Our Mission Story

As we look at the world in which we find ourselves living, our hearts break over the fact that so many live without the basic ingredients needed to survive. We find it unfathomable to think that in our day of technology and wealth that we can allow over 30,000 innocent young children to die of preventable diseases or hunger each day. Yet we realize that there are forces at work that are much larger than us.

Fundamentally, when we look at the world, we see great evidence of a fall and when we read the scriptures we are able to discern some of the causes of poverty, corruption and injustice as well as some of the cures. Being shaped by the story of God and looking at the story of the world, we recognize that human ingenuity is not enough. For there have been people far more clever with far more resources who have been unable to deal the fatal blow to poverty.

In fact, when we look at who we are and the complexities of the problem of poverty, it overwhelms us and sometimes causes us to be cynical. The only thing that gives us hope for the future is Jesus. For he seems to be the only One who was able to live a life fully faithful to God.

Jesus wasn’t like most people who when they get power and resources “the ring” tend to use them to protect themselves and what they have. He was willing to entrust Himself fully to God, becoming poor to make others rich. And though he had all of the power and resources of God, he didn’t wave a magic wand to make everything better.

Rather, like the prophets of Israel who had come before Him, he tried to help the people see the way things could be and should be. He was willing to confront the fraud and hypocrisy that he found in the lives of the political and religious rulers of his day for the sake of the oppressed. As a result, he faced the same punishment every other political dissident faced, death on a cross.

So, if the best man who ever lived died trying to make the world a better place, what hope is there for us? Why bother doing any good?

We can do good, because God justified Jesus’ life and mission by raising him from the dead. So now through His life, death and resurrection we can be reconciled to God and experience new life and partner with Him in his project to renovate the world. Our hope is to become a bridge from the non-poor to the poor and the poor to the non-poor with the recognition that each party has something to offer the other.

Those of us, who tend to be rich with resources, tend to experience poverty in many other ways. And those who are without many resources, tend to be rich in many other ways. The hope of Solis is to build partnerships between the poor and non poor in such a way that builds a community of mutual respect, one in which we hold the dignity of humankind in high regard knowing that all of us have been made in God’s very image.

We will most likely awkwardly move forward in our mission, for it is one fraught with both dangers and joys, the known and the unknown. We will need much guidance from those who have gone before us, and most of all, we realize that apart from Jesus and all the resources He brings us, there is no hope to accomplish the task that is set before us.

We live in a messed up world, and the likelihood is that it will not become fully fixed until the only One who has lived a fully faithful life comes back to fix it. But we also believe that he has empowered us to partner with Him to do all that we can possibly do to bring the reality of heaven to earth.

So because He calls us to go on this mission to renovate the world, we go gladly. We realize that suffering and hardship are part and parcel of this mission, but we also know that this mission will be an adventure filled with joy and deep satisfaction. We believe that the journey is as important as the destination, so the end never justifies the means. What we do, we do because we love God and all people, no matter what happens to be their background, gender, race or religion.