover story of the Oregonian.  In a well written article the journalist chronicled the ways in which Christ followers are living out their faith by moving in and coming alongside apartment dwellers. Also, the role of the local churches in serving those residents and "adopting" the complex.

More importantly, last week was exciting because it was the first community event at Stone Creek Apartments, the second ACI location.  This is significant because it shows that more people and churches are catching the vision and running with it.  It is also significant in the outreach journey of the complex itself.

The event caught me completely off guard and in the end I felt so excited and energized by the volutneers, the ideas, and the response of the residents....

I decided to take my three year old daughter with to the BBQ lunch event.  She definitely had a blast and taught me some things.

When we arrived the turn out looked tiny and I noticed a small sign that said "Crafts at 1:00pm"  My first thought was "wow this church obviously doesn't know it's audience."  Why in the world would low-income adults who don't trust you and who will barely even come out for a meal suddenly sit down and do crafts?

As the afternoon went on lots of people started coming out for the meal...then lots of people started doing crafts, including my daughter.  I was shocked at how wrong I was.  There were plenty of grown ups doing "cheesy" little crafts and talking up a storm with people around them.

When we were leaving I asked my daughter why she had so much fun.  She said "there were lots of kids there."

That seemed odd to me because there were actually no kids there.  I don't think there was anyone under the age of 10 there.  But I started to think about it and I learned something about community, trust, and relationships.

You see the church volunteers created an atmosphere of love and compassion; something uncommon for most people living there, but naturally desired.  When that context was created instantly safety and a sense of "having fun" naturally comes out. There were both volunteers and residents sitting down enjoying their afternoon in the sun...and it didn't matter who was who, what their life situation was, nor what tomorrow would bring.  All that mattered was that people could sit together in a context of compassion and feel free like children.

My daughter saw it and loved it.  It was a beautiful thing.