Urban Ministry and Suburban Guilt
One of the things I love about hanging out with the boy is that we can just as easily talk about theology (“So, Mark Nanos was saying that in Romans 14-15, the “weak” that Paul is referring to is probably actually what he was considering at the time to be “non-Yeshua believing Jews”, rather than those weaker in the Christian faith itself…blah blah…yeah that’s probably crap…”) as we can shoot the breeze (“See that basketball court? Yeah that’s where they filmed that opening sequence of the Fresh Prince….actually, no. I’m lying. But it looks like it, doesn’t it? This isn’t even West Philly.”).
One of usual topics of conversation is urban ministry, as we both have a love for it (though I perhaps love it a little more than he does, but he may disagree).
Here’s a question we discussed…..How much of the current drive for urban ministry is fueled by suburban guilt, rather than an actual, deep love of the city?
First of all, maybe I should define “suburban guilt”. Personally, I would define it as the understanding, as we grow into adulthood, that we have been given much more than others have been given, and we feel somehow guilty for that, and wish to “repay” the broken city with our presence and work.
This is where I admit that I did, in fact, grow up in a upper-middle class suburb. Or, at least, I did from the age of 11 (before that we were in a lower-class blue collar area, but you hardly know that when you’re a kid, if you haven’t known any difference). I think I can pretty honestly say that I do not love the city I do not love urban ministry and mercy ministry simply out of my suburban guilt. I actually really just love the city because I feel that’s how I was made. I can’t love a life in the suburbs anymore than I could love a life in Poland – I could tolerate it, and I could adapt to it, but I don’t feel like I’m made for it.
However, I’m not sure that doing such ministry out of suburban guilt is such a horrible thing, either. People sometimes do ministry that starts with the guilt (and let’s face it - I think most of the time we do ministry out of selfishness of some sort, rather than selflessness or a desire to glorify God), which then begins a work in their hearts, by the holy spirit, that can lead to a deep love and desire to see the restoration of Shalom in the city. My problem is when that guilt becomes: “I am blessed. But I’m going to stay in my comfortable area, in my comfortable lifestyle, and ship in to the ghetto once a week to do my bit, and then ship back out again, so I can get rid of my guilt and get on with buying my flatscreen TV.”
There is nothing WRONG with living in the suburbs! But if you live in the suburbs, and genuinely feel called to the suburbs, maybe you should actually do ministry in the suburbs. As a friend of mine used to say: Soccer moms and corporate executives need Jesus just as much as drug pushers and prostitutes.
But if you feel called to minister to the city, I BEG of you – minister with your life, not just with one night a week. Find a church in the city that loves that city as much as you do, and join the COMMUNITY in showing grace and mercy to a COMMUNITY of people. I know that makes me sound all hippie and emergent, but I don’t really care.
It’s not hippie and it’s not emergent, it’s incarnational ministry.
Jesus came down from Heaven TO a people group, TO a community, TO a culture, TO a place and point in time. He took on that culture and community and built relationships with people. And those people (you know, the Apostles?) that he built relationships with went out, and they in turn built relationships and communities of Believers. I have a serious problem when we are doing “personal ministry” at the expense of doing ministry in a community. Because our faith is not as intensely personal as we’d sometimes like for it to be. It’s actually intensely interpersonal. And in America, with our emphasis on a “personal decision” and “personal faith” and individuality, this intense “interpersonalness” makes us uncomfortable.
It’s messy, I’m not going to deny that. Doing ministry in a community means opening yourself up to a world of mess. Just as much as living with a family means having to ACTUALLY be with people you may not always like, living in community (both a church community and a physical community) means doing the same. But without us working as the BODY of Christ, in a physical area, giving our lives in that place to those people, we are not showing what this faith truly is. We are, I venture to say, ignoring the fact that we are a part of a body at all, and we forget that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us, and have done this in community.
What you’re doing is probably not enough. Because I know what I’m doing is definitely not enough. It’s time to get our hands dirty.
And I know I’ve probably said all that before, but I’ll say it again. I get all worked up about it.
March 29th, 2007 |
I think I understand what you are saying, but wonder how you define “ministering”? Wouldn’t you rather have Christians at least doing ministry one night a week than not at all? Isn’t it possible to have a conviction that what happens in the city affects the suburbs but it isn’t possible to move churches because of the ministry that is happening in the suburbs? Is witnessing and public proclamation of the gospel including in showing mercy and grace?
March 19th, 2007 |
Thanks for the post I enjoyed it!
March 19th, 2007 |
Great post Mic. I agree.
Check out my latest post, it’s along similar lines.
March 17th, 2007 |
Great comments, guys. When I put thought into a blog post, I usually don\\\’t get that many comments, so I\\\’m grateful this time!
Restless, I don\\\’t disagree with you at all. I didn\\\’t mean to oversimplify, or imply that \\\”suburban guilt\\\” is the only or main reason for urban ministry. As people are complicated, so are motivations. But I agree with you entirely, that it is very much a \\\”hip\\\” kind of mininstry to do. And as I say in the post, that\\\’s not always such a bad thing. Throughout the history of the church, there have always been \\\”pushes\\\” for specific kinds of ministry in specific times. In particular, I can think Thomas Chalmer\\\’s parish reorganization in Glasgow in order to combat poverty there, Robert Raikes\\\’ push for the foundation of Sunday Schools, George William\\\’s and the founding of the YMCA in London, in order to minister to the working class/poor men there. All these things \\\”took off\\\”, and you could easily argue that they were \\\”hip\\\” in their own day. I\\\’d say that \\\”hipness\\\”, or even motivation, does not limit how much God can use a people or ministry. I know a lot of so-called \\\”ministries\\\” - particuarly in the inner city, some even led by folks RAISED in the inner-city - that are doing things for what I would call the wrong reasons, but are still doing GOOD things.
But that doesn\\\’t mean I have to LIKE it, or that I don\\\’t wish that the motivations would change.
Al, I love your comment on seeing the city and the suburbs as a metropolitain whole. Has anyone written a book on that yet? I could get on it. lol.
March 16th, 2007 |
These are excellent thoughts, and good comments as well. Yes, suburban churches often minister out of mixed motives, and the stance that Restless talks about is so insidious. Rather than suburban churches ministering “to the city” in some paternalistic way, I think it’s better to see the suburbs and the city as an interdependent metropolitan whole, that to seek the welfare of the suburbs is to seek the welfare of the city, and vice versa.
March 16th, 2007 |
yeah, agree with your thoghts on the city. i am a pastor in the burbs and it took me a little while of wishing i lived in the city because i though that if i lived there i could somehow serve God better. But i began to realize that if all the Christians from the burbs to the city, that would not help either. we need some Christians who are passionate about transforming the suburbs, not ignoring the burbs and “saving the city.” Of course, i don’t think there is anything wrong about people in the burbs helping in the city (the burbs are where the money is, so the least we can do is give to those who can use it best for the sake of the city)…
anyways, our church is seeking to think through what it means to be part of the redemption of the our burb…a tall task to be sure….
March 16th, 2007 |
I think the trend has less to do with suburban guilt and more to do with the fact that it is currently hip to “do” ministry with the poor. Not move, not sacrifice, not enter into relatinship, not love…but “do” urban ministry. The good news is that hip things do not remain hip forever.
As I see it…Suburban churches send their youth groups to the city to “do” some ministry with the poor when they would never treat their own neighbors the same way. For some reason we are able to say, “look at those poor drug addicts, they need some help…let’s “do” minsitry to them.” But I have never heard anyone say, “Look at that greedy materialist who is enslaved to his idols of comfort and safety, he needs some help…let’s “do” ministry to him.”
I am sure it is meant in a generally kind hearted way (usually?) but the entire process is tremendously condescending. There is always the assumption that the suburbanite has something to offer the poor urban dweller and nothing to gain. If we take the words of Jesus with a modicum of seriousness, it is the poor person who is blessed and the rich, self-absorbed person who should say, “come and help me!”
March 16th, 2007 |
[…] Michael makes a plea in “Urban Ministry and Suburban Guilt” that if you feel called to minister to the city, then minister with your life, not just with one night a week. Find a church in the city that loves that city as much as you do, and join the community in showing grace and mercy to a community of people. Give his plea some prayerful thought. […]
March 16th, 2007 |
Great post Michaela! Soon after I moved from a world of suburia to Chicago’s west side I realized how absolutely ridiculous suburban guilt is. Going there with my ambition to give to this urban neighborhood, I quickly learned that I was one in serious need. My whole world was turned upside down as I saw the display of community and the gospel being lived out like I had never seen before.
March 15th, 2007 |
[…] Urban Ministry and Suburban Guilt Michaela is bang-on with this one. (tags: community church) […]
March 14th, 2007 |
Hmm. Yeah.
I’m trying to get out of the ‘burbs to more fully join the life and ministry of my church. The wife’s not feeling that, though.
March 13th, 2007 |
Rock and Roll Michaela! Those are some good words.