WHAT WE DO

 

In January 2014, For the Love of Missions started its first business in the community surrounding the Guatemala City garbage dump. There are 8 employees in this first business creating beautiful, handcrafted jewelry.

 

While the jobs are critical because they provide the opportunity for these employees to provide for their families with the work of their hands, they are merely the foundation that relationships are built on.

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Through developmental relationships with the employees, our goal is balance of the 4 sided person, bringing growth spiritually, physically, emotionally and mentally.  This growth over time is what will work to break the generational cycles of poverty. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOW WE GOT HERE

 

 

After multiple short term mission trips, where many fell in the love with the people but felt frustration or disappointment in the lack of long term change, the founding team embarked on a quest for knowledge about poverty alleviation, urban development, and how to spread the word of God through economic development. When Helping Hurts by Steven Corbett and Brian Fikkert began to answer many questions and prayers and set For the Love of Missions on a path to have greater and long lasting impact.

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God placed a plan in their hearts to walk in relationship with the people they had served for years. Instead of small and often surface level changes, they committed themselves to developing the community surrounding Guatemala City's garbage dump by providing good jobs to good people and teaching life skills will affect this generation immediately. 

 

 

Your support and involvement with For the Love of Missions will help sustain this labor of love and make you a part of God's plan for Guatemala City. 

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POVERTY

 

Steve Corbett’s and Brian Fikkert’s work in their book, When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor and Yourself became foundational to For the Love of Missions. At the root of their work is their definition of poverty. “Poverty is the result of relationships that do not work, that are not just, that are not for life, that are not harmonious or enjoyable. Poverty is the absence of shalom in all its meanings.” [1-Page 59] This definition includes much more than material poverty. For the Love of Missions came to the understanding that based on this definition every person has areas of poverty (broken relationships) at work in their lives. They manifest differently in different cultures, and that is why we see the extreme material poverty in certain cultures. For this reason, poverty alleviation involves much more than simply a handout.  “Poverty alleviation occurs when the power of Christ’s resurrection reconciles our key relationships through the transformation of both individual lives and local, national and international systems.” This is what For the Love of Missions is working towards. 

 

RELIEF, REHABILITATION AND DEVELOPMENT

 

Another foundational concept from When Helping Hurts is the discussion of HOW to alleviate poverty reconcile relationships). They describe three approaches:

 

1. Relief

 

2. Rehabilitation

 

3. Development

 

Relief and rehabilitation are responses to an emergency situation to restore a person to their pre-crisis state. They, however, define “development is a process of ongoing change that moves all people involved – both the ‘helpers’ and the ‘helped’- closer to being in right relationship with God, self, others and the rest of creation.” [Page 100].

 

This development is what For the Love of Missions has chosen to focus on and why we have created the structure of jobs and relationships to transform the generational cycles of poverty in the communities we work.

 

SCRIPTURAL INSPIRATION

 

ISAIAH 61:1-4

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, 
because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. 
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, 
to proclaim freedom for the captives 
and release from darkness for the prisoners, 
to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion –
to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, 
the oil of gladness instead of mourning, 
and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. 
They will be called oaks of righteousness, 
a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. 
They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; 
they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations

 

Jesus chose this very scripture to announce the start of His earthly ministry. He came to bring all the freedom and healing listed in the verses. He came so that those who believe would become oaks of righteousness and in turn work toward the same healing and restoration of others. These believers would work to renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.

 

For the Love of Missions recognizes that all people have a ruined city at work in their life. They have broken relationships with God, themselves, others and all of creation. This brokenness manifests itself very differently in different cultures, yet Jesus offers a way to bring reconciliation to all these relationships for all people. Precious children of God have been experiencing these broken relationships in the form of incredible poverty for generations. In many situations, people just need a boost of support to get started toward opportunity. For the Love of Missions sees an opportunity to give that boost to people in Guatemala City and then in all the nations by providing jobs and counseling to restore the places long devastated.

 

MARK 12:30

 

Love the LORD your God 

with all your heart and with all your soul 

and with all your mind and with all your strength.

 

For the Love of Missions recognizes the 4 sided person is one who is emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually balanced. As a part of our work, we will work to stabilize physical conditions in order to ignite growth. Through counseling we will work to transform mental processes and encourage emotional growth by fostering an understanding of each person’s value in Jesus Christ. All the while this work is built on the foundation of hope that can only exist as a result of a spiritual relationship with Jesus Christ.

 

WHERE WE ARE GOING

 

With your generous support and the sales of the jewelry, For the Love of Missions hopes to expand. Possible expansions include increasing the number of employees in the jewelry business and beginning additional businesses of sewing, daycare, food store, or microfinance loans.

 

While For the Love of Missions started in Guatemala City, we will look to expand into other areas of Guatemala, Latin America and the world.