The Christian way is far more than spiritual

In Acts 6 we read that the early church had a feeding ministry. A crisis arose when injustice was revealed: the Greek widows were not receiving as much as the Hebrew widows. A church meeting was called and a leadership team was selected to correctly administer the program.

Clearly Jesus’ ministry wasn’t limited to the spiritual realm either. The text for his first recorded sermon in Luke 4 was:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”

And then he set about healing bodies, feeding multitudes, ministering to the emotional needs of those on the fringes of society, engaging minds in deep debate and taking time to develop relationships with friends and followers.

At the turn of the century the church was still operating orphanages, universities, community centers, soup kitchens, shelters, micro-enterprise and more. It is only in recent years that we have divested the church of the “non-spiritual” functions, relegating them to government and social service agencies.

I would posit, therefore, that the Christian way is far more than just a spiritual experience, but one that engages the entire person, one which ministers wholistically, and one where the infilling of the Holy Spirit compels us to act in ways that build the Kingdom of Heaven.

For over 45 years now, Trinity Christian Community has struggled to live out this ideal. My father, the founder, came from Canada to America by way of Normandy, France (he drove a Sherman tank in D-Day). After attending seminary in California, he was called to a church in New Orleans. The mostly white congregation was oblivious to the great poverty and racism surrounding it, probably because it was so institutionally ingrained in society at that time. But to an outsider like my dad, it was glaringly obvious. The critical moment came when he registered to vote and was made to take a literacy test. When he asked what literacy had to do with voting he was told, “It’s to keep the n______s out.”

Soon he was across town, picking up the African American youth and bringing them to his white church. There was a clash of cultures which led him to begin Trinity Christian Community in the Irish Channel.

Throughout the ensuing years many at-risk youth have attended summer camps, families have been fed, parks were integrated, outreach events were conducted, people were trained for jobs, others were connected to social services, the illiterate learned to read, those on the societal fringes were given leadership opportunities, and countless lives were changed in immeasurable ways. And yes, several churches were planted, too.

Today we are repairing homes, developing leaders, providing after school tutoring, offering summer camps, giving seniors a place to socialize and be engaged, feeding the hungry, counseling and more. Yes, there are Bible studies and Sunday worship available, too, but the work doesn’t end with the benediction; that is only the beginning of our work week.

Out of this work, and the work of others across the nation, the principles of Christian community development grew. These eight principles guide the work of similar ministries that seek to bring the WHOLE gospel to the WHOLE person in the WHOLE city. They are:

• Relocation — the best community development is done by those who live in the community and share in its destiny;

Reconciliation — people to God and people to each other, especially racial reconciliation that bridges communities long separated by the evils of racism;

Redistribution — the path to success has led many away from the inner city and the resources have followed. Ideas, knowledge, money and leadership must flow back;

Leadership Development — indigenous leaders must be trained and given positions of influence to sustain the changes brought about in the community;

Listening to the Community — the best ideas usually emanate from the people in the community but rarely are implemented because of deep-seated powerlessness;

Church-Based — the church is the starting and ending points for good community development, especially when the church understands the need to engage the WHOLE person;

Wholistic Approach — it’s not just the spiritual needs of people that need addressing, but the mind and body, too;

Empowerment — good ministry empowers people to act on their own behalf as they take leadership of their community and its destiny.

For more on these concepts, visit the Christian Community Development Association website at www.ccda.org.

Paul Meier, an eminent Christian psychiatrist for whom I had the privilege to once work, was fond of describing people as having a “Love Tank” inside. We are born with a deep need to be loved. Some have this tank filled regularly by those who give sacrificially to fill them. Others develop with a deep desire to be filled but rarely experience it. They often seek to fill the ensuing emptiness with relationships and possessions or anesthetize them with drugs, alcohol, food, sex or power. As Christians we understand that it is our relationship with a loving God, one who gives sacrificially to prove his love for us, which fills the emptiness inside. It’s what we seek at weekly worship.

If we hoard this love, however, treating it as a finite thing, we make an egregious error. Because God’s love is infinite, the boundaries of our “Love Tank,” of our very lives, cannot contain it. It overflows onto those around us. A choice to live and work among those most in need, those on the fringes of society without hope, provides us a unique environment in which to shower this extravagant love on the ones God loves. Treating the church as a “filling station” to meet our needs so that we can survive another week misses the point of the gospel. We are to take this love, shower it on those in need, and bring the Kingdom to the place where we live.

“But,” we think, “it is dangerous where the need is and therefore I will be at personal risk if I take God’s love there.” Surely this is how the Hebrew Children felt after being taken from the security and safety of their homeland to Babylon, a place known for decadence whose very culture the Jews found offensive. Yet Jeremiah takes a message from God to them which said: “Work for the peace and prosperity of Babylon. Pray to the Lord for that city where you are held captive, for if Babylon has peace, so will you (Jeremiah 29:7, NLT).”

Each week we pray in our churches, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.” I often change the words to, “…in Hollygrove as it is in Heaven.” Are these empty words, or do we really long for God’s Kingdom to exist here replacing the violence, insecurity and hurts so many feel? Are we willing to risk our personal security to bring the gospel in all its fullness to those who need it most?

Fourteen years ago my wife Sandy and I moved our young children into one of the most dangerous areas of New Orleans. Having experienced God’s call upon our lives, we eschewed the trappings of success that were so tempting to radically follow Jesus into a place where many avoided. Along the way we were told that ours was a futile quest. Today there are model homes that have won international design awards, a much-duplicate micro-farm and market, a community development model that AARP has brought to other communities throughout the nation (The Livable Communities Project), young leaders who are receiving huge scholarships to universities, a senior program, and more. Most important, there are leaders who can carry the work forward without us.

I believe in the principles of Christian community development; I watched them being developed and have seen them work. But I know that without Kingdom-minded Believers, willing to risk it all for the sake of Jesus, these principles are simply good ideas. As long as the church is content to be a place where we experience the gospel and are personally filled, the Kingdom cannot come as it is in Heaven. It is only when we are willing to live out our faith in real, tangible ways that involve personal sacrifice that lives are transformed; when we put aside our own agenda to bring the WHOLE gospel to the WHOLE person throughout the WHOLE city that God’s Kingdom can truly come.