Saturday, March 30, 2013

Progress in Pittsburgh

The Prayer for Peace march in Homewood yesterday was incredible! It was a beautiful day in the city, and many people from Homewood and from neighborhoods across the city came out to join the movement of peace and reconciliation in our city. The event keeps getting bigger each year, and relationships are stronger each year. God is bringing people together to work toward the common goal of shalom in our city.

The large amounts of churches in America that are not diverse point to the fact that many Christians are uncomfortable with or unwilling to build reconciling relationships across racial, socioeconomic, urban/suburban, or neighborhood boundaries. I am happy to say that much progress is being made with regards to reconciliation in Pittsburgh. Christian leaders are beginning to lead strong in this area. The Prayer for Peace march yesterday was a wonderful picture of what the Kingdom of God is like. I am excited to be a part of what God is doing in my city.

Monday, March 25, 2013

Ministry in the Margins of Society

Yesterday was a long day full of urban ministry. I started my day off with a Palm Sunday worship service at North Way East End. It was incredible to worship God with a diverse group of people from different parts of the city of Pittsburgh. Our church is a missional church. We gather together in community on Sunday mornings to worship Jesus so that we can be strengthened and equipped to go out into the world to fulfill our roles in God's mission. My part in God's mission started right after the worship service. I had an impromptu counseling session in my office with a member of our church who is navigating through the pain of unemployment and homelessness. He is having a bitter experience with the streets of East Liberty after losing a job that he had held down for 17 years. Our church loves him and has welcomed him into our community. I prayed with him and encouraged him, and he encouraged me with the resilience and passion that he brings to our church community.

After heading home from the church ministry center, I decided to take my dog for a walk in Homewood. I love to walk around my neighborhood because it's a great way to meet people and also keep up with the relationships that I've built over the years. A woman who works the corner next to the BBQ restaurant where we live stopped me to talk to me and give me an update on how she's doing. It was probably 30 degrees outside. It was cold and overcast, and she was walking around in bare feet and a t-shirt. An addiction to drugs has taken over her life, but as I talked with her I could tell that somehow she still clings to hope that things are going to get better. My wife and I have reached out to her several times. She knows that we care about her. I'm praying for her. No person is too far gone to be transformed by the profound love of Jesus Christ.

While I was eating lunch back at my house, two guys who live on the next block over stopped by for a visit. I was thankful to be able to share my table with them. They've been in my house many times. They always feel welcome with us. We talked about how life is going. Even though they are only teenagers, they have both spent significant amounts of time locked up over the past two years. They've been in and out of several different schools that don't really know what to do with them. Yet, when I see them I see them as children of God. I believe that God has good plans for them. I tell them that often. They aren't use to hearing those types of things from the adults in their lives. Most of the adults tell them how bad they are and what's wrong with them. I see their promise, not their faults. That's because God has broken my heart for the young people in my neighborhood, and as a follower of Jesus I've been called to stand in the gap for these young people. It brings me great joy, and these interactions transform my heart on a daily basis.

I dropped them off at their houses, and then spent the rest of my day with three more mentees that I've been spending time with just about every week for the past seven years. We all look forward to Sunday afternoons. I had to chase them down all over town since it's spring break and they're staying with different friends and relatives. Still, the patience paid off and we had a great time together. Our formal mentoring relationships that were made seven years ago have turned into true friendships. They are all 18 years old now, and they're on track to graduate from high school even though it seems like the whole world is stacked against them. I'm proud of the men that God is shaping them to be, and I tell them that often. God has given me the great privilege of walking with them through many ups and downs in life. I wouldn't trade those experiences for anything.

Pastoral ministry in the city involves building relationships with people in powerful and powerless places. Jesus calls us to people living in the margins of society, and it's there that we find God's grace in its greatest proportions. I pray that God continues the break my heart for what breaks his. I am thankful for every day that God gives me breathe and allows me to experience life in the stream of his mission to redeem the world.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Diversity in the City

My daughters had a bunch of friends from their school over for a party this afternoon. As I looked around the house, I noticed how diverse their friends are. Their friends are African-American, Asian-American, Caucasian, and Hispanic, and they come from different levels of socioeconomic status. All of the kids are growing up in an urban environment.

I am being very intentional by raising my daughters in the midst of a big city. The world that my daughters will be navigating when they become adults will be increasingly urban, so I am preparing them by raising them to understand cities. By the time my daughters are adults, there will be more minorities living in America than white people. I am raising them in a city that has many different kinds of people so that they will be able to thrive as adults at building relationships with people who are different than them racially and socioeconomically.

Cities do present challenges when it comes to raising a family. However, the rewards definitely outweigh the risks. It is important to prepare children to be able to thrive in the world as adults, and the city makes for a wonderful classroom. I am thankful for the diversity that the city incorporates into my family's life.

Friday, March 15, 2013

The Global Shift in Christianity

The historic selection of a pope from Argentina is sparking a great deal of conversation in Christendom. People are discussing the huge shifts in Christianity in the world. By far, the majority of the world's Christians now live outside of the West (Europe and North America). Christianity is experiencing tremendous growth among people living in poverty, and also in cities (where more than half of the world's population now lives). Christianity is growing in places like Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Christianity is rapidly declining in more affluent places like America and Western Europe.

The dialogue sparked by the selection of Francis 1 as pope is a healthy dialogue for American Christians. For evangelical American Christians, we should be asking ourselves how we can adjust to the dramatic paradigm shifts in global Christianity. The modern state of Christendom makes a profound difference in how we should view mission. Americans are no longer at the center of Christianity. We probably need to focus less on doing short term mission trips where we go to other countries to help marginalized people, and more on going to poorer countries to visit with marginalized people to see what we can learn from them about how to be more effective at reaching our own people in our own neighborhoods and cities. We have much to learn from our Latin American, African, and Asian brothers and sisters in Christ.

In America, missions is no longer geographically distant. People from many different parts of the world are coming to us to go to school or work. We should focus on reaching that diaspora... the people right across the street from us who are geographically close but culturally distant. We can also focus on living an authentic life in relationship with Jesus Christ so that we can reach our increasingly skeptical, post-Christian American society. Our comfortable lifestyles in America often keep us from having a sense of urgency to join God's mission. My hope as a Christian leader in America is that we will learn how important it is for us to love our neighbors, strategically reach cities, and in humility seek to learn from the new paradigm of what the Holy Spirit is doing globally.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Reconciliation and Relationships

I've been having some great conversations with the North Way East End staff this week about our church's role as reconcilers in our city. Most of our discussions have focused on how we can build authentic, transformational relationships that transcend ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural boundaries that are so strong in our society. As humans, our relationships are often damaged because we are broken people. Yet, as we grow in relationship with God, our relationships with one another grow as well. We become supernaturally reconciled to one another if we will follow the lead of the Holy Spirit.

Robert J Schreiter suggests that "reconciliation is not a skill to be mastered; rather it is something that is discovered: the power of God's grace welling up in one's life. Reconciliation becomes more of an attitude than an acquired skill; more of a spirituality than a strategy." At North Way East End, we are starting to experience the power of God's grace welling up in us. God is changing hearts and drawing people closer to one another.

As a pastor and a leader in my city, my prayer is that God will continue to open my eyes to be able to discover where he is at work in reconciling relationships. I am committed to putting everything on the line, living in the tension that so often comes in bringing others together, so that I might be able to experience the fullness of the human experience. There is great joy to be discovered in seeing people being reconciled with God and with one another. 

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Assets and Signs of Hope

There are many incredible people and organizations doing transformational work and ministry in Homewood. There are many wonderful assets in Homewood that are currently being built upon in order to bring about positive change in the neighborhood. While there are still plenty of signs of need, there are also many signs of hope that I see all of the time.

When doing service for the Lord that brings about transformation in struggling urban environments, it is important for leaders to recognize assets and signs of hope in the community. As a Christian leader in the community, I know that God was at work for a long time before I arrived here seven years ago. And, the Holy Spirit will be at work in Homewood long after I am gone. For the time being, it is my job as a person who is working to bring about positive change in the neighborhood to discern where the Holy Spirit is at work and joyfully join in.

This is a different approach than many well-meaning Christians take when it comes to bringing about transformation in cities. Many Christians see inner city neighborhoods as defined by needs and brokenness. They mistakenly assume that blighted areas are godless areas, and that someone needs to introduce God into the equation. People come to the city thinking that they are bringing God with them. These types of approaches to ministry are ineffective in the long run. In fact, often a lot of damage is done in the name of God or Christianity.

God is always on mission to redeem every person and place in our world. It's our job to listen to God and join that transformational work where ever it is happening. We should approach that type of service with humility and respect for the context that we are called to. Even though it is possible to overcome mistakes when working toward transformation, it's much better to think strategically through our approaches and check out hearts and intentions before we enter into any type of outreach as Christians.