Empire and Ministry: An Analysis of Privilege and Disparity

Every once in awhile a blog post pops up, inciting a lot of tweeting and Facebook posting with a lot of follow up comments.

Here's the latest:

http://www.christenacleveland.com/2014/03/urban-church-plantations/

Writer and speaker Christen Cleveland has done the church in America a great service - she has pointed out a major blind spot among well resourced suburban churches.

In her post she points out that in cities experiencing or attempting to resuscitate urban renewal, suburban pastors come rushing in to plant their franchise of ministry. In doing so they run roughshod over existing ministries and urban saints that have been laboring for years.

This exact same thing happens in the world of global missions. When well meaning, but completely ignorant mission agencies comes to "evangelize" a nation with complete and total disregard of national ministries.

Cleveland gives an example of a white pastor who has planted an inner city church and makes the statement: "This is not your grand momma's church". In that one statement he has done two things: proven his complete ignorance of the surrounding neighborhood culture and insulted a culture that hold "grand momma's " in great esteem. I have seen this EXACT same thing happen when I was ministering in India. An american mission team from a wealthy church in California came in and one of the pastors ridiculed how anyone could worship a rock God or an elephant God. I left the meeting in disgust at the blatant ignorance and insensitivity of this man.

What Cleveland has done is portray what happens when privilege collides with urban reality. There is no communication, no recognition of the existing ministries. There is s stunning lack of Kingdom mentality among many Christian leaders in America. The drive to "succeed" in creating MY ministry, MY church leads to kingdom blindness to everyone and anyone else who is also ministering.

My plea is that my friends and colleagues who are leading large suburban churches would begin to listen and learn from the saints laboring among the urban poor, disenfranchised and rejected. When we pastor a large, growing church it is possible to develop ministry blinders that keep us isolated from being to even comprehend that there are other metrics for measuring effective ministry.

Comments

Edith said…
Well said Santosh. I think this blindness goes well beyond large suburban churches. It is human nature to be ego- and ethno-centric. One of our problems is that we don't know what we don't know. We assume we understand things that we don't. Anytime we enter into a new situation we need to enter in as "learners" (ala Tom Brewster's teaching on language acquisition). We need to assume that people in a given culture, situation have good reasons for doing what they are doing and that we need to understand those before trying to suggest/implement changes. Respect for those we want to come alongside is of utmost importance. I think Jeremy and Bethany Colvin are a great example of this.
10:10 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Go to church

Image
We are several months out of even the most limited pandemic restrictions. I cannot remember the last time I wore a mask. When I see someone wearing a mask, it feels nostalgic - a reminder of a strange time when that person was the norm and I - the unmasked one would look strange. Despite the fact that we can break the 6-foot barrier and admire the lower halves of other's faces - I have been surprised at the number of Christians I meet who are just NOW starting to return to live worship services. I understand the lure of the live stream worship experience while sitting at home on the couch - worshipping in sweats and hot coffee in my mug - much more appealing than a hard couch and no coffee. I've also met believers boldly walking away from regular church attendance and proclaiming they can worship God anywhere - including the pickleball court. Nature is my sanctuary. "God’s Spirit and gift of salvation are not defined by church walls. But without an embodied community of be
Read more

Where the Light Falls

Image
I've read two books by Augustine - City of God and Confessions. I think I've read his confessions 3 times. I like him because he is a good writer, has lots of self-insight, and loves God passionately. He was very honest about his pre-Christian life. At one point he makes this observation: "I had my back toward the light, and my face toward the things on which the light falls." Most people have their back to the light - and they focus where his light falls. Where the light falls refers to God's common grace. God does not keep good things only for those who follow him. Because he is good he distributes his blessings and grace widely. Where the light falls are places of grace: art, music, beauty, sunshine, loving relationships, a baby's smile. But - these things are not the light - to enjoy and encounter the light, we must turn around and follow the rays of light back to the source. What is the source of beauty, love, and truth? Jesus said he is the light of the
Read more

Coaster goes up (a little)

Image
Unused photo from the Globe and Mail shoot. So, last night and all day today I was on the top floor of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Vancouver. Quite auspicious surroundings for church council/pastors meetings! there were stunning views of the North Shore mountains, Stanley Park and the downtown buildings. The meetings were lengthy, exhausting and a lot of work. Basically, FBC has been on a year long journey of crafting its vision statement and core values - we did it with the assistance of a coach from Outreach Canada. We are coming down the home stretch and needed to hammer out everything for presentation to the congregation. Today was the first day that I have begun to feel lighter and ready to resume the work. Although still feeling wounded from this whole mess, I'm ready to limp on. It's true: Sunday,Monday - elation at finally reaching a goal of holding a first@night service in a trendy nightclub - excitement at getting press coverage - even thoug
Read more