Week 6 Journal

I know this isn't exactly in chronological order, but I'll edit it later so you'll never know the difference.

Write a journal entry that is a transformation conversation about making a Faith Declaration regarding your future missional community. What is the hopeful future that you see? Where will you be on mission with others? What will the impact be as that missional community begins to function? What scares you about launching or joining a missional community? What progress are you making in overcoming your reservations or fears?

In general, I have difficulty imagining the future, but I can see myself making plans to serve others with a community of motivated believers with no problems at all. It makes me wonder if I'm defining a missional community in the right way.

I have a heart for those who have been chewed up and spit out by society, and are expected to change with no support at all. I hadn't really been exposed to this community until I was hospitalized myself for a mental disorder. I saw all sorts of people. Some who had no intention of trying to change, some who were teetering on the edge between their health and outside influences, and a lot of people who had nothing left but an honest, screwed up, dirty version of themselves. In that place, it's so easy to be yourself. No one is pretending they have it all together, because they wouldn't be in a mental hospital if they did. It's like living in a true judgement free zone.

Then, suddenly, they're given the bill and kicked out. Abandoned in the world that had led them to destruction just a little while ago. Why wouldn't an addict go back to old habits if that's the only world they have? Why wouldn't an alcoholic start drinking again with no support and no knowledge of how to work their way out of the situations or away from the people who inspired their habit in the first place. You've spent weeks in a protected oasis of understanding, and then you're thrust into the real world without any transitional assistance.

It is a terrifying prospect. All those fears you thought you'd worked through seem to wait just outside the gates of the hospital. You've been working hard to change, but everything in your world has remained the same.

I want to be that transitional assistance. Sure, there are halfway houses and the like, but receiving a hospital bill, then considering taking on another obligation that's even more expensive is almost preposterous.

People are expected to mend their ways and become productive members of society, but are left to the cold world without tools or connections. Finding people to help bridge this gap and change the entire experience would fill my heart with so much joy.