Walking With People: 3E Restoration and the Newark Church

This past weekend the Newark Church, whom I serve with as the lead minister/pastor, hosted 3E Restoration Inc. Represented by Fred Liggin and Justin Odum, 3E Restoration did some training to better equip our church for walking with people in need who are living in social displacement. This is a training that involves theology as well as a better understanding of how trauma and systems affect the lives of those living in social-displacement.

Right now you’re asking what is social displacement and I’m glad you’re asking that because it describes a variety of circumstances. People living in social-displacement includes those who are insecurely housed or even without houses to live in, those who live with substance abuse, those who have disabilities (physical, mental, etc…), people who are victims of domestic violence, and much more. The emphasis of the 3E Restoration training is on walking with people. That’s because such ministry is a process rather than a program and it’s rooted in the gospel in which God comes to be with us.

I don’t know about your community but there’s not a day that goes by in Newark where I don’t encounter someone living in social displacement. Beyond the prestige and intellectual aura of a university town, there are a growing number of people who, living in social displacement, means they “go to bed at night without a means of orienting themselves toward a concrete identity or live-giving narrative” (Liggin, The Floor Plan, 17). This is part of the social-context that the Newark Church inhabits and if we’re going to live as participants in the mission of God, then learning to walk with people living in social displacement as followers of King Jesus is necessary.

My forth-coming book Gospel Portraits addresses how the local church reads scripture to live as both faithful and contextual participants in the mission of God. The emphasis of my book is then how the church reads scripture but a faithful reading of scripture presumes that our understanding (knowledge) becomes participation (obedience). However, because participation in the mission of God must be contextual, discerning how the church lives on mission with God must always include cultural awareness of the local context. This is the reason why inviting 3E Restoration to offer some training makes great sense.

If you’re church is wondering how to better walk with your neighbors who are living in social-displacement, then I highly recommend you have a conversation with 3E Restoration.