Servants to Asia's Urban Poor
General
Organization Description & Goals:
Servants is an international network of Christian communities living and working in the slums of Asia, participating with the poor to bring hope and justice through Jesus Christ. We intentionally live with the urban asian poor, learning from them, building genuine relationships, participating in their lives and struggles, learning their language and their culture, and working out how Jesus’ love can best be shown in their context.
Organizational Principles
Purpose & Mission Statement:
Our vision is to see the poor and their communities transformed by the power of Christ.
India
Indonesia
Philippines
Doctrinal Statement:
Servants’ Commitment To Belief & Action Servants affirms the traditional creeds of historic Christianity (see below). We are a broad ecumenical Christian community, including folk from Evangelical, Episcopal, Charismatic, Orthodox, Catholic and Mennonite backgrounds – and more. In order to work together, we embrace with grace and love a wide range of theological perspectives, biblical interpretations and spiritual practices. Whatever our spiritual heritage, when faced with poverty, suffering and evil, we sometimes find ourselves forced to rethink our faith in new ways. Therefore, in Servants we want our community to be a safe place where people feel able to ask deep, hard questions, and are supported in their struggles. We welcome honest theological debate – so long as it is done with love and mutual respect in a genuine endeavor to hear each other.
Core Values:
INCARNATION We intentionally live with the urban poor, learning from them, building genuine relationships, participating in their lives and struggles, learning their language and their culture, and working out how Jesus’ love can best be shown in their context.
SIMPLICITY We commit ourselves to lifestyles of inner and outward simplicity, setting aside our "right" to affluence while there are still those that live in abject poverty. We desire to be a relevant yet prophetic voice in a world preoccupied by self.
SERVANTHOOD We follow Jesus who came in humility ‘not to be served but to serve’, the path to true leadership. We empower the poor by placing control in their hands and not overpowering them with outside resources or expertise. With courage, we embrace sacrifice and suffering, share faithfully in the life of Jesus and the poor.
COMMUNITY As well as a commitment to the communities we move into, we have a passion to work together in supportive teams that model the love, care and community that Jesus spoke of. We work with people, not just for them.
WHOLISM We want to see the good news of Jesus proclaimed in word, deed and power. We have a God who is working to renew all things and to restore wholeness of life to all creation. Our lives amongst the poor call us to care for individuals, families and communities, as well as for the structures and systems of human society and the environment on which we all depend. We work for justice, proclaim God’s grace, and lift all things to Him in prayer.
Missions-Sending
Other
1 to 3 Months
4 to 11 Months
Training Required for Service:
We have a 14 day residential orientation course. On an individual basis, experience and training in various areas are required. For example:-Nonviolent Communication ( NVC ) and knowledge of the Enneagram. The first year continues the a learning experience called a Formation Year.
Training Provided by Organization:
We have a 14 day residential orientation course. On an individual basis, experience and training in various areas are required. For example:-Nonviolent Communication ( NVC ) and knowledge of the Enneagram. The first year continues the a learning experience called a Formation Year.
Long-Term Missionary Accountability Practices:
Our Servant members live in teams, with a Team Leader, in order to give support and accountability. We also have team mentors, and Member Care is offered by phone or video calls.
Application Process:
There is an online application form with requests for references. An interested applicant can discuss discernment and be walked through the steps to joining ( STJ) using online video calls. For short term interns this can move quickly taking about two months. For longer term applicants it can take a year.
Speaking to Past or Present Missionaries:
Connected by email
Characteristics of the Ideal Missionary:
Compassionate people who can live out the following:- It is in the incarnate act of Jesus taking on flesh and dwelling amongst us that we discover what compassion truly means. "It is not a bending towards the underprivileged from a privileged position; it is not a reaching out from on high to those who are less fortunate below; it is not a gesture of sympathy or pity for those who fail to make it in the upward pull. On the contrary, compassion means going directly to those people and places where suffering is most acute and building a home there.” Henri Nouwen
Volunteers
Types of Volunteer(s) that we are Seeking:
Helping promote our organisation and its values.