Building Gift-Centered Communities: Learning from Indianapolis
“The poor don’t believe they have gifts, and the rich don’t believe they have needs.”
Like most of us, Mike Mather had internalized these assumptions. As a minister in a low-income neighborhood in Indianapolis, he tried his best to find out what people needed so that he could provide for them.
His book, Having Nothing, Possessing Everything, documents his journey of radically rethinking how to be of service.
Today, instead of doing a needs assessment when people ask for help, Mike and his team ask about their gifts instead.
Do you take care of children or elders? Can you put up a dry-wall or fix a toaster? Do you play a musical instrument? Do you garden? If so, do you grow vegetables, flowers, or both?
After documenting what gifts people have - and this is what I love most of all - the team finds ways to connect them to others who share the same interest, or pays them to deliver those gifts directly.
Perhaps by cooking a meal for a city council meeting. Or to teach local kids about bicycle repair. Or to go door-to-door to listen to stories from the neighborhood and be the congregation's first Roving Listener.
This way, people are dignified in delivering their gifts as well as earning the money. Often, the gift-sharing leads to opportunities that would never have been imagined if the interaction had stayed with a traditional assessment of needs only.
This is the wisdom of Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD.) Working through this lens means always looking for gifts; of individuals, associations, and institutions.
Every moment becomes an opportunity to build on people's gifts. Does a public health organization need to interview residents? Have them hire local people to host the conversations. Is a new building being built by the city? Hire builders who live in the neighborhood.
I've met Mike. He's the kind of person who radiates spiritual maturity. He's always lifting up those around him, telling you about the latest fascinating person he's met.
"Everyone I meet has something that gives their life meaning, even if they don’t think about it, or see it, in the moment. To find out what that something is doesn’t take very long. It’s as simple as changing the question, flipping the script, from asking, “What’s wrong with you?” to “How can I be a part of this thing that you love, and how can you share it with others?”
May we each look for one another's gifts, and find ways to receive them.
