Cornerstone Curriculum, Official Certification Edition - Mentor's Guide

4 6 / C O R N E R S T O N E C U R R I C U L U M M E N T O R ’ S G U I D E

In working in communities of poverty and serving those whose lives are being taxed by spiritual, physical, or psychological trauma, it’s going to be a challenge to maintain the freshness and strength that you need. You can get that freshness and strength from these Rhythms of Life. They can safeguard us from being burned out, being toxic ourselves, and from being overly stressed. Three months living and working in communities that are stressed and economically deprived and socially under the gun is enough to break all altruism that you started with. People called to serve in these communities often think that because God has called them to poverty work, they will be fine. What they discover is that their own personal lives, their minds, their bodies, the lack of sleep, the long hours, all the things that come with ministering in these communities are affected. They find that they themselves are the object of the devil’s attack. You can’t give to others what you do not personally own. “You can’t give what you ain’t got, and you can’t lose what you ain’t never had” (Muddy Waters). So the first thing above everything else in doing ministry in at risk neighborhoods is your own soul care. Church Membership • Commit to active membership within a healthy local church for the purposes of fellowship, teaching, prayer, service, and personal development. • Being a part of a church community allows you to receive pastoral care, good feeding/teaching, fellowship, and blessings. • It is critical to Redemptive Poverty Work because the main redemptive institution for the world, that we see from the Bible’s teachings, is the local church.

& 2 page 63 Summary

4

R e d e m p t i v e P o v e r t y W o r k

& 3 page 65 Outline Point B, 1