Voice of Calvary Ministries & Fellowship, John M. Perkins Foundation Jackson, Mississippi

Incarnational Ministry
by Eric Vogt

July 25, 2007

Eric Vogt, right, at work during his internship at the John M. Perkins Foundation.

What is incarnational ministry?  It's central to how John Perkins understands Christian community development (CCD), to his understanding of Jesus' statement that "as the Father sent me, so I am sending you" (John 20:21).

Dr. Perkins told me that he hopes his work is most remembered for getting Christians to think incarnationally when they think about God's mission.  Incarnation drives the theology of the "3 R's" that frame the CCD philosophy of ministry - relocation, reconciliation and redistribution.  The ministry must be for, from, with the community.  We minister best when we are with the people we serve, when we make their interests our own.  Outside partners and short-term volunteers can help, but the leadership must be from and of the specific place where the ministry happens.  For this reason, Dr. Perkins is deeply concerned with raising up indigenous leadership, leaders who call a place with all its gifts and challenges their own.

Incarnation means that in Jesus, God is with us.  And moreover, it means that God in Christ takes on our pain and brokenness as a loving, humble servant.  So how do we do this?  How do we follow Jesus in his mission, to be with people and to serve, emptied of self?  Particularly, how do we cross cultural divisions to do this, especially as short-term partners like I am this summer?  Can I really be incarnational when I know that I'm leaving in a month?

I came to Jackson with grandiose, abstract expectations to learn about “the Church” and “Race.”  But I find myself serving in small, even menial, ways - making coffee and copies, writing grants, taking Dr. Perkins to and from the airport for his many speaking engagements, driving a van full of kids on a field trip or to a local school for lunch.  I'm doing what needs doing, not according to me, but according to the local leadership.  Addressing "felt needs," Dr. Perkins calls it. 

This is hardest in my role with the interns who are serving as day camp counselors this summer.  I act as a supervisor for this group of 17-19-year-olds, and I live as basically a dorm-style "resident assistant" with the six male interns.

I'm supposed to get people to meetings on time, encourage them to keep the house relatively clean (a hard job for 30-year-old guys - ask my housemates - let alone 18-year-olds), distribute their grocery money and do an occasional Bible study with them. All of that is hard for me.  I don't like being an authority figure from outside, with guys I don't know, three of whom grew up in Jackson.  It's difficult because the power differential just highlights my difference.

One African-American intern in particular, a recent high school graduate, does an imitation of me that lampoons my nasal white voice, asking people to do some task in a relatively passive, indirect, "nice" way.  Though I don't really mind it, as I thought about his teasing, I realized it comes about because he only knows me as "the guy who asks the guys to do stuff." 

Reconciliation is tough because it requires bridging deep historical divisions.  It requires incarnation to replace separation.  How can I be a friend to the interns I'm living with and not just a white authority figure?  How can I be a witness to the Christ who came to serve, and not a caricature of "The Man?”  How can I be my (selfish) self, and still be with people to meet their needs?

 I don't want to stay up late drinking Kool-Aid, playing Nintendo and watching teen horror flicks, but maybe that's a crucial part of my task.  Maybe I can't get at the bigger objectives until I learn to love and serve the people right in front of me.

Maybe there aren’t any “bigger objectives.”  Ultimately, incarnation – and reconciliation – are about systems and power and history, yes, but also concrete relationships and friendships.  And while I can try to be incarnational after the example Christ gave us, I have to remember that he is reconciling the world, not me.

What I can do is to try to be a friend.  I can ask God to give me the eyes and heart and words of Christ.  I can look to discover the same in those around me, knowing that I need West Jackson as much as – probably more than – West Jackson needs me.  In our best moments, even with only a short time together, maybe we can give one another and the world a glimpse of the reconciling work that God is doing in Christ.  He is the Incarnate One.

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