May 2010: Laura Berends

Laura BerendsAlex Newman talks with Laura Berends, a 26-year-old elementary school teacher living in a high rise apartment amidst the mostly poor refugee and immigrant families whose children she teaches at Grenoble Public School in Flemingdon Park. She does this under the auspices of Move In, a movement begun two years ago for the purpose of having Christians live in the neighbourhoods with the people they serve, sharing their joys and troubles. It is meant to create “an opportunity to be right there as salt and light, as the hands and feet of Christ with a cup of cold water in one hand and the good news in the other.”

TAP: What prompts a young woman to live among the poor families whose children she teaches, when she could be having the “time of her life” like other young people?

LB: I lived in Mali, West Africa, for a year. During that time, God spoke to me about the kinds of treasures that keep me from knowing Him, even though what I was holding on to were good--things like family and vocation and stability.

I went to Mali in the first place because I felt restless, wanting to hear God’s voice. There, I felt an anointing of the Spirit, calling me to look at all these things I have that keep me from knowing God.

I returned to Toronto to a year of great suffering.  My students warred against each other; my grandma, who was a precious friend, suffered and died; my mom developed breast cancer; a friend committed suicide; my own body waned from depression; close friends suffered abuse and sought me for wisdom which I felt powerless to give. I struggled to reconcile Malian/global poverty with my life in Toronto; and all the while I felt lost in uncertainty about God’s  plans for my future. 

I cried out to God and somehow in the darkness of this unwanted weakness, God took over my body and transformed me, and those around me, astounding me with wonder upon wonder.  God changed my angry students into being loving, forgiving and hopeful; he infused my body with supernatural grace and endurance; he led to me the most surprising of people wanting to learn of Jesus; he taught me to intercede, and overwhelmed me with visions to reveal his heart. He clarified his will for my future; he healed loved ones through my clumsy prayers; he healed me of childhood wounds, enabling me to love more freely. 

As I experienced God’s power in my weakness, I understood the mystery of Christ in us -- what it means to take up our cross, to lose our life to find it, to humble ourselves in order to be exalted.  God showed me how it’s only once we come to the end of our arrogance and strength that his life-giving Spirit can fill us. 

Since having experienced the power of Christ in me, everything has changed.  My life is no longer my own, but belongs wholly to God. 

Through reflecting, I came to a decision to move to a slum overseas and applied to an organization, but during the training, I wasn’t hearing God say ‘yes.’ Instead I heard ‘Flemingdon,’ and that seemed to be what God was longing for me to do.

I had taught at Grenoble Public School last year and had a job for the fall, and felt I wanted to move into the neighbourhood. But it wasn’t something I wanted to do alone. A few people told me about Move In. That’s how I connected with my two roommates, Juliette and Vanessa, and it seemed right and good.

TAP: Tell us a bit about the organization and its other communities.

LB: The movement started a couple of years ago, with Christians moving into poor neighbourhoods to live, and work, and be the face of Christ. The communities are all over Toronto, east to Oshawa, west to Hamilton, northeast to Ottawa. It’s spreading – there’s one in Edmonton, and another in New Jersey.

The neighbourhoods are not large geographically, so that everything is in walking distance, but are high density and high needs – a large percentage below the poverty line, and have greater challenges, like higher domestic violence and crime rates. The neighbourhood must be largely unreached: people who have had little or no access to the good news of Jesus.

The organization provides a lot of support and fellowship for us, with coordinating teams and supporting mentors, as well as denominational and missional partners.

We had a booth at Urbana, and recruited people to come on buses together, those who hadn’t moved in yet, but heard about it and were interested. We raised money for scholarships to go to Urbana and get linked up to move in. There was a big reunion when we got back, and there’s lots of email communication, plus a big benefit dinner for 200 to raise money. There will be another conference this summer to let people know about it.

TAP: How did you prepare yourself for this move spiritually, emotionally and materially?

LB: The major preparation had already been done, with God shaping my heart in the years leading up to this.

What I'm doing is not radical or extraordinary.  God calls us to love others, to share our lives, to serve, to be served, to submit to him in all areas of our life.  This life in Christ is joyful and challenging, impossible but for his power and love filling us!

Living here is not like I’m not being loved in return. There is constant reward, and I learn so much from relationships with others.

TAP: How does a typical day look?

LB: It’s pretty average -- up around 5 a.m. because I need a lot of time with God in the morning. Plus I run a few mornings a week. Up early means I can get to school by 7:30, in order to leave by 3:30 or 4 pm.

After arriving home, I will often go out to visit people in the building. Some days I’m so tired that if there is someone who needs seeing, I say ‘Lord you’ll have to get that person to come here.’ It often happens that people come and knock on the door, kids from school, or people we’ve gotten to know, a lot of women come over.

TAP: What’s the reaction of your colleagues?

LB: I’ve never gone and formally told the principal, but most of the teachers know. Five of us teach grade three, and we work closely together. There’s also a teacher I meet with every morning to pray with.

Although the teachers are diverse, and really dedicated, most live outside the neighbourhood. Most see the convenience of living so close to the school, but they don’t see the richness or the whole reason for why I wanted to do this.

They think it’s sort of strange I want to see the students more than just at school. Having students come and hang out at their home isn’t something most teachers consider. They don’t realize how fully I have come to know the families.

Some of the teachers have students who live in the building, and those kids will come to school saying they were at Ms Berends’ yesterday and that opens a lot of doors for talking, and being able to communicate that love is not meant to be kept to one’s self.

TAP: What about the families’ reaction?

LB: The families might think it’s unusual, but most are pleased. Some are just not comfortable getting close, but others, especially one family, treat me as their own. It’s always women – the fathers are hardly home because they work so much and it wouldn’t be appropriate for a man to come on his own to our home. With the moms who are real and vulnerable and allow me to be vulnerable, I’m becoming friends. There’s no weirdness about the parent-teacher thing. Some of the kids are a bit shy at first, it’s awkward to see the teacher outside school; but others want to come over right away.

TAP: How long do you expect to continue doing this?

LB: I have no idea. I go where God leads me.  I want to do God's will.  That's all.

There is something to be said for the longevity of relationships, though, and I do picture being here at least two or three more years. But since I may not even have a teaching job at Grenoble in the fall, I may then have to ask God whether I should stay. Maybe that means supply teaching.

This summer I will be going to a slum again, in Bangkok, to lead a group of university students on a learning trip.

TAP: What do you hope to accomplish?

LB: It’s not about accomplishing anything, really, but to be called into relationship with people.  I think of that famous quote from Mother Theresa, that we are not called to be successful but faithful.

God is capable of doing anything.  What he wants is to use us for his enormous purposes, for us to humble ourselves before him, to praise him, to love him, and to extend his love and peace to others.

Spending time in prayer puts us in God’s presence, reveals how God is with us and working in us. Prayer is listening, hearing God’s will. Even though we’re not equipped, we pray and God equips us.

TAP: You have stories of change.

LB: God’s love has made a difference and a lot of people are changing. Many stop by to visit, experiencing the joy of God’s love. Muslim women are asking about Jesus, studying the Bible.

A Hindu woman has joined us for prayer, being blessed by community in Jesus. Decisions are being shaped by God’s Spirit, and various families are open to hearing about Jesus. Children are attending the Saturday Kids’ Program, run by the Move In team, and they’re hearing Bible stories.

Good friends who are struggling financially considered sending their baby back to Asia to be cared for by family. After we prayed about that, my roommate Juliette had the idea we would babysit while the mother does hairdressing from the apartment, and the mom is excited about that prospect, and has decided to keep her baby close to her.

God is always present. When things get stuck, it's because we are not in harmony with God's will, not submitting to God's power in us, not receiving from him, not listening to him.  We pray so that we are put in God's presence, submitted again to him, and able to hear from him his plans for us.

For more information contact www.movein.to.