Orthopraxy is louder than Orthodoxy

I attended a nonprofit’s gala the other evening. I’m all for my wife putting on her fanciest clothes, so the evening was already a win. Grandma took the kids, so we were in no rush to get home. A friend introduced me to this organization and we volunteered to help on the condition that my wife got to wear her pearls. A small concession, I thought.

This organization was birthed out of hurt — a lot of it. The founder experienced tragic, tragic loss and in her effort to heal her pain, she hoped to heal others. She wanted to both correct the inadequacies done to her in her pain as well as multiply what was done well. She would note several years into the organization that there was no grand plan to lead a nonprofit. Rather, the organization was built to support what needed to come out of her — healing.

The organization started practically, addressing physical needs. As the physical needs of those she supported were met, she earned the right to support them emotionally. Coffee became caring and photographs became presence. As her support scaled, she was asked for a formula; the system for why and how it worked. While ‘presence’ isn’t formulaic, there is some guidance available from those more fluent in the space.

I don’t know what the founder believes about God or redemption or why things happened to her the way they did. I do know that the organization is not a ‘ministry’ of any church or para-church organization. Instead, it’s a vehicle for meeting people where they are. The language of how they talk about themselves and what they do is direct, frank and basic. There’s no discussion as to what the scriptures teach of helping the orphans and the widows and no call to visit Sunday services.

I know what the Scriptures teach about helping the hurting and what the Jewish teachers refer to as ‘sitting shiva.’ I know what to believe and why I believe it because I’ve studied it. But this organization does it. They live it. She takes pictures. My grandmother made casseroles. My buddies bring coffee. Meeting physical needs opens the door to meeting emotional, psychological and spiritual needs. Both need to happen. Casseroles help the hungry and the hurting.

The Orthopraxy of the nonprofit world undergirded with the Orthodoxy of the church creates a potent combination (a '1+1 = 3' kind of an impact). Separate, they’re both helpful, but together, they’re powerful.

This is the call to the Church — serve well, serve practically, serve to serve.