Suburban and Urban Partnership

Yesterday I had the chance to co-lead a LAMP cultural training in Homewood. We covered a great deal of content in just a few hours, such as what it is like for children to grow up in a place like Homewood, prayer, race, class, and partnerships (churches and schools, suburban and urban, etc.). This particular group of potential mentors had suburban and urban trainees, ranging from Wexford to Homewood residents. Everyone in the group was very gracious with one another, demonstrating attitudes of learning and humility. The dialogue was honest in that we didn't skip past tough issues, but it was not negative by any means.

This got me thinking about what makes good urban and suburban partnerships work. Recently, four well-renowned authors on the topic, Ronald Sider, John Perkins, Wayne Gordon, and Albert Tizon, teamed up to write a book on that subject called "Linking Arms, Linking Lives." I am currently reading through that book with North Way's MICAH team, and there are many useful suggestions that they offer in the area of partnering effectively. The following are suggestions that they give for suburban churches who are trying to partner with urban churches (and schools, too, in LAMP's case):

1. Do remember that Jesus is Lord of the City / Don't be Overly Critical of the City

2. Do Make It Personal / Don't Objectify the Urban Poor

3. Do Understand the Initial Distrust and Resentment That May Come from Urban Counterparts / Don't be too Defensive

4. Do Establish Presence in the Community / Don't Be Aloof

5. Do Live by the Principles of Servant Leadership / Don't Always Feel You Have to Lead and Teach

6. Do Show Generosity as the Ministry Calls for It / Don't Mistake Wanton Handouts for Generosity

7. Do Share the Responsibility of Managing Financial Resources / Don't Allow Finances to Manipulate and Control the Ministry

8. Do Learn the Art of Being Flexible with Regard to Time / Don't Be Impatient and Too Quick to Judge Tardiness

9. Do Provide Ways for Suburban Volunteers to Participate in the Work / Don't Make a Showcase of the Poor


Perhaps I'll list the suggestions they gave for urban partners in my next post. In the mean time, what do you think about the Do's and Don'ts listed by the authors? LAMP's official motto is "Impacting the City of Pittsburgh One Student at a Time," so I think that reflects numbers 2, 4, and 9. Our informal motto is "Be Fun and Flexible," which is probably captured best by numbers 1, 3, 5, and 8. Our really informal motto for North Way's LAMP partnership in Homewood is "Mentoring is the Best." I don't have any numbers for that one, so you're going to have to post a comment if you are either curious why we have adopted that or if you know and would like to share the inside joke with everyone else in the blogosphere.