Some Elbow Room?

This post is a response to an article written by Dr. Paul Metzger entitled, “The Gentrified Church—Paved with Good Intentions?”. In discussing the current and historic waves of gentrification in North and Northeast Portland, he calls the church to account for its racial and cultural heavy-handedness.

“Young white entrepreneurs are moving in, including church planters. Should we call this progress? The answer to this question depends on one’s background, experience, and perspective.

To many, gentrification means urban renewal, which for them spells progress. To others, it signifies cultural regress.”

Why do we always seem to push others out when we move in (who ever the “we” may be)? Why do we spend so much energy "clearing the land" to build our own kingdoms? Or like Abraham Lincoln’s father, who when he could see the smoke of a neighbor’s fire had to move on to find “some elbow room”? Does this include clearing the land of its people so that we can remake it in our own image? It has happened all too often, in fact it seems the lot of fallen man to do this. But shouldn't the redeemed person be more relational than that?

Too often in our discussions of racial injustices and oppression there is no clear-cut plan for moving forward in repentance and reconciliation. It seems like an endless cycle of listening to the same things over and over again with no relational reconciliation allowed to bear fruit. However, Metzger’s statement lays the necessary groundwork for ministry reconciliation to take place,

“Given the history of gentrification and segregation in Portland, true unity will include the following: white pastors learning the history of racism, segregation and gentrification; if they don’t understand Portland’s history, they will repeat it, no matter how good their intentions.”

But it is not enough to get to know the history of the city and its dismal track record on race relations; we must get to know each other as brothers and sisters of equal standing in the Kingdom of God. As our God is relational in the core of his being, so our ministries cannot reflect the humble glory of God in our city without becoming more relational than then have been in the past.

No one group has the answer, but the answer God brings for the city is found in Christian congregations learning to be one in love and mutual respect.  It is not to our credit to posture and play some not-so-subtle king-of-the-hill game. No one congregation or house church is THE church of Portland, or Beaverton, or Gresham, but merely one part of it. It is to our glory to honor another more highly than ourselves because biblical glory is always given, never claimed. As church leaders it is past time for us to start giving more honor to our fellow followers of Christ—those who have for many years served without much recognition or financial backing—who are men and women from whom we have much to learn.

Recently I attended a special prayer service for a friend facing a terrible cancer diagnosis. With very little notice, more than 40 people showed up to pray for this dear pastor’s wife (in her backyard since the house was not large enough). There were people there from at least four different congregations, including the two largest churches in Beaverton. Yet it did not seem like a gathering of churches, but simply the one church gathering to pray for a sick family member. There was no posturing, no competition between one congregation’s 50-somethings and another’s 20-somethings, between those from the small church-plant and those from the mega-churches, but rather deep gut-wrenching compassion and contending in prayer by all alike as the tears flowed freely.

I have great hope for this woman’s healing (and the others facing similar situations) and for the healing of the divided church in our cities. It is when there is a crisis or suffering that we see that the church in our community is larger than our smaller gatherings. I have observed that in a hospital’s Surgery or ICU waiting rooms there is only one church…The Congregation of the Desperate.

I wonder if our getting to know each other will happen voluntarily, or only through the furnace of suffering. I prefer the pain-free approach, of course, but we are all a little too proud to lay down our own appearance of control without a little persuasion. Maybe Portland’s problem is too few of the tornadoes or tyrants that force us to look beyond ourselves…not that I’m askin’.

I don’t think that I am the answer to the church’s problems, but I believe that I could be part of the answer along with those who will let me sit with them and get to know them. It starts with listening and friendship. Not too many takers so far. Dr. Metzger wrote, “In the midst of tending to one’s own church’s needs, it is important to tend to the needs of all churches in a community.” This is so true, but only if they want you to walk alongside them.

What we evangelicals need to repent of, is our sense of competition with other congregations, our pride in our own congregations, and our feelings of competent self-sufficiency. We need the humility to ask for help from each other and the relational closeness to know when another needs help without having to ask. Let our esteem be in Christ alone not in the façade of our appearances! 

If we need to be moving someone, let it be moving ourselves closer to each other relationally, linking arms and hearts, keeping in step with the Spirit rather than the flesh (Gal. 5). Listen to one another, pray with one another, be friends with one another. Then we may see God move in gentle power in our midst... and have to move out into the yard because the house isn't big enough for everyone.