Book Review: Not Just a One Night Stand

“Not Just a One Night Stand: Ministry with the Homeless”
By John Flowers & Karen Vannoy
Discipleship Resource: Nashville, TN., 2009

In preparation for my time at Open Door Community, a ministry with the homeless, the marginalized, the incarcerated, and those released from prison, I felt it was important to read material that would reflect the kind of ministry I would anticipate at Open Door Community.

Flowers and Vannoy were two pastors serving Travis Park United Methodist Church (UMC) in San Antonio, Texas and through their leadership they transformed a silk stocking dying church into a cotton stocking growing church. This book is a reflection on how they were able to be transformed and to transform others by embracing their call to work with the homeless and the marginalized.

Flower and Vannoy stress early on that the goal of their ministry would be “mutual transformation” of the congregation, the members of Travis Park UMC, and those who participated in the Day Treatment program at Travis Park, UMC. Their authority and their permission comes from the urgency of gospel. They write, “We don’t need to wait for empowerment; we already have everything we need to build community of faith that embodies the gospel, and the world has never needed its transforming power more than it does now.” (Flowers, 2009)

Flowers and Vannoy know that the hearts of Christian people are in the right place. Flowers notes that people are compassionate and will not tolerate injustice when they understand the human story of suffering. We do good things for often the wrong reasons. The authors contend that our hearts are in the right place, but ministry among the homeless and marginalized is not something that we do a couple of times of year to relieve our middle-class guilt. No,the authors would rather work toward mutual transformation. Mutual transformation happens when we realize that we are more alike than different. Mutual transformation happens when we realize that the poor have as much to give to us as we have to give them. The authors observe that “when we are in the same space, at the same time, sharing our stories with equal air time and equal attention , mutual transformation has a chance. (Flowers, 2009)

With this notion of mutual transformation, the idea that we do not do ministry for the poor and the marginalized, but rather we do ministry with the poor the marginalized, the authors go onto share several ways in which this kind of ministry can become transformational. The authors suggest several steps that need to be taken in order for a ministry with the poor and marginalized can happen. They suggest that beginning with prayer and discernment is an important first step.

It has been said, “Morality begins at 1500 calories a day.” Clearly, this means that we cannot expect people to make sound moral decisions if they are hungry and so we need to eat. The author points out that we are also social creatures and suggest that this would be a wonderful way to make connections by eating together. By doing this we facilitate trust and build community. Eating together is a matter of survival.

Another way we can work toward mutual transformation is by paying attention. The best way to pay attention is when we can take time to listen to their stories. When we take time to listen, we don’t bring any demands, contrive expectations, or pass judgment. Instead, we enter their space and listen to their stories. Among other ways we work toward mutual transformation is by sharing power, careful discernment of “down and out” stories, and creating a safe, open, and inclusive space for worship. Each of these topics are addressed in some detail in subsequent chapters. The question that we as a church must struggle with in all facets of ministry is whether or not we ready to be the church or continue to play church.

Biblically, there are so many references to our call to reach out to the homeless, the poor, the marginalized, the incarcerated, and the forgotten. In light of this, let me end where I began with a quote that gives us the scope of our ministry. “…we need to build community of faith that embodies the gospel, and the world has never needed its transforming power more than it does now.” This is our call to mutual transformation.