UNOH’s Renewed Vision

Shining Christ’s light in urban darkness: Renewed vision and dreams for Urban Neighbours Of Hope by Ash Barker

We believe God has called us together in UNOH to raise-up follows of Jesus who help release neighbourhoods from urban poverty in Asian-Pacific cities. This renewed UNOH vision statement is an intentional return to why UNOH was birthed. In 1993, Anji and I (Ash Barker) had this sense that we could be part of God’s answer to the cries of the urban poor. We relocated our lives to focus our best attention on loving God and neighbours in need in Springvale, Melbourne, Australia. A lot has happened since those days through the growing UNOH community and yet so much more is possible as we look to the future with a fresh sense of vision.

In 2011 there are now 38 full-time UNOH workers who join hundreds of volunteers and neighbours in living and serving Christ in 9 of the neediest urban neighbourhoods in Melbourne, Sydney, Bangkok, Auckland and Mae Sot (Thai-Burma border). While it is easy to be overwhelmed by what is in front of us each day, we sense a call to multiply ourselves and to see more light shine in dark places. We never wanted to build a mega UNOH institution as a vehicle for our own benefit. Rather we have sought to raise-up teams of Christian workers able to go and pioneer, reproduce and multiply strategic and prophetic neighbourhood mission among the urban poor. In fact one of our core convictions as a community is ‘organic growth’ which we define as ‘using reproducible models of nurturing, training and raising-up of new teams and leaders as the means of growing UNOH workers and local Jesus-centred movements.’ To be consistent with this I want to see UNOH as a federation of small, adaptive, self-multiplying teams more than a few ‘big-headed spiders’ with lots of legs. Responding to urban poverty, helping spark Christian movements in neighbourhoods, seeing real transformation requires this kind of flexibility and responsiveness, rather than a big, centralized, top-down massive institutions.

To remind us of this core calling and to help us set our sights on our preferred future, we are using an inspiring new community symbol. We have also set some challenging goals to pursue – dreams that we believe are possible for God to do through us by 2015.

Blue urban-scape

Our focus is loving people who live in neighbourhoods facing urban poverty in Asian-Pacific cities. The numbers of those living in such conditions is currently growing each day by 167,000 new people, including 96,000 new slum residents. (Status of Global Mission, 2011) Though urban neighbourhoods can be dark and despairing places, they are not all doom and gloom. They are mostly open-blue neighbourhoods who anticipate that light can soon break through. As catching basins for a nation’s lost and poor, urban neighbourhoods provide unprecedented opportunity to seek God’s Kingdom come. This is especially the case in the cities of the Asia-Pacific, where the majority of people on the planet will live in the 21st century. We have therefore set this goal: By the end of 2015, could we see 20 UNOH teams serving in 6 Asian Pacific cities, seeking transformation through Christ in 20 urban neighbourhoods?

Radiating arrow-home

Jesus is a light that desperately needs to be reflected sacrificially and personally in this new urban context. As we live and share Jesus with those we live and share life with, an eternal hope can light up our homes and neighbourhoods. We are not the source of this light, but our lives/homes can become like an arrow that reflects and points to the source of all hope. Urban despair and poverty can only be transformed into real hope and freedom through encountering, joining and following the risen Christ. Raising-up as many authentic followers of Jesus as we can then helps to catalyse liberating, social change movements in our neighbourhoods. After what Jesus has done for us to bring this light into the world, there is nothing we would not do for him to see this Kingdom of light come on earth as in heaven. We have therefore set this goal: By the end of 2015 could we equip 60 full-time, live-in UNOH workers who can raise-up followers of Jesus helping to release neighbourhoods from urban poverty? Could we also equip 60 Sub-merge interns and 6,000 UNOH supporters to join in seeing urban neighbourhoods transformed through Christ by 2015?

Big Dreams: Some big, hairy, audacious goals for UNOH by the end of 2015

This renewed UNOH vision, symbol and goals remind me of ‘Light in the Ashfelt Jungle’ by Vincent Harding. This was a formative poem in UNOH’s founding and is both a nightmare and dream about what Christians choose to do (and not to do) about people living in urban poverty. It dreams of Christians who move into poor ‘concrete jungles’ to see God’s light shine, but feel overwhelmed and over-run. It finishes with an invitation “Come and help us, Come and share this joyful agony, joyful agony, Come as brothers and sisters in the task, Come and live and work with us, Christians who will come and live here, Here in the heart of the darkness, Who will live here and love here that a light might shine for all? Come.”

Will you come join us in this joyful agony of a lifestyle? We need your solidarity and involvement more than ever. We would love to help you find a deeper sense of purpose in what God is doing in an increasingly urban world. If you have not committed already, why not become a UNOH worker, Sub-merge intern, neighbourhood volunteer or UNOH supporter? Why not join one of our UNOH Training short-courses? Who knows what God can do through us if we surrender whole-heartedly to him and step out in faith to join him among the urban poor?