Pope Francis, Church as Field Hospital and the ministry to the poor at the Ground Zero
Pope Francis had a concern for all the poor. But he had a particular concern for what are called the poor at the ground zero.
The poor at the ground zero include the homeless, the street children, the communities in the slums and shanty towns, the poor in the war zones, the refugees etc.
There are the poor whose situation is such that to minister to them, the church has either to go into the street or go to risky areas, becoming in the process the hospital in field battle.
To honour his legacy, we have created this website as an online home for all who are involved in the ministry to the poor situated at the ground zero.
It is not easy to serve as a missionary at the ground zero. The following are therefore the online services and support that missionaries at the ground zero will find on the website:
- Prayer at the ground zero – space where we are praying with and for the missionaries at the ground zero.
- The Biblical spirituality at the ground zero- Space where the missionaries at ground zero, as well as the lay faithful, to build one another spirituality through sharing their reflections on the Scriptures.
- Small Christian Communities and lay leadership at the ground zero – Creating opportunities for training of catechists and lay leaders in the ministry at the ground zero.
- Research hub – a place where mission practitioners and academia can collaborate on research and building knowledge systems to improve the strategies used in the mission at the ground zero
- Learning network – a space where missionaries doing work at similar ground zeros can share their experiences and the best practices to enhance missionary work.
- Good News for a change at ground zero- news and stories to bring greater visibility and share with the world the wonderful work that church is doing at the ground zero.
Mission to the poor at the Ground Zero and Pope Francis’s Evangelii Gaudium
According to Evangelii Gaudium, the poor at the ground zero are the kind of the poor in a situation in which, to minister to them, the church needs to do three things: (1) It has either to go out into the streets or into risky areas; (2) while in the streets or in risky areas, it has to operate as field hospital in battle (3) it has to be open that it will be bruised, hurt and dirty while bringing the Gospel of hope. (4) it has to carry out a ministry of presence and begin to smell like the sheep. All these four elements are found in Pope Francis’s encyclical, the Joy of the Gospel.
