If we want to be effective
among the poor we need to be in pursuit of relationships, structure, and
purpose; with the personnel to work, build, and direct each one and the
resources to oil the flow. One of the
fundamental aspects of inner city ministry is being able to meet people in
their need and love them into positive solutions. As a local church is built that seeks to
minister to the poor it will need to remember each of these aspects, and work
to maintain them in strength.
A lady comes into the church office and
meets the Deacon. He interviews her and
finds out about her life, her present need, and hears her request. He begins to speak to her of life changing
and life time solutions, of coming to Christ, of coming to and becoming part of
the church. He is speaking to a young
mother with a bunch of children, several different fathers and all the dads in
prison.
She seems to be interested, she says she
wants to come to church, and asks for someone to come and pick her and her
children up. This is the place where the
Deacon comes up short, and it is a moment of frustration.
When inner city ministry begins, with
someone who decides he or she will minster to those in poverty, they begin to
form relationships. Often these
relationships grow into extended families; one sibling, one parent,
grandparent, one child, one cousin after another as the web of friendships
develop. Some of these relationships
will end in a ride to court or prison, some will end in the funeral home, some
will carry on for years and decades, and some will produce disciples of Jesus
who will live out their lives in faith.
Some of these friendships will carry with
them discouragement and despair as young girls get pregnant and keep the poverty
cycle going, teens drop out of school, fall into gangs and thug life. Some of these friendships begin with children
who are bright eyed and full of promise, moldable, eager to learn new
things. Some of these same children will
grow into young adults that become truculent, distant, caught up in a world of
easy sex, crime, drugs, and instability and no longer responsive to the friends
that once carried them here and there and told them of Jesus.
Many inner city ministries begin with one
person or one family beginning, developing, and building intense relationships
with inner city residents. When one is a
Gospel minister this situation can make the servant of God feel extremely
important to that particular person and family.
There are temptations in this relationship; to feel like a hero,
indispensable, messianic. Another
temptation is to think that these intense relationships are the be all and end
all of ministry. It can often lead to
anger and burn out as the needs of even a few close friendships of the poor can
be overwhelming. The urban worker
resents the fact that no one else sees how important this work is and won’t
come and help them.
Sometimes, in the hubris of good work and
the feeling that no one can do it like them, the urban worker can resist
building a team, or even more strategic, a church. Sometimes when a church is begun it never
grows further than the few intense relationships that the urban pastor or
church planter can maintain. Sometimes
when a church is built the development of intense relationships with the urban
poor is abandoned for programs and activities, which don’t always maintain the
momentum of relationships in the same intimate way. There is loss in either direction.
This is why it is so important that the workers
be increased so that relationships can be maintained, and begun with new
people. It is also important that the
number of workers be increased so that effective structure can be established
for the programs, ministries, and services that enable what happens in
relationships to evolve into the personal development of those the urban
minister is seeking to love. Without an
overall purpose to the ministry, without structure to take people beyond what a
friendship can provide, we are left with relationships and friendships which
are meaningful, but don’t produce long term community change.
Recruiting, training, and deploying
effective urban ministry workers is something the urban pastor has to have
constantly in mind. He can raise his own
through discipleship of indigenous folk, and this should be his highest
goal. He can also seek to “radicalize”
the middle class, teaching them cross cultural skills, and along with
indigenous folk, teaching them to develop a humble servant like Jesus attitude.
This is what the Deacon needed to help the
single parent mom. If he only had one
family to help maybe he could give all his time to help her, to provide the
transportation she needed. Since he has
many to help he needs someone else, or better yet, a team of folks to come
alongside that woman. Her needs are
immense, and a ride to church won’t get it done. Yet, a ride to church is a beginning and
someone to do it faithfully would have been a blessing. A church bus with a faithful driver would
have been a blessing. Yet without
building a structure to have those resources ready the Deacon is left
frustrated.
The resources to have a full time Deacon,
to have a church bus, to pay a driver are all needed. The resources to supplement this woman in her
rent, utilities, food, etc. are all going to be needed over time. Men to mentor and coach her children will be
needed. Older women to counsel, coach,
and encourage her are going to be needed.
Job training, job placement, job creation or whatever it takes to give
her a new life and new direction are going to take people, programs, and money. Inner city churches need an army of saints
recruited, trained, and deployed to effectively minister in a place of great
need.
In spite of all that the Deacon doesn’t
have, or doesn’t have yet, he still has the hope that the Gospel is powerful.
That a single parent mom coming to faith can experience the powerful work of
the Holy Spirit in her life, and give her the tenacity and hope to rise above
the hole she is already in is surely a miracle, but one that has happened many
times, and by the grace of God will happen again.
No comments:
Post a Comment