There’s an Elvis movie called “Change of Habit” made in ’69 that has some elements of urban ministry in it. Elvis is Dr. John Carpenter, a young, street-smart physician who practices medicine amongst the poor of NYC. He’s hip, cool, has the side-burns, and really knows what’s what on the streets. His co-star, Sister Michelle, is played by Mary Tyler Moore. Sister Michelle is a Catholic nun who is ministering in the inner city with two other sisters. They don’t wear their habits (the nun’s uniform, hence the title of the flick), and so are ministering “under cover.” This is so that they don’t appear too religious to the people, I imagine. Elvis, however, falls in love with Sister Michelle, not knowing she’s a Sister, and that leads to all kinds of complications and such. In the end, she chooses to remain loyal to her call, instead of being with Elvis, which seems like a very wise move. She teaches Elvis about love (in the Christian, altruistic sense), and he teaches her a bit about street-smarts and rock and roll.
So, what’s my point here? I think the efforts of Dr. Carpenter and Sister Michelle provide a Hollywood-style example of a superficial, misguided approach to ministering in a place of great, overt need, and it perhaps analogous to many our Christianity’s attempts to minister in the cities today. Dr. Carpenter and Sister Michelle do indeed help the people—he with his medicine, good looks, and (of course) singing; she with her compassion, ideals, and general service to their needs. But, they don’t really introduce or create genuine community. They’re not there to really join the people—they are both there to help/serve/love/minister to, the people. The result is that their efforts are really, really nice, and friendly, too. It’s ministry, Hollywood-style.
But in the real world, bringing the love and truth of Christ to anyone—urban, downtown, suburban, rural, or on the Pacific Crest Trail, requires the disciple to go much further in and deeper down than to simply set up residence “in the hood,” or to go under-cover as a believer in hopes of introducing people to Jesus. I think ministry is all about openly calling people to the possibilities, responsibilities, and blessings of God’s community—starting with building community between you and them, and then working for it all to spread out from there. In a wonderful book on inner-city ministry, author Robert D. Lupton puts it this way: “When my goal is to change people, I subtly communicate: Something is wrong with you; I am okay. You are ignorant; I am enlightened. You are wrong; I am right. If our relationship is defined as healer to patient, I must remain strong and you must remain sick for our interaction to continue. People don’t go to doctors (even Dr. John “Elvis” Carpenter, I assume) when they are well. The process of “curing,” then, cannot serve long as the basis for a relationship that is life producing for both parties. Small wonder that we who have come to the city to “save” the poor find it difficult to enter into true community with those we think needy.” (from “Theirs Is The Kingdom—celebrating the gospel in urban America,” Harper Collins, Parenthesis mine!)
All the free socks, bottled water, and sandwiches in the world won’t build a genuine community of God’s people…unless these items are but the stage props in the drama that we act out in which we become one community with the people we propose to serve in His name. And to do that—and this is the really hard part for me, and I think many other pastor types….we’ve got to acknowledge our need for them—not just our need to help them. Sure, Elvis was cool, Sister Michelle was sweet, but neither of them really needed the poor folks they served—and so the folks they served remained just that: people who needed to be served, instead of fellow servants in the great Work!
downtownpastor