The Institute (協会)

Pretty much one word: Amen!

This is a tough one Prof Bradley. Pray for me. The struggle lies here. I was raised in a roug town (Benton Harbor, MI) where most of my uncles and even a sibling got trapped in the dope game and as the story goes began "getting high on their own supply" 20 years later, things aren't much better for them. However, if you have ever been raised around crack heads, you know what they are capable of (robbery, B&Es, even murder). This people have children, and well lets say, they aren't the most upstanding citizens. That leaves a bad taste in the mouth of many. When I became a first generation graduate, (high school and college) I didn't want my family to have to worry about being shot, robbed, murdered, or raped. So I moved out to Pleasentville to get my son a "good eduacation" and to provide a nice home and environment for my family to flourish in. The problem now is I see the mess we are leaving behind and if everyone continue to leaves things will not change. But honestly I am afraid, not for my life, but for my family. I always say if it were just me, I would go, but with a small child and a wife (beautiful at that) I fear for what would happen to them. Thoughts? BTW I go and share the gospel in those rough areas, but moving there is a different story. I know it sounds bad but that is how I got to this point.

I'll second Jake with a hearty "Amen!" There's alot of truth, excitement and vision in your post about what the church should be doing and concerned with. Frankly, if anyone doesn't see this as typical gospel ministry, I would have to seriously question their reading and understanding of what Scripture actually teaches.

And Lionel, I understand your situation. Always remember, we're called to be missionaries wherever we are. Granted, it could be a fine line between what Heppe called "self-preoccupation...safety" etc.., but at the same time, not everyone is called to go live in the roughest of rough neighborhoods. So, when we ask the question of whether we should "stay or go", we should remember that regardless of whether we stay or go, we should do so by faith.

Thanks for the post and the good thoughts Anthony,

Anthony - I always appreciate your continual pushing on men to consider the needs of areas of our world that are off the radar screen in terms of church planting. I think all of us would agree that all of this is a matter of calling, not holiness. It's possible that there are some dudes choosing to minister in affluent areas for the sake of ease, but anyone who's ever ministered in those areas is well aware of how brutally difficult it is to get people to move from a life of religion to a life in which all the implications of the gospel begin to get played out.

At the end of the day, we know that God is calling us to go to all the ends of the earth, including low-income areas that have no real hope of being anything but that in the short-term. Part of the question for me is how do we develop gospel-driven pathways to help men connect with God's calling? Part of me wonders if that doesn't lead at least some people to a different type of ministry training than what we get in seminary, which is set at a default of cultural upper-class/economic middle-class. There's nothing other than the occasional teaching opportunity or short-term project to connect guys to this kind of calling...at least nothing that I'm aware of!

To say that I love that quote is a massive understatement. It expresses the revolutionary tone of scripture that has been emasculated by a touchy-feely church. People don't live along side their (different from themself) neighbors because the power required to do so has been stolen from scripture. Bob Heppe's quote restores much of that.

Good and challenging thoughts

Lionel- I hope this doesn't seem like a cop out, but I feel like each person has to do what they feel God is leading them to do. We won't all be Hudson Taylor, Billy Graham, or Martin Luther King Jr.

That said, I think lots of people use the above line as a way to excuse themselves from the hard, difficult life to which we are called as Christians.

So Lionel, what I (as a 19-year-old middle class white kid... so take it w/ a large grain of salt) would say is that you might not be called to go back to the neighborhood you grew up in. But you're still called to sacrificial, missional living. And I'd argue that if you've settled into a pattern of comfort over Christ, then you need to re-evaluate your lifestyle. But that doesn't mean you'll move back to an urban neighborhood, it might just mean more regularly interacting with your neighbors in suburbia, who need Jesus just as much as the people in the trailer parks and urban areas.

One way of reaching out to those "bad" areas while keeping a LOT safer is to do so during the daytime. I lived two summers in LA, and would spend most Saturday mornings in Compton, when the gang-bangers didn't appear to be out of bed yet. Lots of other folks who need the Word were up, though--including a fair number of guys who had had a rough time of it, to put it mildly.

Lots of other folks who need the Word were up, though--including a fair number of guys who had had a rough time of it, to put it mildly.

I think the people who were asleep needed more!

Well, maybe it's not for a family to move back, but what about a bunch of single guys, willing to live out the gospel, living together in one or several apartments together in an apartment complex, starting there and see how God would grow that vision?

"Well, maybe it's not for a family to move back"

Why not (biblically speaking, not culturally)? That's ridiculous. The first Christians were known for moving there families into broken communities.

This is only a non-option for a family in a feminized church driven by the sad idols of safety and comfort. The New Testament calls for missional living for families not just singles. Sigh.

This is the problem. Christians don't see themselves as missionaries. "Keep my family away from sinners" is never apart of the life of God's people in the biblical story--that's an American "Christian" ideal.

Whoa Anthony..I'm not saying it's an either/or situation! I personally believe it could be both families moving into such an area, or a group of guys, or both together! I was referencing Lionel Woods' post. I saw Redeemer Pres. New Orleans video, viewed their website, seems families and singles are moving there to New Orleans to make a difference.

What about this for a strategy to reach a hard urban area: a group of young men move in with the Kingdom purpose to do battle on behalf of the men of that community. Wasn't it in the Driscoll video a few days ago that you reach the men, you reach the families? Maybe that was somewhere else. Anyway, after that work starts, families would move in to plant a church, targeted specifically to what that community needs. Who knows what the timeline would look like, but the young single guys would be there to reach that demographic first. Maybe a few older guys could come alongside the younger ones to mentor those that are reached in the community. Just an idea.

Lionel, To be sure, there were a lot of men sleeping that needed the Gospel those Saturday mornings. More than you or I? Nah, but there certainly were a lot of men sleeping off the previous night who needed Him.

You do what you can, no?