Recently I have been spending a lot of  time reading books on urban ministry.  Having been an pastor in two communities in New York City for the past twenty-four years it is always good and important to keep abreast of what is being written about that part of the church you are working in.  The first church I pastored was in the Far Rockaway, Queens area of New York City.  At the time I was there it was a struggling community that had fallen on hard times and was trying to recover.  The neighborhood was made up of poor and working class families and the nature of the ministry in many ways centered around issues of survival.  For the last two and a half years I have been ministering on West 57th Street in mid-town Manhattan.  The nature of these two ministries are in direct opposition to one another. 

As I said I have been spending some time reading books on urban ministry.  The thing that keeps striking me as I read is the way urban ministry is defined and the focus that each author took as an approach to ministry in the city.  Urban ministry is most often defined as ministry to poor and ethnic minorities.  This was certainly my experience in Queens.  The focus becomes that of coming along side of the community and helping to lift the people you are ministering too.  There is a call to understand the community you are trying to reach,  but the community is seen as alienated for the main stream of society.

The church I now pastor is not a poor minority ethnic church, but it is by every definition of the word and inner city church.  The neighborhood is very diverse and in need of the declaration of the gospel of grace.  The thing I am wrestling with is what is the role of the church that is not in economic crisis and how does it relate to the community around it?

Too often the language of the church is as divisive as the language used by those outside of the church.  The rich poor dichotomy, the ethnic verses non-ethnic categories, the need verses non-need language seems to divide the church rather than pull it together.  The poor are continually seen as victims and needy and the well off are seen as those who through guilt and manipulation are to be brought to the aid of the rest.  Some how for me this comes up short.

Having spent most of my ministry in a poor neighborhood and having run a ministry house that was an extension of my own family I both understand and sympathize with those who are living near or under the poverty line.  But as a pastor of a group of people that have resources at their disposal and who are willing to open their hands generously to those in need I believe that we need to rethink how we discuss the problems that face our society and the church.

Ministry is all about relationships.  When we use language that divides we separate people into categories that do not lead to the unity that Jesus prayed for in John 17.  If Jesus’ intention for the church is that we are to be one as he and the Father are one than we need to be working toward that unity.  There are a number of vignettes in the book of Acts that give us insight into the life of the early church.  If we will spend a little time with them I believe they will inform our own values and fellowship.

The first is found in Acts 2:42-47.  It is the first description of the newly formed church following the events of Pentecost.  We are told they, the entire church, devoted themselves to the apsotles’ teaching, to fellowship, the breaking of bread, and to prayer.  These are all corporate events.  They are the events the unity people around the Lordship of Christ.  They gathered for worship, the teaching of the apostles and the breaking of bread, for fellowship, the coming together for mutual support, and corporate prayer; worship, fellowship and prayer.  They did not divide themselves into groups but all came together united around Jesus putting their differences aside.

What would it mean if each church found common ground around the savior and sought to come together around the things that unify?  Certainly it would be unreasonable to ask people to give up their traditions and their distinctiveness but in the urban context we must learn to work together as the body of Christ against our common enemies; the world and those that set themselves against God.

The city is too big for each church to take it on by itself.  A united front allows the diversity of the body of Christ to express itself.  Each church bringing its gifts to bear on the issues that effect us all.  When each church feels they are a contributing member to the issues at hand there are no victims and saviors, only co-laborers in the body of Christ.

The result of the unity of the believers in this passage is seen in too things that took place.  The first was the movement of God.  Awe came upon all as many signs and wonders were being done by the apostles.  Jesus said that we would do greater things than he did because he ascended to the Father and sent the Holy Spirit to indwell in the church.  The power of God is present in the church and as we carry out the mission of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit the world will stop and take notice.

As I look around at Church for All Nations I am taken back by all that God is doing in our midst.  The most striking thing is that he has built a community of believers around word and sacrament that has sprung forth in a deep fellowship of people many of whom would have nothing to do with one another but for the work of the Holy Spirit in our midst.  Doesn’t this sound like the scene painted for us in Acts 2?

The second thing that we see in this passage that springs from the work of the Holy Spirit on this group of believers is that they had all things in common.  This is not Marxism but rather the family of God acting in a loving manner toward one another.  This was not government inforced equality, but people moved by compassion because they are in relationship with one another.  It is easy to turn one’s back on the stranger, but its another thing to turn your back on someone you share a relationship with.  The early church became so caught up in the Christ event that those who had more than they needed began to sell off their positions and bring the money and lay it at the apostles feet.  Love in action.

So for me I believe that those of us in urban ministry, no all ministry, must seek to bridge the gaps that divide us.  If we can only come together and build relationships, community, with those around us who do not share our lifestyle but share our savior we will begin to move in the right direction.  The church did not come up with a program to deal with relief but they were caught up by the move of the Holy Spirit and could not help but reach out to those in need.

In the days and weeks ahead I want to look at the other passages in Acts that call us to relationship with God and one another.  The church is the one institution that is called out of the world to live the values of the kingdom of God, through the power of God.