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.


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