Perspective matters—Christian media provides a crucial reminder to gospel ministries
For Keela Keeping of Union Gospel Mission (UGM) Vancouver, keeping a low profile isn't really an option when it comes to what she does—reaching out to the homeless and marginalized community of the city's Downtown Eastside neighbourhood. And a big part of that outreach, she says, is being a visible, gospel-minded ministry.
"For us it's extremely important—it's the basis of what we do," she says.
"Humans need something outside of themselves in order to truly overcome and be successful and as Christians we do believe that is Jesus—and we've seen that lived out."
Keeping points out the importance of the spiritual component of caring for those facing addictions and brokenness, something that has made the work of UGM highly successful, even among similar humanitarian organizations.
"We have a drug and alcohol recovery program…and our success rate is 78 per cent," she says. "When you compare that to average stats for drug and alcohol recovery, that's unreal…and we believe a lot of that has to do with the faith aspect."
The success hasn't gone unnoticed. Given the public nature of what UGM does, it comes as no surprise that the organization has received a fair amount of press coverage, including mainstream media outlets. But although mainstream coverage of the organization has been largely positive, the spiritual component of UGM's work has often taken a backseat to the practical, humanitarian—but not specifically Christian—side of the story.
Keeping says much of that lack of recognition simply comes from not understanding the relationship between faith and action that she finds so crucial in what her organization accomplishes.
"From my experience, you really can't separate one without the other," she says. "You can't help but meet that need as well."
It's for that reason that publications like ChristianWeek are such an important reminder to why UGM does what it does, even for members of the organization itself.
"If we only ever had secular media to talk to, I think there would be a temptation…to only talk about the practical, to only talk about the physical and to not delve into the spiritual because you're not being asked those questions."
Ministries like UGM have no trouble attracting recognition for their results, given the public nature of their work. But Christian media is crucial in asking the spiritual questions, and getting to the heart of what UGM does as a ministry—one that strives to put Christ at the centre of what it does.
"Having the Christian media there, asking those questions—it just keeps everyone on the right page," says Keeping. "You would never want to find yourself in a position where you're forgetting the biggest reason why you do what you do—where you're forgetting the biggest transformational piece."
With so much of its practical success tied to its gospel mission, it's hard to imagine what would be lost if those spiritual questions were to stop coming—if publications like ChristianWeek were to disappear. Having publications that provide a spiritual perspective, and recognize the importance of Christian testimony, helps to keep ministries like UGM accountable to their purpose as a Christian outreach.
"When I get to sit down and talk to people from this community, especially people that have been through the recovery program, that share about coming from death to life—real death to real life—I am so incredibly encouraged," says Keeping. "It helps me keep my life on track, it helps me remember what's important."
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