Daniel Rutland: Following the Servants Model in Southall

“We believe that Jesus is not just the one who calls us into mission, but also the one who models the way to do mission, through servanthood, service and incarnation.”

For more than 25 years, Servants to Asia's Urban Poor has been working with communities of the poorest people in Asia's mega-cities. Their mission is simple: “We are an international movement - a network of teams living in urban poor communities, primarily in Asia, participating with our neighbours to bring hope, justice and transformation through the presence and power of Christ.”

“Servants” has a way of working that differs from many groups. Team members form intentional Christian communities in the areas where they are based, living simply and allowing the nature of their work to flow from their calling to “meet our neighbours and those in need, and build genuine relationships with them, participating in their lives and their struggles.”

It's this way of “incarnational mission” – following Jesus “who became flesh and blood and moved into the neighbourhood.” (John 1:14, “The Message” translation) – that appealed to Daniel Rutland, who is planning to join a new Servants team being established in Southall this October.

The Servants model first attracted Daniel when he heard about it at Greenbelt, a Christian festival. Drawn to explore the way Servants teams worked, Daniel travelled to Cambodia in 2006, where he was impressed by the way that they didn't go in “with lots of money and an agenda,” but

were guided by and sought to empower the people they lived alongside. Upon his return, Daniel joined together with other Servants “folk” for occasional days of sharing and encouragement. And when he heard the news of a proposed team in Southall, he felt “an inner leap of excitement which I couldn't deny or suppress.”

Since then, he's been preparing for the move to Southall via “reasonably regular visits, some great curries, lots of walking and talking, and a growing fascination with the extraordinary cultural and religious diversity of the place.” With other team members, he has been making contact with local churches and organisations with whom the team can partner. They've become aware of some of the local concerns – groups that are new and feel unassimilated, a sense of transience as most people who move in are hoping to go somewhere else, lack of local facilities and finances, and a sense of being marginalised by Government bodies and others. They've also begun to see some of the riches the area possesses, including the diversity Daniel has noted, as well as strong local community organisations, churches, and the presence of Christian conservation charity A Rocha. And they've begun to formulate principles, pathways of prayer, and ways of sharing their common Christian life.

Starting such a new venture often has its moments of anxiety: “Where will we live? Will anyone else come to join us? What are we going to do, exactly?” And, in addition, for Daniel, “I'm a gardener and a nature lover at heart, and I wonder how I'll cope in the big city.”

Reflecting on all these questions, Daniel mentions that the group has just reserved an allotment. “It feels quite symbolic – quite an overgrown bit of land . . . which looks quite nice but will take a lot of clearing. [It will need] a lot of patience and sticking at it, which may be the case for most of what we're going to do. We haven't got loads of clear agenda as such . . . [we're just] trying to sow seeds.”

And he recalls: “The Bible begins in a garden and ends in a city, as many have pointed out. But notice that the “river of the water of life” flows in the New Jerusalem “through the middle of the street of the city.” And beside it the tree of life, whose leaves are “for the healing of the nations.” I hope I'll get to do some gardening in Southall; but more than that my prayer is that together we'll be able to sow seeds of God's love and shalom. . . . What fruit will come of that is something we must leave in God's hands.”

To find out more about Servants, go to www.servantsasia.org.