One of our values at Peachtree is Disruptive Compassion: Because the Gospel changes us all for good.
When I travelled to India on a mission trip, one of the places we visited was the Mahima Homes in Kolkata, which are aftercare homes for girls who are rescued out of sex trafficking. Often these girls have been lured away from their villages with the promise of a nice job in the big city so that they can send money back to their families. These girls are deceived and soon learn that the life they were promised is a big lie. Sometimes they are threatened with the additional lie that their families will be harmed in retaliation if they try to leave the trade. They are told that if they stay, their younger sisters will be spared. But if they do try to leave, their younger siblings will be taken. All built on lies.
Understandably the process of rescuing these young victims out of that life is difficult because the girls are not sure if there is anyone they can trust anymore. The women who work at Mahima Homes may seem nice and kind, but what do they really want? One girl fought everything the caring staff tried to do for her. She was hostile and angry, grabbing things she wanted and hoarding them. She hit the other girls if she thought they were getting something she wasn’t. One of the aunties at the home worked patiently with this untrusting girl but felt she was making little progress. One day as this auntie was busy at her desk with some paperwork, another girl came by and demanded attention. The auntie had to say to her, “I’m working, and I will be with you in a while.” The girl who had been so angry and closed-off came up close to the auntie, gently laid her hand on her shoulder, and said to the girl who wanted attention right then, “Don’t yell at her. I love this auntie.” For this resistant girl, Mahima Homes was a ray of sun in a dark world. She found love again, trusted again, and saw the possibility of sharing mutual respect, all of which seemed lost before.
This home, which is filled with the Holy Spirit, and the people who work there and are also filled with the Spirit, demonstrated disruptive compassion for this young girl, compassion that didn’t play it safe, didn’t give up, didn’t write her off, didn’t return anger for anger but countered with patience and goodness. Disruptive compassion gets things done when it seems impossible as it counters evil with good news and lets those who are oppressed go free!