During this, my final semester as an M.Div student, I have found myself in an Urban Ministry course, down in D.C. Part of the work for the course includes journaling, in some fashion, on the readings that we have been assigned. You, my few, but faithful followers, and other readers who stumble upon my blog are now the ones who will be the recipients of that knowledge (that is to say, I have decided that I will post on this blog, as my way of journaling through the next few weeks of class. This is not to say that these will be the only items which I blog, but they will become a part of it). My dear readers, this means that you will have the benefit of hearing more, both about this course and its topics, as well as learn a little about some of the works that we are reading, and my own thoughts, reflections, struggles, etc. with them.
In our first meeting of the class last week, we spent a great deal of time thinking about the different areas that relate to ministry (and in particular, to urban ministry). Let me begin by familiarizing you with these four key areas: context, leadership (namely that of the pastor), community ministry, and congregational development. (As a note of credit, I must add here that this format comes from the instructor of the course, a pastor called to urban ministry.)
Context: All contexts of ministry will be different, even when thinking about “urban ministry” or “rural ministry,” etc, or for that matter, even when thinking about the context over time. Things happen. Things change. But ultimately, the point of context is that it is important to understand both the congregation itself, and what its physical location is. Where are you located? Who is in the neighborhood? Who lives there? Who works there? Now… who is REALLY there? Sometimes who you see are not the ones who live there. What are the demographics of the area? Think in terms of social class, race, gender, family situations (i.e. mostly intact families of husband and wife + children? Single parent homes? Partners? Singles?). When looking at race, look beyond the general categories of “white”/ “African American.” What are the true nationalities and cultures/ethnicities represented in the area? Where do the children go to school? What kinds of schools? Who are the leaders in the neighborhood? What is the community’s health (i.e. are you located in area with high rates of HIV/AIDS, cancer, etc?) Now, go one step further. What is it that the community is hoping to do? What are the community’s wider goals and hopes for the future? What is it that is important to the community?
All of this is essential when thinking about context. I think that this is a very good beginning to understanding ministry. It is important, first, to know who you are, and where you are. Ministry is not about “us” or the “in crowd,” or the people whose grandfather’s grandfather were members. It is about knowing that we are called to be God’s people in the world, and that starts with our local neighborhoods. Who are the people who are around us every day, but who do not gather in worship on Sunday morning? It is essential that we be aware of this… and it is these tidbits of information that is particularly helpful when beginning a new call. Get a grip on your surroundings!
Your Leadership: It is important to know who you are, in all of your various roles, particularly as a leader. The things is, we are all constantly changing and growing, and as a leader, it is important to continually be considering your strengths and weaknesses, ways in which you can continue growing, and ways in which you can direct and guide others into using their gifts and skills (READ: this means that you are not God, the world does not revolve and you, nor are you able to do all things yourself. Where are your gifts, and what are the gifts of others? Guess what… where your weaknesses are, there are others who may have those strengths! It really is ok to ask for help! And it is also ok to say “no” to things. Sometimes, rest is the best thing you can do as a leader, and for your ministry. Model good health, good self-care, and good stewardship for those you are called to serve). Sometimes, this is the greatest challenge for leaders. I know that I, too, am guilty. We ¬like to have others need us. And sometimes, we hate having to say no to people. I don’t know about other people, but I really appreciated hearing this. It’s good to be reminded that we need to focus on our leadership, and think about the things we can be/should be doing both for ourselves, and to be better prepared and able to walk with and guide the people.
Community Ministry – Think about your context. What seem to be the needs of the people around you? What kinds of programs/ministries does the congregation already participate in? Seek to build a stronger, more intimate community. Focus on the needs of the people, think about the mission field (context!), and be aware of what is going on your “place”—what is going on around you in the neighborhood. What are the ways that you, as leader, and you as a congregation, can get involved in what is going on in the community. The people are not coming to us… they aren’t walking in the doors on Sunday morning. So what can we be doing to go to them? This isn’t about “growing the congregation,” but, at least as I understand it, this is about paying attention to our mission to be the Body of Christ in the world. To go to the needy, the poor, the downtrodden, and to be “little Christs” for them. To find ways of being real, and vital, and involved with the outcast. This isn’t about a congregation struggling to survive and keep members. It is about living out our call to be God’s people, to be “light for the world.”
Congregational Development – Change doesn’t happen overnight! Congregational development requires the leaders and the congregational community to give voice to their own sense of identity—who they are, and whose they are. It is also important for the community to see where God is working in and through them, what God is doing among them… but then to take it one step further and see what it is that God is calling them to. Part of congregational development also involves the community considering what kinds of principles and values they agree upon as a church community based on the ministries they are already engaged in. Then comes the challenge—to stretch… to stretch into new things, new circles, new neighborhoods. This is God’s call to consider being expansive, incorporating all people… even those that we sometimes feel uncomfortable welcoming into our circle.
Ok, so with those four areas of ministry mapped out, I now turn attention towards this week’s readings. The primary text for this week was Radical Welcome: Embracing God, the Other, and the Spirit of Transformation by Stephanie Spellers. What I really appreciate about this book was how clearly it connected with the areas of ministry listed above. In this text, Spellers lays out the importance of being a welcoming community as the Body of Christ—but this is more than just “welcome” – this is radical welcome. This is inviting new, different, and sometimes unexpected Others into our midst. This is a welcome that goes beyond just inviting people to come, and become “like us,” and to get involved in what we’re already doing. This is a welcome that says, “Please, come in, bring with you all the things that you are, all the things that have made you who you are, and share them with us. Use your gifts, your culture, your being, to teach us and help us learn more about who God is.” This is a welcome that includes a willingness to be changed… that is, to be transformed… by those whom we rarely interact with. Those whom we may feel uncomfortable around because they are different from us. Sometimes, it involves welcoming those who we (or others in our congregations) may view as being somehow outside of the circle. Oh sure, we don’t like to think about that. We all like to think of ourselves as being welcoming. But all too often, we expect others to change to match us, when what we really ought to be doing is using all of those things that make each of us unique to help expand and transform all of us.
Spellers lays out suggestions for how a congregation might move towards becoming a radically welcoming congregation, noting that there are not specific answers, because each congregation’s context will be different. Rather, she provides questions to ask, to think about, to pray over… to “discern.” She stresses over and over again, that not every congregation is ready to become radically welcoming. For that matter, not every congregational will ever be truly radically welcoming. Some congregations may be radically welcoming to certain groups, but not to others. While she doesn’t necessarily call them as such, many of her arguments use elements of the four areas of ministry listed above. She spends much of the early portion of the text talking about elements of context—thinking about who is in, around, about, and outside of the walls of the church. I think that this is perhaps the most important step in developing and preparing a congregation to extend its welcome to those outside the walls of the building where they worship. It’s easy, on a Sunday morning, for people to drive to the church, walk inside, worship, and drive away, without ever really even being made aware of those who live in the church’s neighborhood. As leaders, not only do we need to know who is there, on the outskirts, on the periphery of our vision, but the people need to know. They need to see who is there. Simply putting faces, making it a REALITY for people can be a driving force to encourage further ministry.
But Spellers also notes the importance of community ministries—what is being done in the community already? What are the goals, the hopes and needs of the community? This is extremely important. I served my internship in a congregation that is an urban site, but the members, at least the vast majority, tend to be suburbanite. The congregation held a “block party” one evening, as a way of inviting people in the neighborhood to come, meet in the parking lot, and enjoy desserts and conversation with the members of the congregation. Some of the most important conversations that took place were those that involved the concerns of the community—what it was that the people living there wanted and hoped for their “home” block, what other groups were doing to help fulfill those goals, and ways in which the congregation could become more involved.
Now, this is, of course, not a quick fix. After all, this is just a start to becoming radically welcoming. A congregation must move towards inclusion—although even this isn’t enough. Because an inclusive, “incorporated” community has not yet fully embraced the Other… there has been “no true shift in [the] congregation’s cultural identity and practices” (p. 64). The table that she provides, (p.64), was a very helpful way of thinking about this. What we are called to be in an “incarnational” community… a community that reflects, acknowledges, and uses all of the voices and gifts of the people… including (and perhaps especially) the Other.
Of course, the leadership plays an important role in all of this. Not just the pastor, but the lay leadership. The leaders must stretch themselves, and guide others, to encourage communication and conversation, to discern the congregation’s identity, the goals, hopes and sense of calling of the community. And to encourage the community to stretch themselves.
Ultimately, I really appreciated this text. While some things will work, and others will not, depending on the context of the congregation, it has been very helpful in thinking about the ways in which we are called to reach out, and welcome, and be transformed by others. Regardless of whether it is urban, suburban, rural… The important thing, is that I believe we are called to the Other. We are not called to remain enclosed, wrapped up in ourselves, just clinging to survive, fighting to remain as we are, to stay the same, to keep our culture, our values intact and unchanged. God calls us to step beyond ourselves, to live out the Gospel, to transform and to be transformed by the Other. We are called to change and to be changed. And in so doing, to carry the gospel with us, that others may know the love that is for all people, regardless of ethnicity, race, culture, social status, economical situation, gender, sexuality, or any other human concept of division.
We were also assigned two short articles to consider and review. The first, “What Would Jack Do?” by Jeff Chu, speaks to the need for strong, knowledgeable leadership. Chu holds up the ministries of Willow Creek church, one of the fastest growing congregations in the country. The main element that has driven the church to its growth has been the importance of preparing church leaders (and also helps to educate and prepare other leaders around the world for church leadership, particularly pastoral leadership). It focuses on how there is a need for congregational leaders, pastors, etc. to have business skills—organizing, planning, administration—along with their skills to preach, lead worship, visit the sick, preside over the sacraments, weddings, and funerals. But, interestingly, many of those who are also prepped at the educating seminars are not just church leaders, but political, business, and educating leaders. The strength of Willow Creek is that it sees the value being aware of context, and using the hopes, goals and values of the community to grow and welcome others. But it also recognizes the value of strong leadership that is well-versed in the “business-y” end of congregational mission, ministry and development. While I do appreciate the point that this article makes, and I realize how important leadership is, I also have to say that I don’t think there was enough focus given to being theological leaders. Theology is what makes the Church the Church. Yes, other leadership aspects are important. But theology, God’s love, through Christ is ultimately the greatest gift that the Church has to share with the world… and maybe this is where “radical welcome” is important. So yes, well-equipped leadership is extremely important, but I would have liked to see more about the ways in which a congregation might use the leadership to extend welcome and include the Other—how it might be that a leader take this knowledge and use it to lead congregations into understanding their identity and their call to move beyond themselves and welcome others.
The final article, (and I promise to bring this to a close, for those of you who are thinking “long post, much?”) “The Parish as Place: Principles of Parish Ministry,” by Harvey S. Peters, Jr., is, as it says, helpful in thinking about being called to serve and “do ministry in, with and for a particular place” (p.53). Ultimately, the Church finds its identity in God’s Word, guided by the Holy Spirit. It helps us to know who and whose we are. God calls us in service, and God calls people of every time, place, culture, and background. God’s mission calls us to “identify” with the hopes and needs of those who on the “outside” (the Other). I would take this one step further. We are called, not just to identify with, but to stand in solidarity, to work alongside, and to build up the Other. But I also agree with Peters’s statement that “Parish ministry is geographical and integral to its setting” (p.55). The congregation is visible, and ought to be a part of the community in which it is located, sharing concerns, working with the neighbors, and working to include the cultures and values of the community. As with Radical Welcome, Peters also states the importance of welcoming the Other (including and welcoming the gifts of all people). It is also important for congregations to realize that we are all working together as the Body of Christ.
My final thought on this article is that, for me, most importantly, the congregation, the leadership, etc… all need to remember who it is that calls us to serve. The examples of Christ, calling us to minister to the sick, the poor, the needy also tells us what is it that we are being called to as the Body of Christ. Our context is important. We are called to be the Body of Christ, but we are also called to a particular time and place, and knowing the communities to which we are called are essential for carrying out the mission and ministry of God.
And with that, I will end this entry. Perhaps for future journaling, I will break up entries into smaller units. But to those readers who have managed to “stick it out” to the end... thanks! And I hope that you will share your own thoughts and comments at the end!
Thanks be to God for calling us to be God’s people in the many and various places and contexts where we find ourselves! During this, my final semester as an M.Div student, I have found myself in an Urban Ministry course, down in D.C. Part of the work for the course includes journaling, in some fashion, on the readings that we have been assigned. You, my few, but faithful followers, and other readers who stumble upon my blog are now the ones who will be the recipients of that knowledge (that is to say, I have decided that I will post on this blog, as my way of journaling through the next few weeks of class. This is not to say that these will be the only items which I blog, but they will become a part of it). My dear readers, this means that you will have the benefit of hearing more, both about this course and its topics, as well as learn a little about some of the works that we are reading, and my own thoughts, reflections, struggles, etc. with them.
In our first meeting of the class last week, we spent a great deal of time thinking about the different areas that relate to ministry (and in particular, to urban ministry). Let me begin by familiarizing you with these four key areas: context, leadership (namely that of the pastor), community ministry, and congregational development. (As a note of credit, I must add here that this format comes from the instructor of the course, a pastor called to urban ministry.)
Context: All contexts of ministry will be different, even when thinking about “urban ministry” or “rural ministry,” etc, or for that matter, even when thinking about the context over time. Things happen. Things change. But ultimately, the point of context is that it is important to understand both the congregation itself, and what its physical location is. Where are you located? Who is in the neighborhood? Who lives there? Who works there? Now… who is REALLY there? Sometimes who you see are not the ones who live there. What are the demographics of the area? Think in terms of social class, race, gender, family situations (i.e. mostly intact families of husband and wife + children? Single parent homes? Partners? Singles?). When looking at race, look beyond the general categories of “white”/ “African American.” What are the true nationalities and cultures/ethnicities represented in the area? Where do the children go to school? What kinds of schools? Who are the leaders in the neighborhood? What is the community’s health (i.e. are you located in area with high rates of HIV/AIDS, cancer, etc?) Now, go one step further. What is it that the community is hoping to do? What are the community’s wider goals and hopes for the future? What is it that is important to the community?
All of this is essential when thinking about context. I think that this is a very good beginning to understanding ministry. It is important, first, to know who you are, and where you are. Ministry is not about “us” or the “in crowd,” or the people whose grandfather’s grandfather were members. It is about knowing that we are called to be God’s people in the world, and that starts with our local neighborhoods. Who are the people who are around us every day, but who do not gather in worship on Sunday morning? It is essential that we be aware of this… and it is these tidbits of information that is particularly helpful when beginning a new call. Get a grip on your surroundings!
Your Leadership: It is important to know who you are, in all of your various roles, particularly as a leader. The things is, we are all constantly changing and growing, and as a leader, it is important to continually be considering your strengths and weaknesses, ways in which you can continue growing, and ways in which you can direct and guide others into using their gifts and skills (READ: this means that you are not God, the world does not revolve and you, nor are you able to do all things yourself. Where are your gifts, and what are the gifts of others? Guess what… where your weaknesses are, there are others who may have those strengths! It really is ok to ask for help! And it is also ok to say “no” to things. Sometimes, rest is the best thing you can do as a leader, and for your ministry. Model good health, good self-care, and good stewardship for those you are called to serve). Sometimes, this is the greatest challenge for leaders. I know that I, too, am guilty. We ¬like to have others need us. And sometimes, we hate having to say no to people. I don’t know about other people, but I really appreciated hearing this. It’s good to be reminded that we need to focus on our leadership, and think about the things we can be/should be doing both for ourselves, and to be better prepared and able to walk with and guide the people.
Community Ministry – Think about your context. What seem to be the needs of the people around you? What kinds of programs/ministries does the congregation already participate in? Seek to build a stronger, more intimate community. Focus on the needs of the people, think about the mission field (context!), and be aware of what is going on your “place”—what is going on around you in the neighborhood. What are the ways that you, as leader, and you as a congregation, can get involved in what is going on in the community. The people are not coming to us… they aren’t walking in the doors on Sunday morning. So what can we be doing to go to them? This isn’t about “growing the congregation,” but, at least as I understand it, this is about paying attention to our mission to be the Body of Christ in the world. To go to the needy, the poor, the downtrodden, and to be “little Christs” for them. To find ways of being real, and vital, and involved with the outcast. This isn’t about a congregation struggling to survive and keep members. It is about living out our call to be God’s people, to be “light for the world.”
Congregational Development – Change doesn’t happen overnight! Congregational development requires the leaders and the congregational community to give voice to their own sense of identity—who they are, and whose they are. It is also important for the community to see where God is working in and through them, what God is doing among them… but then to take it one step further and see what it is that God is calling them to. Part of congregational development also involves the community considering what kinds of principles and values they agree upon as a church community based on the ministries they are already engaged in. Then comes the challenge—to stretch… to stretch into new things, new circles, new neighborhoods. This is God’s call to consider being expansive, incorporating all people… even those that we sometimes feel uncomfortable welcoming into our circle.
Ok, so with those four areas of ministry mapped out, I now turn attention towards this week’s readings. The primary text for this week was Radical Welcome: Embracing God, the Other, and the Spirit of Transformation by Stephanie Spellers. What I really appreciate about this book was how clearly it connected with the areas of ministry listed above. In this text, Spellers lays out the importance of being a welcoming community as the Body of Christ—but this is more than just “welcome” – this is radical welcome. This is inviting new, different, and sometimes unexpected Others into our midst. This is a welcome that goes beyond just inviting people to come, and become “like us,” and to get involved in what we’re already doing. This is a welcome that says, “Please, come in, bring with you all the things that you are, all the things that have made you who you are, and share them with us. Use your gifts, your culture, your being, to teach us and help us learn more about who God is.” This is a welcome that includes a willingness to be changed… that is, to be transformed… by those whom we rarely interact with. Those whom we may feel uncomfortable around because they are different from us. Sometimes, it involves welcoming those who we (or others in our congregations) may view as being somehow outside of the circle. Oh sure, we don’t like to think about that. We all like to think of ourselves as being welcoming. But all too often, we expect others to change to match us, when what we really ought to be doing is using all of those things that make each of us unique to help expand and transform all of us.
Spellers lays out suggestions for how a congregation might move towards becoming a radically welcoming congregation, noting that there are not specific answers, because each congregation’s context will be different. Rather, she provides questions to ask, to think about, to pray over… to “discern.” She stresses over and over again, that not every congregation is ready to become radically welcoming. For that matter, not every congregational will ever be truly radically welcoming. Some congregations may be radically welcoming to certain groups, but not to others. While she doesn’t necessarily call them as such, many of her arguments use elements of the four areas of ministry listed above. She spends much of the early portion of the text talking about elements of context—thinking about who is in, around, about, and outside of the walls of the church. I think that this is perhaps the most important step in developing and preparing a congregation to extend its welcome to those outside the walls of the building where they worship. It’s easy, on a Sunday morning, for people to drive to the church, walk inside, worship, and drive away, without ever really even being made aware of those who live in the church’s neighborhood. As leaders, not only do we need to know who is there, on the outskirts, on the periphery of our vision, but the people need to know. They need to see who is there. Simply putting faces, making it a REALITY for people can be a driving force to encourage further ministry.
But Spellers also notes the importance of community ministries—what is being done in the community already? What are the goals, the hopes and needs of the community? This is extremely important. I served my internship in a congregation that is an urban site, but the members, at least the vast majority, tend to be suburbanite. The congregation held a “block party” one evening, as a way of inviting people in the neighborhood to come, meet in the parking lot, and enjoy desserts and conversation with the members of the congregation. Some of the most important conversations that took place were those that involved the concerns of the community—what it was that the people living there wanted and hoped for their “home” block, what other groups were doing to help fulfill those goals, and ways in which the congregation could become more involved.
Now, this is, of course, not a quick fix. After all, this is just a start to becoming radically welcoming. A congregation must move towards inclusion—although even this isn’t enough. Because an inclusive, “incorporated” community has not yet fully embraced the Other… there has been “no true shift in [the] congregation’s cultural identity and practices” (p. 64). The table that she provides, (p.64), was a very helpful way of thinking about this. What we are called to be in an “incarnational” community… a community that reflects, acknowledges, and uses all of the voices and gifts of the people… including (and perhaps especially) the Other.
Of course, the leadership plays an important role in all of this. Not just the pastor, but the lay leadership. The leaders must stretch themselves, and guide others, to encourage communication and conversation, to discern the congregation’s identity, the goals, hopes and sense of calling of the community. And to encourage the community to stretch themselves.
Ultimately, I really appreciated this text. While some things will work, and others will not, depending on the context of the congregation, it has been very helpful in thinking about the ways in which we are called to reach out, and welcome, and be transformed by others. Regardless of whether it is urban, suburban, rural… The important thing, is that I believe we are called to the Other. We are not called to remain enclosed, wrapped up in ourselves, just clinging to survive, fighting to remain as we are, to stay the same, to keep our culture, our values intact and unchanged. God calls us to step beyond ourselves, to live out the Gospel, to transform and to be transformed by the Other. We are called to change and to be changed. And in so doing, to carry the gospel with us, that others may know the love that is for all people, regardless of ethnicity, race, culture, social status, economical situation, gender, sexuality, or any other human concept of division.
We were also assigned two short articles to consider and review. The first, “What Would Jack Do?” by Jeff Chu, speaks to the need for strong, knowledgeable leadership. Chu holds up the ministries of Willow Creek church, one of the fastest growing congregations in the country. The main element that has driven the church to its growth has been the importance of preparing church leaders (and also helps to educate and prepare other leaders around the world for church leadership, particularly pastoral leadership). It focuses on how there is a need for congregational leaders, pastors, etc. to have business skills—organizing, planning, administration—along with their skills to preach, lead worship, visit the sick, preside over the sacraments, weddings, and funerals. But, interestingly, many of those who are also prepped at the educating seminars are not just church leaders, but political, business, and educating leaders. The strength of Willow Creek is that it sees the value being aware of context, and using the hopes, goals and values of the community to grow and welcome others. But it also recognizes the value of strong leadership that is well-versed in the “business-y” end of congregational mission, ministry and development. While I do appreciate the point that this article makes, and I realize how important leadership is, I also have to say that I don’t think there was enough focus given to being theological leaders. Theology is what makes the Church the Church. Yes, other leadership aspects are important. But theology, God’s love, through Christ is ultimately the greatest gift that the Church has to share with the world… and maybe this is where “radical welcome” is important. So yes, well-equipped leadership is extremely important, but I would have liked to see more about the ways in which a congregation might use the leadership to extend welcome and include the Other—how it might be that a leader take this knowledge and use it to lead congregations into understanding their identity and their call to move beyond themselves and welcome others.
The final article, (and I promise to bring this to a close, for those of you who are thinking “long post, much?”) “The Parish as Place: Principles of Parish Ministry,” by Harvey S. Peters, Jr., is, as it says, helpful in thinking about being called to serve and “do ministry in, with and for a particular place” (p.53). Ultimately, the Church finds its identity in God’s Word, guided by the Holy Spirit. It helps us to know who and whose we are. God calls us in service, and God calls people of every time, place, culture, and background. God’s mission calls us to “identify” with the hopes and needs of those who on the “outside” (the Other). I would take this one step further. We are called, not just to identify with, but to stand in solidarity, to work alongside, and to build up the Other. But I also agree with Peters’s statement that “Parish ministry is geographical and integral to its setting” (p.55). The congregation is visible, and ought to be a part of the community in which it is located, sharing concerns, working with the neighbors, and working to include the cultures and values of the community. As with Radical Welcome, Peters also states the importance of welcoming the Other (including and welcoming the gifts of all people). It is also important for congregations to realize that we are all working together as the Body of Christ.
My final thought on this article is that, for me, most importantly, the congregation, the leadership, etc… all need to remember who it is that calls us to serve. The examples of Christ, calling us to minister to the sick, the poor, the needy also tells us what is it that we are being called to as the Body of Christ. Our context is important. We are called to be the Body of Christ, but we are also called to a particular time and place, and knowing the communities to which we are called are essential for carrying out the mission and ministry of God.
And with that, I will end this entry. Perhaps for future journaling, I will break up entries into smaller units. But to those readers who have managed to “stick it out” to the end... thanks! And I hope that you will share your own thoughts and comments at the end!
Thanks be to God for calling us to be God’s people in the many and various places and contexts where we find ourselves!
