Introduction
There is a woman with a green wool blanket who had to make a
choice between putting food in her mouth and a roof over her head. She chose
the former. She sleeps in the bus shelters on Delaware Avenue in Buffalo, NY.
There is a man named Broderick who sits on a bench in front of a Tim Horton’s
restaurant in Lafayette Square and asks for change six days a week. People pass
right by him; even Christians pass right by him, because they believe the only
task that God has given them is to tell people about Jesus by evangelizing on
street corners and metro platforms. It is like this in cities all over the
United States. People sleep on benches in parks, in doorways. Those who are
better off just keep walking, and in many cities, the homeless are punished for
simply trying to survive. According to the National Coalition for the Homeless,
panhandling is illegal after dark in cities like Pittsburgh, PA, and Atlanta,
GA. Homeless shelters in cities like Little Rock, AR, have had to decrease the
hours they are open, due to budget cuts by the government. “Lodging out of
doors” is prohibited in cities, including Sarasota, FL, Las Vegas, NV, and
Flagstaff, AZ. Yet those who
are above “the least of these,” including Christians, keep walking, believing
that it is not their problem. The truth is, it is the Christians’ problem.
Jesus said, “Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me.” Christian
treatment of the poor as it stands now is indeed unethical and could use some
improvement. Helping the poor could be considered an even greater witness to
Jesus than just sharing the Gospel, because then, when one helps the poor and
the otherwise less fortunate, they testify to the existence of Jesus Christ
through their actions.
Objections
The
majority of Christians today are socially conservative. They are against
abortion and same-sex marriage; and they also believe that one should work for
what they get. They also believe that the only way to spread the Gospel is by
telling someone about God, rather than showing them. Christians today generally
believe that helping the poor is something called the Social Gospel, which has
been associated with “theologically liberal, moderately reformist Protestant
social thought.” Laissez-faire individualism, in which the government does not
give monetary support to its citizens, and everyone earns what they have, is
and has been a cornerstone of Christian orthodoxy. In fact, in the forward to When Helping Hurts, by Steve Corbett and
Brian Fikkert, the author of the forward, John Perkins, writes that his
“concern for the poor and social justice made many evangelicals suspect that
[he] was theologically liberal.” This idea that evangelicals have about people
helping the poor comes from 2 Timothy 5:18, which is a reference to Luke 10:7.
They focus on the part of the verse that says, “Those who work deserve their
pay. However, the context of Luke 10:7 refers to the disciples accepting
hospitality while working to advance Jesus’ kingdom; they should not be so
humble as to refuse any hospitality that is offered. Evangelicals take this to
mean that people should not take assistance of any kind without having first
worked for it. It is so easily forgotten that some people are unable to work.
Examples of this in Biblical times include the blind beggar in John 9, and are
still applicable today.
In addition, there is a fear of the city, perpetuated by
stereotypes of the city as “an urban wasteland.” It is too crowded, too
violent, too noisy, and beyond any help. Further, the objections of those who
are religiously pretentious, as Walter C. Kaiser writes, are that, as
previously mentioned, the first and foremost duty of a Christian is to bring
people to Christ. Giving the poor a helping hand may or may not include
verbally sharing the Gospel with them. These Christians believe that the most
important thing for a Christian to do is to pray to God, go to church, and get
other people to do the same. In other words, they believe in rules, much as the
Pharisees did. It is for this reason that Christians are generally equated to
Pharisees by the unsaved. Kaiser writes that God does not wish for people to
follow the rules and rituals in order to maintain the outward appearance that
they are believers. The habits that are correct in their eyes are not correct
in the eyes of God.
Why It is Biblical to
Look After the Poor
In the forward to When
Helping Hurts, John Perkins cites Matthew 25:31-46 and 1 John 3:17-18. The
passage in Matthew 25 contains the parable of the sheep and the goats. Jesus
puts the sheep at His right hand, and the goats at His left. He tells the sheep
that they fed Him when he was hungry, visited Him when he was in prison,
invited Him in when He was a stranger, cared for Him when He was sick, gave Him
water when He was thirsty, and clothed Him when He was naked. The righteous who
were the sheep asked Him when they did those things for Him, and He told them
that “when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you
were doing it for me!” (Matthew 25:40 NLT). Likewise, he said to the
unrighteous, the goats, that they did not do those things, and that “when you
refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing
to help me” (Matthew 25:45 NLT). Further, 1 John 3:17-18 reads, “If someone has
enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no
compassion – how can God’s love be in that person?” (NLT).
There are examples in the Old Testament as well. Deuteronomy
15:11 reads, “There will always be some in the land who are poor. That is why I
am commanding you to share freely with the poor and other Israelites in need”
(NLT). Further, Isaiah 58:6-7 reads, “No, this is the kind of fasting I want:
Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for
you. Let the oppressed go free and remove the chains that bind people. Share
your food with the hungry and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to
those who need them and do not hide from relatives who need your help” (NLT).
These verses illustrate what is called “true worship,” according to the New
Living Translation. The first five verses of Isaiah 58 condemn those who
worship God, but ignore their fellow man, something that is commonplace with
conservative Christians today, as they consider those Christians who fight for
social justice and the poor “theologically liberal.”
Urban Ministry: Its
Necessity and Its Purpose as a Witness for God
In his study of the New Testament, Ray Bakke found that the
church is meant to be “an agent in the world.” He notes that in the books of
Luke and Acts, the focus is on riches, poverty, justice, and women, which make
up the agenda of urban ministry. Many Christians, both historically and today,
think of only the poor on the other side of the world or south of the equator
as the ones needing help and needing God. However, Harvie Conn writes that
“missionary compassion no longer demands border crossing; theological
reflection can no longer be done from the balcony at a safe distance.” One
issue is that there are those who do not want to get their hands dirty, so to
speak. John Hayes writes that poor communities are “places we try to avoid.” People
are afraid. They also think they are above those God is trying to use them to
help. By letting their fear and preconceptions control them, they are not
seeing what God wants them to see. The other issue is that people are unsure
what to do. The situation is all around them instead of on the other side of
the world. Urban ministry requires more than just sending money and supplies
overseas, or going to Africa on a missions trip that would last about two
weeks. However, there are people who go to the Third World on long term
missions; the only thing that is different about urban ministry is the
location. As with Third World missions, the purpose of urban ministry is still
being a witness for God through words and actions.
Ministry to the poor in urban areas is vital for both the
people and the city itself. In To
Transform a City, Eric Swanson and Sam Williams give six reasons for
engagement of ministries with cities. These reasons include the idea that cities
have a transforming effect on people and are fertile ground for creativity,
thinking, and receptivity, meaning that new ideas circulated rapidly in urban
areas, through communication effected by the closeness of the people; cities
can also help people live efficiently and productively. Cities are also valued
by God, and as such, the “early Christian movement was primarily urban.” What
Swanson and Williams mean by a transforming effect is that once people go into
the cities, they would not want to go back to more rural areas. They write that
these people “learn to adapt to a new way of life.”
The early Christian movement was primarily an urban one,
because as it is noted in To Transform a
City, “if the goal is to `make disciples of all nations,’ missionaries need
to go where there are many potential converts.” Toward the end of his life,
Paul made it his goal to get to Rome, which was the most powerful city at that
time. All of his letters were to the inhabitants of cities, some of them places
where his missionary journeys took him: Corinth, Ephesus, Rome, Galatia, Colossae,
Thessalonica, and Philippi. He also went to Antioch and Athens; however, God
called Paul to write to the first seven. There are cities mentioned by name in
the Bible, including Jerusalem, Babylon, and Tyre; all were warned, chastised,
loved, and lauded, as God does for His children. Therefore, cities and the
people in them are not to be ignored. There are those that say that the Great
Commission is the most important task for believers, which is why they say that
urban ministry and helping the poor is not important. However, others affirm
that it is actually the greatest commandment, that “you must love the Lord your
God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind…A second is equally
important: `Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matthew 22:37, 39 NLT). Author
Robert Lupton notes that it is out of place to consider bringing people to
Christ as more important than loving them, as Christ Himself said that the
greatest commandment is to love God and love others. Bryant Myers writes that
this commandment is motive to help the poor, and a framework for urban
ministry, or transformational development. It is about relationships, not law,
and about “who we must love, not what we must do.” Mark Gornik compares the
church to the Good Samaritan. The Samaritans were looked down upon in Biblical
times. Yet when someone had fallen to the ground, injured, and everyone else
passed him by; except for the Samaritans. Gornik challenges the church to “be
neighbor to the beaten, bruised, and left behind.” Christians need to answer
this challenge; they need to figure out how to minister in urban spaces,
because ministering to the urban poor is different than ministering to those
who have everything they need in a physical sense.
To that end, there is a book, Not Just a One Night Stand: Ministry with the Homeless, written by
John Flowers and Karen Vannoy, which illustrates how Christians are to minister
in urban areas. In the preface, they write that there is more to urban ministry
than just handing out food and blankets. They write that more understanding of
the issue is necessary, and that it is necessary to partner with others to move
forward. There is a film starring music artist Michael W. Smith as a pastor of
a mega-church in the suburbs. The film is called The Second Chance and there is one scene in which the pastor of an
inner city church that is connected with the mega-church comes to the
mega-church to speak to the congregation. He says that it is not enough that
the congregation sends money to the inner city church. He tells the
congregation that if they are not going to go into the inner city and see how
people live there, then they could keep their money. This is what Flowers and
Vannoy are getting at in Not Just a One
Night Stand. They write about letting the homeless stay in churches,
staying with the homeless on the streets to experience what they experience.
This is what they say effective urban ministry should be. It is a practice of
putting one’s money where one’s mouth is, so to speak. One needs to become
familiar with the people and the neighborhoods of the city, including the
history and politics of the city. Robert Lupton reaches the same conclusion in Renewing the City, when he writes that
merely physically relocating to an urban center is not enough. One cannot
simply move the church into an urban center and keep the same practices that
they had when their church was in the suburb. Suburban churches are primarily concerned
with saving souls; urban churches are concerned with not only saving souls, but
saving lives as well, and when a suburban church becomes an urban church, their
practices need to reflect that.
There is a caution, though. Flowers and Vannoy write that
the poor are skilled at manipulation. It is “a survival skill for the poor and
marginalized.” Christians are cautioned to not succumb to the lifestyles of
those they are trying to help. This fear of manipulation and “sinking to their
level” is a common objection of those who are against helping the poor and
fighting for social justice; however, there is a right way to help those in
need. Provide food, shelter, clothing. If someone needs help with rent or
transportation, have them work for it. Flowers and Vannoy write that most are
willing to work; they are just not given the opportunity. Work would provide
more than money for the urban poor. It provides “dignity and respect for those
who rarely receive it.” Manipulation by the helped does not make the poor any
less deserving of being ministered to. Fear of this manipulation gets in the
way of the love God wants people to have. In at least one case in the Bible,
love is translated as charity. 1 Corinthians 13:13 of the King James Version
reads, “And now stays faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of
these is charity.”
Randy White writes in Encounter
God in the City that one must not misuse the city. The city can be misused
when the missionary’s commitment fails. People who volunteer their time in city
centers need to finish what they start. People need a vision “as big as the
city.” Additionally, they need to know the situation before they help. Duane
Elmer proposes a similar idea in Cross-Cultural
Servanthood. If one is going to help someone, they need to respect dignity
and not automatically assume that someone needs help, especially if it is
something small that is affordable without help. Additionally, White writes,
there is a desirable attitude to be had when confronted with cross-cultural
differences. Like Elmer, White writes about openness, acceptance, trust, and
adaptability. The openness is to new situations; acceptance is toward these new
situations and cultural norms; one needs to trust that they will be taken care
of in the mission field, a rebuttal to the objection that urban ministry is too
dangerous; and adaptability refers to adapting to the culture of the mission
field. This attitude will result in a successful urban ministry.
Urban to Suburban
The issues of urban ministry are spreading into the suburbs
as well. Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert write that people would travel into
the cities to practice urban ministry, much like people travel to the Third
World to minister to the people there. However, there is an increasing trend of
the urban poor moving into the suburbs where more affordable housing can be
found. Moving into the suburbs, however, does not raise them above the poverty
level, even though they may have at least one minimum wage job per person. They
require some of the same ministering that they would receive if they lived in
the city center. The only difference is really that, due to their employment
status, the new suburban poor are less visible than the urban poor.
In A Heart for the
Community, the movement of the urban poor into the suburbs seems to be
marked by race. It is also marked in history by the construction of housing
projects in the cities as part of the housing boom after the second World War. There
was a time when racial minorities were not to be found in suburbs. Now, it is
common, as projects in urban spaces are being closed down, forcing their
residents to move into the suburbs; however, suburban churches have been
resistant. Megachurches have promoted “numerical church growth,” quantity as
opposed to quality, as it were. This has resulted in segregated churches in the
suburbs. Slowly, this is changing, as suburban churches are being mobilized
toward the same mission of their urban counterparts. There are six Biblical
principles of mobilization: believers are called to do good, according to
Galatians 6:2, which calls for the sharing of burdens; God’s transforming power
is revealed through believers serving the hurting and the poor, according to 2
Corinthians 4:7 and 2 Corinthians 13:4, meaning that He shines through
believers; according to 2 Corinthians 12:9, believers experience God’s presence
through relationships with the poor, as “my grace is all you need” (2
Corinthians 12:9 NLT); Isaiah 58:6-8 describes how God promises to protect
those who serve the poor; and, according to Ephesians 2:10 and Isaiah 43:21,
God designed each person in a unique way to serve His kingdom. Suburban
ministry to assist the hurting and poor is similar to urban ministry in terms
of who the churches are trying to reach, and the methods the churches use. One
key difference is the use of education. The value of serving “is a biblical
mandate that every church should embrace.” Urban churches see this every day,
and thus generally do not remind their congregations from the pulpit every
Sunday, as happens in suburban churches. The reason for this is that the
suburban poor are generally less visible than the urban poor. The suburban poor
may have minimum wage jobs and places to live, while still having trouble
putting food on the table or clothes on their backs. They may have trouble paying
for electricity or heat. They may have trouble with transportation, as transit
in the suburbs can be sporadic. Poverty in suburban areas is different in some
ways, but it still exists. The suburban poor, and even others who are not poor,
deal with the same issues that are dealt with in urban areas, including drugs,
teen pregnancy, and broken homes. Suburbs do not automatically imply
prosperity. They do not automatically imply perfection.
Conclusion
Just as suburbs do not automatically imply prosperity, the
poor do not automatically imply unimportant, both urban and suburban. They are
important. They are important to God, and they should be important to churches.
The woman with her two children, all of them going hungry, who escaped to Amherst,
NY for a brief respite from the gutted building that passed for their home in
the west side of Buffalo, are important. God calls for Christian treatment of
the poor to be compassionate and just; the Biblical evidence is overwhelming.
It is time for God’s children who seek to serve Him to take notice of His
children who are suffering.
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