LYN House
Heidi Lyda (2008) received a M.A. in World Missions and Evangelism from Asbury Seminary.
In June of 2009, I moved to the inner city of Indianapolis, IN, to serve as Director of a Christian non-profit organization called the LYN (Love Your Neighbor) House, which is a ministry of the Free Methodist Church. The first glance of the Near Eastside of Indianapolis is not favorable. One is struck by the large amount of trash, abandoned homes and businesses, prostitutes, drug deals, liquor stores and shouting neighbors. It is an area of the city that many long-time residents will say, “You just don’t go there!” As Christians, when we enter into these communities, we have a certain responsibility to not ignore the ugly, but also to find the beauty in our surroundings.
The other day I heard the term, “Kingdom glasses”. The idea behind Kingdom glasses is that as we enter poor urban communities, as Christians, we should not pretend that there are no problems around us. Instead, we should look hard and discover the assets that the community has to offer, to find and unleash the good in the community that may not be as easily discernable.
One of our current ministries is a photography class, called The Viewfinder Project, that encourages teens to put on their own Kingdom glasses when observing their neighborhood. The Viewfinder Project (VFP) is a biblically-based curriculum that upon completion of the class, students will not only know how to operate a camera, compose better photographs, and follow instructions; but they will also have learned how to expand the way he or she sees the world, foster positive relationships with adults, grow deeper in a relationship with Christ, and find beauty in everything and everyone.
The first lesson in VFP was: What is Ugly? We encouraged the students to go out into their community and to take pictures of items they found to be ugly. This lesson had two purposes. The first purpose was to help students identify what they do not like in their immediate surroundings, and ultimately in their lives. The second was to help them understand that they have the power to transform the ugly into beautiful. Upon completion of this first lesson, one of our students shared, “Being in this photography class has made me realize how much this community needs our help. Seeing pictures like these makes me want to help our neighborhood.”
The next lesson was: What is Beautiful? In this lesson, students went into the same neighborhood and, this time, took pictures of things they found to be beautiful. This lesson had three purposes. The first was to help students identify what they do like in their immediate surroundings and their lives. The second purpose was to help students understand that there is beauty in everyone and everything if we look hard enough and with new eyes. The final goal was to help students understand that both the ugly and the beautiful coexist all around us, and it requires a conscience CHOICE to focus on the beauty, instead of the ugly. Some of the students thought that finding beautiful things for pictures was harder than finding ugly things, while others found it was easier. Each student took risks by taking photographs from different angles and perspectives. One student shared that when he was taking pictures of the same object from different perspectives, eventually he would find something he liked in the picture.
By using a camera, we have given these teens Kingdom glasses to view their community. As demonstrated by the comments, it is evident that this class has inspired students to make a difference in their community. This ministry has opened my own eyes to this community. I get to see my own community through the eyes of others, inspiring me to love my community more and see the beauty amidst the ugly.
The slideshow can be found here: http://www.asburyseminary.edu/alumni-elink/lyn-house
For more information visit our blog at www.lynhouseinc.blogspot.com.
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