Global Christian History - Day Five

This was sadly our last day at Bakken. We spent some time reflecting in the morning, and then we had some really fun discussions to try to synthesize what we are learning. I am so pleased to me able to learn with people who have so many different perspectives.

Jesus had an agenda that clearly involved poor people, so we as Christians are all called to demonstrate compassion. There are over 400 passages in the Bible about the poor, and 67 of those passages call us to focus on justice and not just mercy. In a world with so much human need, we have to pick and choose where we as individuals focus our attention. In my case, the focus is Pittsburgh and LAMP. Other people are called to other things. Whatever our calling, it should not just be focused on mercy, but justice as well.

We are seeing more and more Christian silos going up today in America, where Christians are distancing themselves from the poor. We need to ask ourselves, why was Sodom destroyed? Because Sodom had a surplus, and they didn't care for the poor and needy. Just as they had a surplus back then, we have a surplus today in America. We get rich and we do not care for the poor. We have five percent of the world's population, and we use 25% of its resources. Christians should be salt and light. We need to pick out the worst parts of our cities, countries, and the world, and go there to bring the light of Christ.

Why do cities like Pittsburgh have neighborhoods that become poor and run down? Studies have shown that most money that is intended to help poor people in American cities never actually makes its way to the people in need. Instead, it goes through multiple layers of beaurocracy and social programs which use the money to sustain their jobs. We need to look at that sytematic level to determine why neighborhoods are being run down. Resources intended for poorer communities enter a huge funnel, and they are funneled away from the community. This is true of medical clinics and hospitals, the education system, plice, courts, parks, libraries, prisons, fire and EMS, local banks, housing agencies, businesses, and even churches.

So, what can we as the church do about it? We must engage at the systematic justice level. A church can transform a community. We can find many examples of this happening all over the country. The Asset Based Community Development model has proven to be particularly effective. Instead of looking at communities as takers, we should start to view people as assets. Everything must be done relationally. The problem with extreme urban poverty is not the absence of money, it is the absence of power.

Today we talked much more about transformational leadership in urban settings, but it was all actually built on the foundation of church history which we had been discussing for the previous four days. I left Bakken with Julie feeling equipped and empowered. We are ready to jump back in to urban ministry in Homewood!