Restoration Ministry: I found my why. What’s yours?

One person suffering from extreme poverty is too many. The causes of extreme poverty are varied and numerous: addiction, trauma, re-entering society after being imprisoned for a crime, with generational poverty being the strongest predictor of continued and future poverty.

My own experiences with addiction and recovery have led me to this ministry. I am in thirteen years of recovery from an addiction that made a train wreck of my own life and have found the same principles to be crucial in my restoration. My passion for this mission comes from a burning desire to share what I have seen God do through the restoration principles we are practicing with others. My book, Change for the Poor, focuses on strategies for success when helping those who find themselves in extreme poverty by using biblical principles and real-world experiences.

And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

—Matthew 9:35–38

To this day, as I pour myself into the lives of hurting people, the Holy Spirit uses this passage to give me a much needed heart check. There is much to learn from that great passage, but two words have always captivated me when it comes to how I relate internally with those I serve: compassion and prayer. Those two words create a strong conviction in my heart that it is impossible to be in a loving relationship with those I serve without having compassion and praying for them.

I am not an academic, and I am still learning from mistakes and continually collaborating with others who do the same work I do. I have worked with those in extreme poverty daily since 2012, first as a pastor in a church and now as a chaplain in a nonprofit organization. In the trenches of restorative ministries, I have come across principles that have worked to restore the lives of people who find themselves in extreme material and relational poverty.

The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that there is no vacation destination, sensual pleasure, or accomplishment that compares to helping someone restore their life. Lives are radically and forever changed. Restoration ministry is not for the faint of heart; at the same time, it is also soul-satisfying.

I firmly believe that in order to help individuals in extreme material and relational poverty, you must know and understand your personal “why”. Being honest about what truly motivated us has a very practical impact on the lives of those we serve.

About Mark McKnelly

Mark McKnelly is an author, motivational speaker and wholistic life restoration minister and coach. McKnelly develops and helps other organizations develop programs for men and women reentering society from incarceration or recovering from addiction. He shares his practical process in his book Change for the Poor to teach others how to help individuals in extreme material and relational poverty restore their own spiritual, relational, personal, vocational and financial lives. His personal journey through addiction and recovery led him to his ministry.