BEATING UP THE PRESIDENT

   I think we need to get ready for the next president of the United States, the one that comes after the one we have now.  Let  us suppose that the next president will be a Republican, just maybe.  I think it would be good right now to agree on some rules about how we will write about him (or her) and talk about him (or her).  

    I will have to admit that these rules would be for Christians as it is hard to put anything binding on non-Christians.  They might talk about the need for "civility" but who decides what that might be?   

   We Christians have the Bible, which is supposed to govern and guide everything we do or say, if we actually believe it to be true and the Word of God.  So, this concept of "rules" guiding our behavior when it comes to political figures should actually have some Sovereign, Divine, Revelatory weight behind it, one might think.  

    Here is one verse quoting another verse, so we get to hear it twice, "Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people."  (Acts 23:5, Paul quoting Exodus 22:28).  NIV  I am not sure if a New Testament apostle quoting the Old Testament law is actually binding but just so you know.
   
    Here is another text, "Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men; whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.  For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.  Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.  Show proper respect to everyone:  Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the King."  (I Peter 2:13-17) NIV

    So, for the next president, if he or she is a Republican, maybe we can start using the Bible as some kind of guide as to how we should treat them.  Here are some suggestions:

1.  If they confess Christ and say they are a Christians we should accept that and believe it.  If they do not confess Christ, though they use religious language we should not just assume they are Christians.  I think it is fair to watch their actions, life-style, and wonder if they are true to their statements.  I think it is fair to look at their policies and wonder if they are consistent with Biblical teaching.  Just like people look at us and wonder, but hopefully still show us some personal respect.
2.  We should never ascribe motives to them unless they have told us what they are and we have the evidence.  Our negative assumptions of the worst kind of motives for all their decisions just wouldn't be fair.
3.  If they make a decision we don't like, or institute a policy we don't agree with we should argue with the policy but keep ourselves from ad hominem arguments (calling them names and mocking them) as to bolster our case.
4.  It would be fair to look ahead and see what we think some of the  ramifications of their policies might be and we have a right to voice that concern.
5.  We should possibly treat them as we would like to be treated if we held that office, this is just a suggestion.  We probably want to give our next Republican president the benefit of the doubt.
6.  If someone is slandering them, ascribing the worst kind of motives to them personally, but has no evidence such as direct quotes from them but simply impugns their integrity we should not agree with them, we should not repeat it, and in fact rebuke those who do it.
7.  If other people give him (or her) too much honor, too much glory, we should not assume this is the way they think of themselves.  If they call themselves God, King, or Messiah then we have a right to boldy speak against any such aggrandizement.
8.  Even if we think they might be lying, we are still to honor the office by showing respect and honor to them especially in their presence, even if it makes us sad to think they might not be perfect.
9.  I think we have a right to wonder if all the opposition that might come to him, for every one of his policies and legislative initiatives, is based on actual principle or simply opposition politics to make him look weak and ineffective.  I think we have a right to look at the opposition and wonder if they are really for the country or for themselves.

    Again, these are suggestions for how to treat the next president, possibly a Republican, based on some Biblical concepts.  I would hate for anyone to think I am suggesting this is the way to treat the present incumbent Democrat since he is not our guy and it might be hard to see how these things could apply to him.  We just need to get ready to have new rules that can be applied to our guy, for the sake of his protection, ours, and maybe the country's.

I CONFESS, I LOVE THE CHURCH!

    I love being part of the church, and I love going to church.  I love to worship God.  I love being part of the congregation that sings and gives glory to God.  I love hearing good sermons.  I love taking communion and celebrating the sacraments.  I love watching a new believer being baptized.  I love hearing the Scripture read out loud (especially when it is read well), and I love to hear someone pray with faith and passion.

    I love hearing a familiar hymn, and I love learning a new one, (especially when it is done well) and the melody is singable.  I love hearing great voices sing the truth of the Gospel, and a great Gospel choir can just blow the breath out of me.  I am amazed at the gifts God gives his church especially in our musicians.  I love being made to think about Jesus, and I yearn to be convicted, to hear the Word of God brought home to my heart and applied to my life.  I love seeing the Scriptures opened up and seeing new insights and being exposed to the wisdom of God that I had passed over and missed.

   I love to be reminded that God loves me, and I love hearing that God has power that I had forgotten to believe in and put my trust in.  I love hearing testimony and hearing about the a work of grace in someone's life.  I love watching my wife lift her hands in worship, and I love being in a pew with my family and swaying while we sing, lifting our hands, and realize this is the faith of our family and we mean it when we praise.

    I love the Lord's Table, and I love it when the suffering of Jesus is remembered, and we are reassured that our sins are paid for, that his blood and his righteousness covers me.  I am sobered when I am warned of my sins, and I am moved to confess once again, and glad to know that nothing, absolutely nothing can separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus my lord.  I love it when the table is administered in a fresh and sincere way, where it isn't just a perfunctory distribution, but where the joy of The Lord comes down and the saints sing in praise as we move toward the end of the celebration.

    I love to see the saints, to be hugged, to see someone else I'm glad to see be glad to see me.  I love it when I hear and see the church band and realize how much work they have put in to lead us on this day.  Oh how I love a good sermon, when the illustrations just make the Word explode in my understanding.  I love to be moved in my heart to believe God more than I do.  I love to see a preacher moved by his own sermon and I love to see his heart break in front of the congregation.

    I love to see elderly women who never seem to miss a Sunday and light up when I come over to get my hug and rejoice in their love of God, and to realize that coming to church is one of their great joys.  I love it when I see teen-agers stepping out in faith and learning how to put the Truth in their own words.  I love seeing families bringing their children to church, holding their babies, men holding the hands of their wives, sitting together and both holding Bibles.  I love seeing the church rise up to meet a challenge, whether to go out to throw a block party for a poor neighborhood, or to send a team to respond to a disaster, or to send out folks on a mission trip, or to put on a Vacation Bible School.  I love it when the people volunteer and respond and we realize more came in, or more stood up than we expected.

    I love it when someone we thought was lost, someone who was excommunicated, someone we thought hated us, comes back and is restored.  I love it when young men who used to run with gangs, sell drugs, and hurt people now worship and are hungry to learn more of God.  I love it when women who used to give away their bodies now live godly and circumspect lives and no one around them has any idea how wild their lives used to be.   Strange though this sounds, I love it when we have to watch somebody die of some wretched disease and see their constancy, their faith, their hope of everlasting life and though it destroys all of us, though the pain is almost overwhelming to watch their passing and the grief of their families, we stand together and celebrate in the moment of death the great victory of our God over death.  I love to see the saints united in hope.

    I love to hear the side stories, of someone paying a visit at just the right time.  I love hearing about how a bill was paid, a need was met, a sin confessed, a person forgiven, a friendship restored.  I love it when some sins are stood up to and not passed over, not simply accepted in the congregation but rebuked, and I love it when the church stands by its convictions though everyone is frightened and no one knows how things will turn out, except that we seek to obey God no matter the cost to ourselves. And I love it when God vindicates his people.  I love it when the saints reject self-righteousness, when they won't tolerate gossip, and when they pursue reconciliation.  I love it when God makes people honest, including myself, and makes us take the risk of loving each other through our faults.

   I love going to church, being part of the church, being loved by the church, being prayed for by the church, being watched by the church, being encouraged and cheered on by the church.  I love being a part of the Body of Christ, the Bride of Christ, the Building of God, the Flock over which the Good Shepherd leads and watches, the salt of the earth, the light of the world, the context of discipleship, the doer of good among the poor.  I love not being alone and looking forward to the City where nothing evil enters and the Lamb is its light and the leaves of the Tree of Life are for the healing of the nations.  I don't know what your experience has been like, but with all our mess I can say, I'm glad The Lord brought me in, into the house of God.

WHAT PART OF HISTORY DO YOU WISH TO EMPHASIZE?

   One day I was in the basement of Covenant Seminary's Library.  Somewhere in the archives I found a little booklet that was called, The Reformed Presbyterian Principles.  One of the things that jumped out at me was a statement that they would not swear allegiance to the Constitution of the United States as long as it did not acknowledge Christ as King and Lord and as long as it supported slavery.

    Somewhere along the line the Reformed Presbyterians have decided to acknowledge the Constitution.  Obviously the Constitution has been amended and slavery has legally ended.  It still hasn't submitted the country to Jesus.  Some years later I was a Teaching Elder in the RPCES when our denomination joined and was received by the PCA.  When that happened I knew that I was inheriting a history and legacy of the Southern Presbyterian Church, although the PCA was new and created as a reactionary denomination to the liberal drift of the PCUS.

    I was encouraged by the fact that some of the men I knew in the formation of the PCA were men who wanted nothing to do with racism and certainly were not attempting to hold on to any racist vestiges of the Southern Church.  The fact that there was a continuing racism in the new denomination was not a surprise to me, there had been some in the RPCES as well. I knew this from personal experience in being rebuffed from speaking and deputation engagements due to being inter-racially married.

    I have yearned to see more and more African American men become Teaching Elders in our denomination, as well as all other minority ethnic groups.  I have seen this number grow from one to almost fifty in my time as a TE.  I expect that growth to speed up tremendously as these men win others to Christ, disciple them in the Reformed Faith, and help train them theologically. I am encouraged by three African American Reformed University Teaching Elders at historically black institutions.  This means that some black young men will be steered toward the PCA.

     Not only that but I see a growing group of young white Teaching Elders who want to plant multi-ethnic and cross cultural churches.  I have seen the attitude of some of our agencies change as new leadership makes diversity a priority, and that not for any political reason but solely for the glory of God and the spread of the Kingdom of God to all the nations.

    I have seen some Presbyteries stand up to racism, deny transfer to a few who held racist views, and actually discipline instances of racism.  At the same time there are those whose published racist views have not been repented of, those who evidently still hold those views allowed to not only be comfortable in their Presbytery but be honored.  

    The fact of continued racism, of racist history, has been used by some to discourage men from joining the PCA.  This history cannot be hidden simply because the entire history of our country and the struggle in the South for human and civil rights is no secret. Just because someone didn't know something from history doesn't mean anyone was hiding it. Racism is an embarrassing blemish on the wonderful and noble experiment of American freedom, but even worse, on the reputation of the Church of Jesus Christ.

    I was extremely gratified when the PCA took the step of a public repentance of our complicity with racism from our past, and those of us from the RPCES who could have stood up and said, "that wasn't our history" voted with the rest as we have certainly inherited the results of that sinful past.

    So when I hear of brothers who are offended by the history of the PCA and almost act as if there is a conspiracy to hide that history it grieves me.  One reason is that I believe the pursuit of justice needs allies, not more critics.  Another is that it sometimes seems to me people pick and choose from history what they want to own.  I love Martin Luther's theology (the German guy) but I despise his views about the Jews.  I love Thomas Jefferson's words declaring independence, his concepts of universal human dignity as God given, while I despise his hypocrisy in owning slaves and using them for sexual gratification.  I love Abraham Lincoln in what he did for America and for black people in particular, but am grieved when I realize how little he understood of equality though seemed to grow in understanding its concept.

    I just wonder if there was anyone in history who didn't have some sin in  his life, some blind spot, something really heinous in his or her views?  I also wonder if there are better denominations who have no sins they tolerate?  I don't like it that some Presbyteries allow men to hold vicious ideas and doctrines that grieve and hurt their own brethren but I also know that we have church courts, we have a system of justice, and I am optimistic that eventually justice will  prevail.  I also know that as long as we are on this earth we will be a church with wrinkles and blemishes as we ask Jesus to make us a bride without blemish or spot.

    I am not asking for anyone to "just get over it."  I am asking everyone to "just deal with it."  If you have a case bring it, if you don't know how then learn.  There are no short cuts in church discipline (except repentance) and slander is not a godly option.

   My question is not about our past; if you hate it what can you do about it?  Are you going to stop living in the South because of how it used to be, will you move from America because of how it used to be, or because on any given day we can still find instances of racism and hate? What extent will you go to in divorcing yourself from sin in other people?

    My question about our denomination is what attitude is ascendant?  Is it seeking to follow King Jesus as he scatters his enemies, or is our denomination hiding his enemies?  I certainly wouldn't be in it if I didn't believe it was holding (as shaky and as incomplete as it may be) to the Word of God and attempting to live for his glory.

    I for one remain in the denomination for conscience sake, I love the Word of God, I believe in accountability even when it comes back to bite me because I know I am prone to sin.  I fight for change, everyday, in the matter of our racial and cultural demographics.  If I was in some other denomination I would have to take up the fight there, but probably with less assurance that I could make a Biblical argument that would be heeded.

STEPS TOWARD THE DISCIPLESHIP OF THE POOR OUT OF POVERTY

   

     So how can things be done through the church, and done well?  Let me lay out a pattern for those trying to organize a ministry of mercy.  There are several things that are important components.

    First is actually knowing and meeting the poor.  This is part of the “relocation” idea of John Perkins and CCDA core principles.  If there is no relational bridge to the poor than the kind of help we give will be like the kind the military sometimes gives in times of disaster when it parachutes supplies out of an airplane.  That might help in time of disaster but it doesn’t change lives.  We have found that when we meet the poor on a spiritual basis we have a far greater amount of influence in their lives for economic change.

  

   Doing evangelism and outreach within poor communities is a way of building spiritual and relational bridges.  If your church simply makes itself an agency for the paying of bills or handling financial emergencies people will look upon your church as such and it will be impersonal.  You will simply be another resource for them to exploit to make it through the month.  I believe it will sometimes be necessary for your church to handle financial emergencies or financial supplements for poor families, but without a relational or spiritual basis it won’t usually result in much change.  What makes churches different is that we go after the human heart and soul, and everything else can grow from that.

    Second, is establishing a point of contact in your church structure that proactively seeks to help the poor.  We consider the Deacons to be the ones best suited for this role.  Please notice that I used the word “proactively.”  This means Deacons or mercy workers need to be trained to think longer term when meeting emergency or relief needs.  Creating structure, policies, programs, etc. are all part of this but there needs to be a point of contact for the poor so they will know who to speak with and where to come for help.

   Third, is developing the mentality that the church wants the poor to be part of the congregation, to attend, to worship, to join.  Jesus told us that as we go we are to make disciples of the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that he commanded us.  This is found in the Great Commission as we refer to Matthew 28:19-20.  The local church is the place of discipleship, and it is where the poor need to be so they can grow in the knowledge of the Lord and of his Word.  Our goal is not to simply have the church minister to the poor, but that the poor should become the Church, and then it about us together and not “us” helping “them.”

   Fourth, is developing strategies, program, spin-offs, and referrals to help the poor we have helped by relief to now develop themselves economically.  This is often unseen and unknown by prosperous churches.  The process of economic development, community development, and using appropriate technology for development are issues that congregations within poor communities have to struggle with so as to help all of their people.  Merciful relief gives the poor a bridge to get to the development process but without entering into the development process merciful relief can become a merry-go-round that the poor can’t seem to get off.

    Fifth, we close the circle of ministry to the poor by discipling them into leadership so they can bless their own families and communities and not simply escape it.  Many of the folks we help will not necessarily return to help us in our mission.  Some will escape the “ghetto” through the education and jobs we help them to secure.  Poverty makes people provincial by force and when they have economic options they will usually take them and one of those options is to move to a better neighborhood.  We share some success in the economic elevation of people with whom we work, but our aim is to create radicalized believers who don’t simply live for themselves but for him who died and gave his life for them.  We want the poor to become the next Deacons, Elders, Pastors, and Missionaries of our church.

 

MAKING PEACE

It would be hard for me to overestimate the blessing reconciliation has been to me in my life.  Of course reconciliation with God, but I speak here specifically of how God first theologically made reconciliation possible between people groups, and then through the activity of His Holy Spirit made it possible in my life across racial and ethnic lines.

    I blame God for both of those things as a way of giving him praise.  This is one sweet doctrine, one sweet fulfillment of the will of God.  If you know me you might be thinking, "oh, he's just happy he is married to Joan (who is an African American)."  Well, yes that is true, but I had black male friends, and Puerto-Rican friends, before I ever met Joan.  Not only do I have friends (and this must be one of my greatest treasures), but I have had encounters with ethnic culture that have added so much richness to my life.  

    I've learned not to be afraid of difference, I've learned all kinds of music, and I learned to dance (that's my opinion about what I do at weddings).  I've learned loyalty in ways I could never imagine, laughter and joy, and perspective on things that would never have come naturally to me.  Along the way I learned ideas about justice, about compassion, about endurance and faith during suffering and oppression, about forgiveness that I would never have learned in my own racial and ethnic world.

    I learned things about myself, about being white, about my own culture and history that I heard and read from insights outside of my own group.  This has given me greater clarity in what is Biblical versus what is cultural.  I have learned better ways of preaching and communicating.

   I say these things because there is always something bubbling in racial news in our country.  I probably could write this and make it applicable in any one of a hundred news events over the last several years.  Right now we are hearing about the Los Angeles Clippers and their owner and his "alleged" racial remarks."

   I just have a couple of comments most of which are generic when it comes to this kind of thing.
1.  Learn to listen to the pain people express even when others might attempt to minimize the importance of the event.
2.  If you don't understand why people are so upset about something, ask them, and think about it before you start giving them immediate counter arguments.  Your verbal processing just may be pissing everyone off.
3.  Try not to let the reality and continued existence of racism and racist feelings surprise you, it is a constant of sinful humanity.
4.  Don't ever be complacent about it and understand that racist attitudes left uncontested create a future bill that must be paid.
5.  Don't think racism is the unforgivable sin, whether you despise it in others, or see it in yourself.  Sin can be repented of, and forgiven.
6.  The sin of hatred, despising the image of God in other human beings, and not loving others as your self, as your neighbor, are sins that make up the sin of racism; along with the idolatry of  ethnocentrism.
7.  Making friends and peace across racial, ethnic, and cultural boundaries doesn't usually just happen.  Reconciliation needs to be intentionally and purposefully pursued, and it is not something you do once in your life and mark it off your list.
8.  Whining about the reaction that minorities have to their feelings of insult when racism is exposed in the marketplace, even in the garb of political commentary, offer nothing in creating peace and reconciliation.  Stop whining.
9.  We have a right to differ in strategies to change things; some of us have the wisdom and courage to know when and how to take direct action.  Others of us have the ability to listen, speak, and negotiate/navigate our way to change.  We should be cautious in a quick condemnation of someone's strategy, unless it is obviously sinful.
10.  Sinful reactions to someone else's sinful words and behavior doesn't help any of us very much. Sometimes, for some of us, our greatest wisdom is in keeping our mouth shut and not adding to the problem.
11.  Compassion for the racist seems undeserved, and it is, but wouldn't  it be wonderful if the grace you and I need so desperately, and which saved us, could be extended to help the racist repent and become a friend?
12.  Spending more time in prayer for our country, and about events that boil our blood, is time better spent than in absorbing, spreading, and inflating the distractions on social networking and the internet.

SHARE!

(From a book not yet published)

    “All the believers were one in heart and mind.  No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had…(v.34) There were no needy persons among them.  For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.” (Acts 4:32, 34-35) NIV

    Among Christians it is not uncommon to see people give generously to missions, to build church buildings, to employ pastors and staff.  These are indeed often worthy of our support.  Where is the pattern of the early church among us in sharing within our own congregations to make sure there are no needy among us?  Where is the pattern of the early church to share with other churches who had needy people as we see described in 2 Corinthians 8:1-15?

    Some Christians have decided to live in community in order to try and live out this idea, some have attempted to live simply and set a level on their own consumption in order to share more.  Some congregations have partnered with other churches, across town and across the world, to become supporting congregations.  All of these things can be wonderful, and they can also have temptations and problems.

   We must always be careful not to become legalistic and self-righteous, especially in specifics that the Scripture has not commanded.  The godly principles of Scripture must be applied by all of us but sometimes these matters are left to our own conscience.  We need to be careful not to quickly condemn others because we judge them on how they spend their money. Yet, I am afraid we often err in doing little or nothing to stop our headlong pursuit of self-centered materialism.  When I say self-centered I also speak of whole congregations that simply endorse selfish living.

    I have been the recipient of many acts of mercy to me personally, to my family, to my congregation and people.  I confess that at one time I had a very wary eye toward the wealthy.  I had not known many of them and it was easy for me to live in stereotypes.  I did not trust them. Thankfully, over the years I have met people with lots of money who seemed bent on trying to give all of it away.  I have seen them attempt to do so wisely.  It is too easy to want to be friends of the wealthy, to please them, to seek to exploit a friendship for personal favors.  I can’t imagine how hard it is to be met with a new request by so-called friends every day or so. 

    I have had to fight within myself to guard my own integrity, that I would not accept personal favors simply because I wanted or even needed something. I have tried not to take advantage but to live under authority, with my salary published by my church, and to channel money to the truly needy.    I am grateful for the many acts of love toward myself; I hope I have received this with humility and honesty.

     Those of us in ministry have the opportunity to “poor mouth” so that it seems we always need a new car, a new suit, a better home, or a free meal.  Since I have had the forum of the pulpit I knew that I could steer the generosity of wealthy members to help me and my family.  They would often have done so with joy in believing they were helping “God’s man, God’s servant.”  God forbid I would steal from the widow, from the orphan, from the unemployed.  I t is especially important for those in ministry, in leadership, to be examples of not taking advantage of their positions, of practicing material generosity and not simply examples of consumption. 

    I don’t believe God calls on us to despise the rich, but nor does he want us to suck up to them so that they would fail to be held to accountability.  The wealthy need to live in justice and generosity; it is a blessing for them to do so.  God will give them even more in this life and the life to come.  All of us need to learn to share, from the widow with her mite, to the working poor, to the middle class, to the professional, to the scary rich.

A call comes from the State Department of Human Services.  “We hear that your church is able to help people with food and utility bills, is that correct?”   “Yes,” our full time Deacon answers.  “We have a lady whose lights have been shut off, but we have no designated funds to cover this contingency, can you help her?”   Our Deacon suggests that they send her to our office so we can meet her and find out what she needs.  She is a widow, she works cleaning the local library at night, she has no one in her family able to help her, she had been out of work and lost income.  She walks a mile home after work in the middle of the night since no buses run then.

     She comes to the office and tells our Deacon her story.  He tells her that, yes, we can pay this bill for her, but we could help her so much more if she could come and visit our church and worship with us.  The Deacon arranges a ride to pick her up, she begins to attend.  Eventually she joins the church, and not long after she starts coming the pastor makes an appeal for church members to give money to provide scholarships to send some men to a conference.  After the service this widow walks forward to give the pastor an envelope holding fifty dollars.  She was the first to respond, the first to give.

    One of the things I know that many of the poor who come to our church for help don’t know,  yet, is that if they were to become part of our congregation they would never again have to be hungry.  Surely every church ought to be able to say that.  In America this is possible, we have enough to share, to at least feed our own people.  If we really tried we could make sure every congregation that we believed was preaching the Gospel and faithful to the Word would always have enough to care for their poorest members.  We cannot do this without an attitude and lifestyle of sharing, and sometimes that means a radical disposing and distribution of our assets.

  “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9) NIV

   We need, our children really need, a call to something greater than themselves.  Many Christians are very sacrificial for their children, but I am afraid sometimes this is in reality just indulgence and an extension of self.  We must take care of our own families, but someday our children must rise up to be people of character, and if they been given a life where everything has revolved around them then how will they know how to share, and how to give their lives away for the kingdom of God?

    So give, find some worthy young person who is from a single parent home, some kid who has no resources and give him a part time job, give him a bike, give him or her a scholarship to camp or a good school.  Find some poor church and give them books for their young people, set up summer jobs at other Christian ministries for them. Go to your pastor and tell him you can buy a new set of clothes for any middle school kid who can help with the offering once a month, and buy the whole outfit from shoes up.  Tell your pastor you will match any money for adoptions up to a thousand dollars for anyone in the church.  Go to your Deacons and tell them they never have to worry about having enough food in the pantry to give to the hungry.  Give, and make yourself glad.

SPIRITUAL AND PRAGMATIC EXPECTATIONS FOR PROGRESS IN CHURCH PLANTING AMONG THE POOR

  "Nothing is too hard for God" is a good place to start in doing what seems impossible, or at the very least, hard. Planting churches among the poor that grow to be solid, sound, and a blessing to their communities is not easy. God has been at work among the poor for a long time, praise his name!  This is true for the inner city poor as well as for new immigrants and refugees. There have always been churches in poor communities, and sometimes a lot of them. If that is true then what is the problem and why are we even having this discussion?

    There are several compelling issues to prompt a discussion about pursuing church planting among the poor, at least for me.  One is simply the issue of missions and the call upon Jesus (and consequently us) to preach the Gospel to the poor; are all the poor saved?  Another issue for church planting is the issue of justice and the consequent issues of reconciliation, economic and material opportunity, and deliverance from injustice.  Theology has results, and if the theology is bad it produces ideas and patterns that hurt people.  So, another issue in all of church planting is whether or not the people being gathered are being discipled under Biblical teaching, and is it sound Biblical theology, or not?

    Have you got "good religion?" To put it bluntly, we need more urban missionaries to bring a better Gospel than a lot of people have carried into the cities already.  Certainly this sounds presumptuous, but we believe what we believe out of conscience, and it is observable that there has been a lot of "bad religion" which now seeks to defend its territory.  All should enter such ministry with humility, a willingness to learn from others who are there, to learn how to be servants, but we cannot acquiesce to the conditions that exist.  More of the same will not do.

    There are dangers for any people receiving missionaries, and there are of course other dangers for them to have no missionary at all.  Our goal in planting churches among the poor is to have those evangelists (indigenous or not) be people of integrity, people of good theology, people of sound cultural intelligence. Missionaries who lack these things can cause damage to folk. We would like to start with the assumption that they are spiritual people who know God, and whose lives reflect Christ.

    Ministry among and to the poor needs to have some standard as to whether or not it is effective, helpful, glorying to God, and life changing for the poor.  There are many ministries to and for the poor in the United States.  A good many of them might be classified as "sustaining" people in their condition while giving them some religious faith and hope but with no strategy to change the condition of folk.  Worse still are some that "do" for the poor without changing people hearts  or economic conditions.  Obviously if someone is hungry and they are given a meal at the moment of their hunger it can help keep them going, so with any particular kind of relief given to them.  There is a place for that, but it should be either as a starting place or at sustaining places in the relationship along a slope of growth and improvement for the person receiving the help.  If there is no "upward slope", then that ministry is not really helpful or effective; it is not life changing.

    There are too many "ministries" with no strategy for relationship, no strategy for the growth of people, families, or communities.  So, I would offer a few questions to help anyone in their evaluation of an urban ministry, or ministry to the poor, for their continued support or involvement.  These are not necessarily in their order of importance:

1.  Is this ministry focused on any other personality than that of Jesus?  Is it a money maker for the founder, leader, or pastor or is tangible help flowing to the people?
2.  Is there an articulation of the Gospel to the people, are people being called to faith, are they being gathered around a submission to the Scriptures?
3.  Is there a purposeful raising up of indigenous folk in spiritual leadership for the ministry?  Where are the leaders?
4.  Is mercy given with accountability, in relationship, and with wisdom so it doesn't make people dependent or cynical?
5.  Is there a "holistic" sensitivity to the condition of people and their families, with an awareness of their spiritual, economic, ethnic, cultural, and neighborhood context?
6.  Is there a reconciling aspect to the ministry, without attempting to lock people into a "ghettoized" view of community or poverty ministry, where they become ingrown and cut off from the wider Kingdom and community of God?
7.  Are people being visibly lifted out of misery, or simply sustained in it with occasional, crisis, or seasonal relief?  Are individuals growing in social, literary, vocational, and economic capital so they can thrive on their own?
8.  Is there a church being formed, whether it be small or not, whether it have adequate resources for its own sustainment or not?  Is it meeting for worship, is it preaching the Word in truth, is there loving accountability, are the sacraments being celebrated?  Is it growing at all?  The gathering of children should not be despised.
9.  Is this Christian community caring for each other, caring for the spiritual life of their own families, friends, and neighbors?  Are the poor learning to care for others that are poor?
10.  Is this ministry gaining respect from outside supporters, where in developing its own voice and its own aspirations and goals is being listened to, or is it only treated in a  paternalistic way and used simply as a ministry opportunity by outside interests?

    I would encourage you to examine any ministry with which you are involved with these questions, and to press for the better as simply opposed to what has been.  Remember, poor communities which are being evangelized will take much longer to arrive at self-sustainment in being a congregation.  This doesn't mean they shouldn't be self-governing, and even self-propagating prior to the day when they need no outside help.

   Congregations in very depressed and marginalized communities need at least ten years, or more, of outside help without a barrage of constant badgering or criticism.  At the same time any donor has a right to ask for a measure of progress, and maybe the questions above will help give some markers for that progress.