One Thing Christians Need to Serve in the Inner-city
“There is more than 16,000 ran down vacant homes in my city, and we lose loved ones to murder and drug overdoses every day. Where I live, there are no “safe spaces.” — Kondwani Fidel
The Urban Dictionary defines godforsaken as, a place having been deserted by god, desolate, having no evidence of godliness. Sadly that’s how people describe Baltimore City. Godforsaken.
If you venture past the flash and polish of the Inner Harbor and its bright lights you see that there is a very different Baltimore waiting in the shadows of the tall buildings and tourist traps.
I love my new city, but it has taken some getting used to.
While I grew up in poverty and saw things no child should ever witness first hand, Baltimore is exponentially more challenging to wrap my mind around.
Christians and the City
Most people when they find out we made Baltimore City our home and base of ministry they quickly agree that it needs all the help it can get but at the same time they wonder if it’s all just a waste of time.
That’s my problem with many Christians. They have all the hope in the world to reach the babies in Africa, but when it comes to inner cities in our nation, we are at a loss for words.
I am convinced that many Christians especially those that identify themselves as evangelicals are ill-equipped to address the problems plaguing the inner city. We have been fattened and doped up by American Christianity and are too weak to make a case for the Christian faith in the streets.
As I’ve said before, the Church is meant for the wild, it was birthed in complexity and cultural upheaval, but now, now the church is not even a topic of discussion amongst those seeking to do good in the city.
As I work, my primary concern for Christians who want to serve the city and see it flourish, they must develop one skill.
Imagination.
If you don’t have a vivid imagination, you cannot be useful or even hope to be useful long term in the city.
City on Fire
Walking around Baltimore, it can be easy to think that this is scorched earth.
A scorched-earth policy is a military strategy that aims to destroy anything that might be useful to the enemy while it is advancing through or withdrawing from a location. Any assets that could be used by the enemy may be targeted, for example, food sources, water supplies, transportation, communications, industrial resources, and even the locale’s people themselves.The practice can be carried out by the military in enemy territory, or in its home territory.
The scorched–earth policy has been my existence the entire year working in Baltimore. It’s as if, the enemy knew we were approaching and destroyed any source of resources in the city.
I knew it was terrible when I had a pastor visit from out of town say to me, “It sounds like you’re trying to build a golf course in the middle of the desert.”
There was nothing available from which I could build and begin the new work of a church.
Many Christians have become so accustomed to thriving in polished and safe spaces that we have lost our grit.
I think this has been reinforced by the imagery of Jesus and all things Christians as soft and docile, which has led us to become a limp-wristed faith. But that’s a whole other issue, for another blog post.
Imagine a New City
As Christians, we must have a renewed vision of our cities. We can become jaded thinking that the enemy has made useless everything in our community.
But that could not be further from the truth. We trust in a God who produces rivers in deserts and makes dry bones live again.
We must begin to dream new dreams and make things new.
Jesus says in Revelation 21, “Behold I am making all things new.”
We must be committed to rebuilding great cities, not just great churches or buildings. And that starts with reimagining what looks godforsaken now.
When we serve through justice, mercy, creativity, and partnership, life can be renewed where hopelessness reigned
