City Core Initiative _____________ A Heart for the City

MONDAY MORNING
January 26, 2004

Then Jesus went to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness. When He saw the crowds, He felt compassion for them, because they were weary and worn out, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.” Matt. 9:35-38 (HCSB)


Community Transformation
All across Texas, urban core churches are grappling with issues of maintenance, ministry, and mission. For sure, there are no quick fixes. There are no easy solutions. However, one key principle may be found in our selected Bible text, “He felt compassion for them...” This key is to “care about people.” Churches that focus on the harvest tend toward being compassionate, caring churches. Obviously, in itself, this does not solve all of the institutional issues facing city core churches, but there is great strength that comes from doing what Jesus did. This kind of compassion is best developed through human interaction, not as an abstract idea. It is at the heart of incarnational ministry. Compassion ministries must involve more and more members if the focus of the church is to change from inward to outward. Compassion-driven churches have a heart for the Harvest.

Best Practice
Excerpt of an email from Chris Simmons:
Got Rehab Skills? Wanta learn some? Volunteers needed to remodel Grand Avenue Ministry Center. Need willing workers, electrical, carpentry, plumbing, sheetrock, mechanical, clean up--even helpers to pull out nails! Grand Avenue will provide more Cornerstone Care Ministry for South Dallas community. Current Care Center on Ervay is maxxed out!
MEET: Saturdays 8-12 a.m. at Cornerstone Care Center 2711 S. Ervay, Dallas 75215 (Weekday volunteers needed too.) GROUPS WELCOME!!!
BRING: Yourself and tools, if you have them.
SIGN UP: Contact Chris Simmons chris@cornerstoneministrydallas.org (214) 426-5468

MONDAY MORNING
January 19, 2004

35Jesus traveled through all the cities and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And wherever he went, he healed people of every sort of disease and illness. 36He felt great pity for the crowds that came, because their problems were so great and they didn’t know where to go for help. They were like sheep without a shepherd. 37He said to his disciples, “The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few. 38So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send out more workers for his fields.” Matt. 9:35-38 (NLT)

Community Transformation
The pastor said, “I’ve been at my church for 14 years. I have always pastored large city churches that have grown. However, this is the first time that my church has declined every year. A couple of the churches our church help start over the years are located out on the bypass and they are really growing. Our church made a commitment to stay downtown, but we cannot attract new people.”

This story can be echoed a thousand times over by pastors of downtown metropolitan traditional churches that have consciously chosen to remain downtown when other churches were choosing to relocate to the bypass or suburbs.
Are these pastors and staff less capable?
Are these churches less spiritual?
Did these churches make a mistake in judgment?
Is it fair that others grow and they don’t?
Is it just not possible to have a growing downtown church?
Is this the price of faithfulness?
Did Jesus have this type situation in mind when he said the laborers are few?

All across Texas, downtown churches are grappling with issues of maintenance and ministry. Pastors, missionologists, and church growth consultants, alike, are scratching their heads over what to do. Books have been written. Consulting firms have been developed. Conferences have been conducted. Yet, over and again, the only solution for the vast majority of downtown churches seems to be relocate or decline.

These churches are often stuck with facilities that accommodated more than twice the number that now attend. The cost of doing church has robbed the budget of money for missions and ministry. Pastors begin to evaluate themselves poorly. And, there is a general melancholy that settles over the church like a heavy dew. It’s like an aging person who can only find joy in their memories.

For sure, there are no quick fixes. There are no easy solutions. But, one key to recovery may be found in our selected Bible text from the Gospel of John… Do you think the work of harvesting will not begin until the summer ends four months from now? Look around you! Vast fields are ripening all around us and are ready now for the harvest. John 4:35 (NLT) This key is to “focus on the harvest.” Churches that focus on the harvest tend toward becoming healthy growing churches. Obviously, in itself, this does not solve all of the institutional issues facing downtown churches, but at least this focus should divert negative thinking and give occasion for a fresh sense of purpose. Focusing on the harvest must permeate all aspects of church life to have the desired renewal effect.

Next week I will look at another key to be drawn from this text for downtown churches.

Best Practice
Read the book, Sidewalks of the Kingdom, by Eric O. Jacobsen, published by Brazos Press, 2003. The author writes from his experience as pastor of an urban downtown church. He says in the introduction, “We have been abandoning our strategic locations within city cores and traditional neighborhoods, and we have tried to create for ourselves a new kind of society in the form of suburban megachurches. And as individual Christians, we have marched right along with the rest of our culture and moved our homes outside of the urban core into the sanitized world of the suburbs… But, some Christians and some churches have hung in there and are continuing to be a part of the urban fabric in historic cities and traditional neighborhoods.”

City Core Initiative
Resolution on Texas City Cores

WHEREAS Texas cities are increasingly secular, pluralistic, and multicultural, and

WHEREAS Texas cities are in demographic and economic transition, and

WHEREAS the city core is home to an emerging multicultural mix of the undocumented immigrant, the artistic, and the eclectic postmodern, and

WHEREAS the city core is home to those who are poor, unemployed, and powerless, and

WHEREAS the city core is home to those who are affluent, powerful, successful, and driven, and

WHEREAS many city core communities are identified by problems of poverty, crime, and violence, and

WHEREAS the city core is the hub of government, business, commerce, banking, and communications, and

WHEREAS the city core is a growing mission field, and

WHEREAS the city core is being populated by non-Christian religions, and

WHEREAS many churches of all Christian denominations have left the city core, and

WHEREAS many churches remaining in the city core are statistically plateaued and have limited resources for ministry, and

WHEREAS our Lord Jesus Christ wept over the city of Jerusalem, and scattered His churches to bring the good news of the gospel to the cities of the world, and

WHEREAS we are still called to be salt and light to our culture,

Be it therefore RESOLVED that we make a fresh commitment to the city core for spiritual renewal and community transformation through prayer, evangelism, innovative missional strategies, compassionate ministries, social entrepreneurship, and missions partnerships; and

Be it further RESOLVED that we encourage churches in the city core to seek alliances and networks among other churches with which to share fellowship, resources, and strategic methods to jointly engage their communities for Christ; and

Be it finally RESOLVED that City Core Initiative seeks the cooperation of Christians and their institutions in community transformation processes and strategies through dialogue, collaboration and partnership.

City Core Initiative 1/2004