Restore - Develop - Empower​

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These three words largely summarize our work here on the Plateau.  

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Restore: 

In Lemuel, we seek to bring restoration to the people of our community - to recover what has been lost.  We work to restore hope, dignity, the sense of meaning and purpose that God has instilled in each life, as well as the relationships with God, others, ourselves, and creation that have been broken. 

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We also work to restore the land itself.  This land, now so barren and depleted, once sustained dense forests and productive gardens. Deforestation and the pressure of human survival have wreaked havoc and left a wasteland.  Lemuel seeks to bring life back to this land.  

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Develop: 

Development goes beyond restoring what has been lost - it builds on what we have and takes us to new and better places.  It is dreaming of new possibilities and working hard to realize them.  We seek to develop our community into a place we are all proud to live in and our land into something that can sustain life.  This work, however, will be lost if we do not simultaneously develop the people of our community - providing them with the knowledge, skills and experiences vital to their personal growth.  

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Empower: 

This word captures our goal to help people develop to where they can help not only themselves, but others as well.  Development, then, is not an end in itself, but rather the process through which we help those around us to no longer need us.  As C. S. Lewis put it, "The proper aim of giving is to put the recipient in a state where he no longer needs our gift."

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