Bracket Busters: Social Justice Ministry

As congregational leaders in an urban setting, it is important for us to think about how we will engage urban issues. As a city dweller for most of my life, I have a practical sense of the issues facing urban residents. The particularly important part for leaders with prior background in urban life and work, however, is to not allow our previous experience to prescribe specific actions before we learn the needs of the particular community in which we are serving. For instance, my hometown has been increasingly plagued by drug-related violence and theft. While drugs may be the most pressing issue there, my ideas may not be as useful in a community that is struggling most heavily with prostitution. Thus, the primary task in relating to urban issues is observing what is going on--both observing passively by looking and listening and observing actively by asking questions and building relationships with people.

From the new relationships will then come a path into social justice ministry in the community. Certainly, congregational education will be important to prepare them for the work we will get into, but perhaps the more important angle is sharing with them the community relationships I have built. It is important that we all get to know each other and appreciate each other's backgrounds so that our shared work will develop organically and have deeper meaning for us all. This should help people become (and stay interested).

I am inspired in social justice efforts by Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals. His book has many helpful suggestions for community organization, and I think I may have some of the gifts for organization that he considers unteachable. I am hoping to find more role models in this area, as it is one that I have experienced less than fully in my work in the church. Alinsky's book, however, also reveals the scary element of social justice, as progress is necessarily fueled by conflict. I usually strive to create harmonious relationships with people, so the work of social justice may require me to step out of my comfort zone in this regard.

Reflections on Luther Place

Luther Place is a vibrant and active congregation with a keen sense of social involvement, and it has grown into this sensibility through development in all four areas of the urban ministry matrix. The first area, context, has been critical to Luther Place's transformation during the last forty to fifty years. The surrounding neighborhoods have been in flux over this period of time, with homelessness, drug use, and prostitution dramatically increasing in some periods. The area was also characterized by marked unrest during the struggles of the civil rights movement in the 1960s and 1970s, as the demographics of the neighborhoods and the city itself were changing rapidly and protests broke out nearby. Fast forward to the present day, and Luther Place's context is still evolving, with increasing gentrification and an emerging arts district near Logan Square. What has been most important for Luther Place, though, has been that the people there have been attentive to and involved their changing context. Congregations that cast a blind eye to their context are often doomed to shut down because they are not invested in the community and vice versa, and Luther Place has avoided this through a spirit of social justice.

This spirit, of course, has been nurtured by the pastoral leadership over the decades. Effective pastoral leadership, then, has led to congregational development, which has helped the congregation of Luther Place embody social justice ideas. A good example of this is the church retreat a few weeks ago. Getting seventy people to show up took a lot of effort on the part of the members, and it was great to see things turn out this way. Community ministry, then, flows from congregational development, as the most effective ministry happens when the congregation buys into the new course of action after having been educated and having engaged in Bible study and prayer about the new direction. Thus, I think the four-part urban ministry matrix may be more of a sequential process or cycle.

Luther Place demonstrated Radical Welcome just in a sheer sense of diversity during our last Saturday session. There were all sorts of people in the building, from many and various paths in life, and it was only Saturday morning! This limited view of the congregation was nonetheless inspiring. The building itself also helped to communicate a sense of Radical Welcome, as the door paintings celebrated people important to both the church and the community and the windows in the sanctuary featured a very broad range of reformers. The memorial garden was also a nice touch. All this, and I still have yet to mention the N Street Village! This program really seems to provide a sense of empowerment for the women who participate, and it certainly shows the roots of social justice. The congregation can continue to grow by forming stronger connections between evangelism and social justice, as Jesus is the one who liberates us from sin, death, and all other oppressors.