I think that, in my experience, I witnessed many great followers of God
working toward bringing the Kingdom of God to earth. Many times, this mission
was through involvement at a para-church or even completely alone, with little
involvement in a home church at all. Perplexing, to say the least, was my
experience, while I questioned whether the para-church model is even a Biblical
one… or struggled with “why is this person doing this ministry without a local
church backing her, or a church to even call her home?” I think that my Urban
Ministry experience that was the Vancouver trip provided me with more questions
than answers.
I
respect that these people working for the Kingdom on the Downtown Eastside or
on Parker Street, and beyond, are pulling away from what Church has become or what
it represents to the world. Even still, I question whether this is truly God’s
desire—for Church and mission to be separated. At Vanguard, I have been taught
that one should stick with a local church even through their times of struggle
and in their flaws, and with that I agree. But, I also agree with the mindsets
of Jacob’s Well and Karen Reed of trying to make amends for what the Church has
done in the past to harm others. These radical people must not just separate
from the local church but strive to change it; to, in turn, make all those
church-goers into radical followers. I know this is a task far more daunting
than writing the words on this page. At the same time, I know there must be a
way because I know God desires this radicalism for His people. So, this topic
leads me to a crossroads and leaves me feeling more helpless than ever. I can
only cry out to God in hopes that He hears me. I pray that I, along with
others, can slowly make an impact on these local churches, to show them that
loving the poor and the marginalized (which every society has, not just in
urban centers) is not only for those on the DTES, but in suburbia and in the
comfort of their own homes as well.
Now, I did see
local churches striving to rise up. I saw churches like Broadway doing
programming for families to be able to get food and clothing--but is that
really what people need? I think that there needs to be a holistic provision
for those we are loving but we also cannot just stop at the physical or just
the spiritual. We must make ourselves available for the messy, time consuming,
sacrificial love of true friendship. Not the friendship that is forced and fake
and feeds into our messiah complexes of giving another person a hand up, but
true “I need you, you need me” friendship. There must be a need in each party.
Jesus demonstrates this to us so well in the story of Jacob’s Well. The first
thing He does is ask the woman for a drink, putting Himself in need, making their
relationship potentially mutually beneficial. Perhaps, through all this
disconnect between the Local Church and local mission to serve “the least of
these,” is one true universal need that we can all give to one another:
friendship. There is a certain perplexing beauty in the fact that we all belong
to one another. And perhaps, that is my conclusion of Urban Ministry and the
Local Church, there is a deep need in every human being to be known and to have
mutually beneficial relationships with others… ones that maybe cross socio-economic
or cultural boarders… relationships that display radical hospitality,
hospitality to the stranger. This is what the universal Church must provide. We
must act out the true Biblical concept of justice, spoken of in Micah 6:8, and
smooth out the mountains and the valleys through true friendship.
