A few weeks from now, an old brick pile on Vancouver鈥檚 Downtown East Side will come crashing down to make way for a new development next to Pigeon Park. You may hear concerns about the loss of a piece of Vancouver鈥檚 history (it was built right after the Great Vancouver Fire of 1886) or continued gentrification of the DTES; but it also means Gospel Mission has to vacate. For 90 years, has provided basic human needs in the area. One of those needs is food, of course: dinners are served on most nights of the week; and since 2008, The Lord鈥檚 Rain has provided showers for people. But during the years I was assistant pastor there, it became apparent that the Mission and others like it fulfill another basic human need: a desire to be right with God
It鈥檚 human nature: we recognize we can鈥檛 control a lot of things, so we spend time and energy trying not to enrage a Higher Power. A Mission鈥檚 primary function, then, is to remind people how much God loves them. Many of the people I met were searching for confirmation that no matter how much they had screwed-up in this life, God had not forsaken them.
I was struck by how many people knew the Bible 鈥� particularly Indigenous people, even those who had suffered abuse 鈥渋n the name of the Lord鈥� in residential schools: they would talk about Jesus or ask for prayer. Through the darkness of their experience, they saw a nugget of truth to hold onto.
鈥淚f a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, 鈥楧epart in peace, be warmed and filled,鈥� but you do not give them the things that are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.鈥� (James 2:15-17 NKJV)
The converse is also true: you can give someone a sandwich, or a cup of coffee and they鈥檒l be fed for the moment, but then what? If you add a word, that they have value in God鈥檚 eyes, they鈥檒l still have that hope the next time they鈥檙e hungry and cold.听
I鈥檝e seen people whose lives have turned around, thanks to a Mission. Some have gone on to 鈥渨orldly鈥� success; some go into ministry and lift up others; some may still have 鈥渋ssues鈥�, but their lives have hope. When Barry Babcook, long-time pastor at Gospel Mission, died five years ago, one fellow, Bobby, told how he was on the verge of suicide and came to talk to Barry in his office. I don鈥檛 know what was said (knowing Barry, it probably started with, 鈥淛esus loves you鈥�, and went from there), but Bobby found a new reason to stay alive.听
That conversation involved trust 鈥� the result of relationship-building. Whether it鈥檚 a big operation like Union Gospel Mission or smaller places like Gospel Mission, Living Waters or Street Church/First Nations Bible College, the people who serve are in it for the long haul, earning people鈥檚 trust.
As of this writing, it鈥檚 not confirmed where Gospel Mission will go next. Its history is one of being in the right place,听beforethe right time: it was founded in 1929, just before the Great Depression, and moved to bigger digs as World War Two was ending and more people would need it; the Lord鈥檚 Rain was funded and running just before the world economy tanked in 2008. Wherever it goes, it will be exactly where it鈥檚 supposed to be, providing that greatest of Basic Human Needs.
Drew Snider is a writer and former broadcaster who pastored for ten years on Vancouver's Downtown East Side. He's an occasional guest speaker at churches and writes a blog, ""
You can read more articles on our interfaith blig, Spiritually Speaking,
* This article was published in the print edition of the sa国际传媒 on Saturday, April 13th 2019
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