Serving on the staff of Habitat For Humanity has enabled me to reflect quite a bit on the problem of inadequate housing and how it is part of bigger issues that keep people in poverty. Here at Habitat, the focus continues to be working toward a world of decent houses for everyone. Yet building houses is also a vehicle for a much larger goal, transformational and sustainable community development. Key elements of this transformation and development work are to promote the betterment of people spiritually, physically, socially, economically and emotionally, to listen to the felt needs of the people and empower them to make changes, to promote reconciliation across ethnic, racial, economic, social, national, religious, political, cultural and other barriers in order to solve the everyday issues faced by communities everywhere, to promote local leadership in order to guarantee long-lasting transformation, and to share and demonstrate respectful stewardship of all human, economic and natural resources.

Jesus’ teaching and practice are the guiding principles and the measurement for this work, whether in Brazil or North Carolina.  Churches can be part of the solution to the housing crisis through many creative methods: providing material to help shelter the homeless, investing in education efforts that promote the development of people and communities, volunteering with Habitat or other housing ministries, or advocating for just policies that increase access to affordable housing and shelter for the homeless.

In particular, churches can play a prophetic role and raise ethical questions when the complexities of homelessness and inadequate housing are being examined. When confronted with difficult challenges, first and foremost churches must always affirm the dignity of every human being and the right of every person to a habitat that allows him or her to grow into all God intended. We must also remember that God dwells in each person, even the homeless one lacking a place to live. As scripture reveals, “God created humankind in God’s image” (Genesis 1:27).

Churches should also point out the economic inequalities that create poverty. Buildings that shelter no one stand in front of people without the shelter of a roof. People with no place to lay their heads are not far from those living in million dollar homes. Such dichotomy is far from being the result of a lack of resources; rather, it flows from the unjust distribution of goods that God intended for all.

Jesus told his disciples “the poor you will have with you always” (Matthew 26:11).  Interpreting these words as a blessing rather than an inevitable and hopeless eventuality, Jesus is saying, “Now that I’m physically gone, find me among the poor,
incarnate their reality, and work with them to bring a new society into existence.” In the focus lectionary text for today, Jesus says that the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. Even when Jesus came into the world, there was no place for his family in the inn (Lk 2:7). Jesus’ words, “no place to lay his head,” reflect the daily reality of many in North Carolina and around the world. In these homeless and marginalized persons, Christians are called to recognize Christ himself. If Jesus can be found in the least of these, then the single mother who cannot pay the rent, the homeless man on the street, or the elderly man who can no longer afford to stay in his home are all incarnations of Christ. We are called to offer them love and justice.

More uncommon wisdom for Kingdom behavior is taught by Jesus in the famous Sermon on the Mount. Jesus’ followers are not to conform to the world but are to be agents of change. Blessed are the poor in spirit…those who mourn…the meek…those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…the merciful…the pure in heart…the peacemakers…those who are persecuted because of righteousness. These are the values that will empower those who follow him to be the salt of the earth and light of the world. These are also the behaviors that will bring forth the Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

A number of churches in North Carolina are addressing the problem of housing locally, regionally and globally. Members of Myers Park Presbyterian Church are currently working to assist Habitat Charlotte with the construction of multi-family housing while also providing leadership in the construction of a house on a school campus. In addition, Myers Park has agreed to be one of several lead sponsors for an interfaith build, and they expect to join numerous other North Carolina churches in building several homes in El Salvador in July of 2007. Working with the members of Myers Park in El Salvador will be several other churches, among them members of Watts Street Baptist Church in Durham, Littleton United Methodist Church and Apex United Methodist Church. Some of them have been sending teams for years to build simple, concrete block homes in small towns affected by hurricanes, earthquakes, and the lingering effects of a long civil war.

These same congregations are also addressing housing needs locally. The Apex Outreach Service Project was established in 2000. For one week each summer, youth and adults from several churches across North Carolina come together to form a community of workers to make repairs on the homes of needy people in Apex, New Hill and Holly Springs. Watts Street Baptist members founded the Habitat for Humanity chapter in Durham and have since been involved in helping build numerous homes. Currently, Watts Street Baptist is sponsoring a Habitat house that will help a family displaced by Hurricane Katrina to rebuild their lives in Durham.

My work with Habitat involves connecting churches with greater material resources to congregations with fewer such assets in a common mission to serve the poor, both in the United States and in countries around the world. The process empowers the local host partners who best know the local needs, while also joining churches across  international boundaries to worship together, to encourage and learn from each other and to be in common service to others. The joy is seeing how Jesus Christ has touched hearts and transformed lives on both sides of the partnership.

Ultimately the transformation of our communities is a gift from God, a gift that comes in the form of two interrelated commandments: love God more than anything, and love your neighbor as you would yourself. As God’s people grow into this Kingdom vision, they are able to put lives, resources and imagination to work to develop ministries that produce long-lasting changes. By putting God first, we can better bring our neighbor into view. Together, we can work to empower all communities to achieve the abundant life that God wants for us all.

By José Luis Villaseñor, International Program Church Relations, HFHI