4 unexpected blessings from raising kids in a slum

No school could teach my children the things they are learning growing up in this community.

Ministry/Missions, Faith/LifeCraig GreenfieldJuly 13, 2015children, slum, perspective, parenting, blessing, affluence, poverty, drugs, addiction

Why I don't care about the poor this week

I am thinking less about issues of justice this week. And recent research explains why.

Poverty/CharityCraig GreenfieldApril 15, 2015poverty, philantrophy, justice, affluence, charity

Good news for who?

I looked around the room and, quoting from Luke 4, shared how Jesus, filled with the Spirit came out of the desert to announce the beginning of his ministry. His mission statement. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to bring good news....to who?"

I was teaching last week at a cell group of affluent young Christians in their 20's and 30's.They looked at each other. One reached for his Bible to look it up. Another searched his phone.

Faith/Life, Poverty/CharityCraig GreenfieldMarch 10, 2014poor, gospel, Luke 4, Jesus, Shane Claiborne, church, cell group, affluence

Jesus left the most exclusive gated community in the universe

I perched on the plastic stool and nodded towards the broad black sewer that runs along the edge of the slum where I live.

"Is that canal dangerous?" I asked innocently, simply meaning to make conversation.

The woman's eyes filled with tears and I realized I had asked the wrong thing.