And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9
After several years of being in the trendy Westside and Eastside neighborhoods, we moved the location of our church building into the Southside. At the time, we were mostly college students from Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design. And most of our local mission efforts were geared toward artists. Being on the Southside required us to rethink how we would reach people. This often neglected part of the city has the worst crime, the highest numbers of homeless, and the lowest income levels. Most of us who attended the church were not brought up in this kind of urban setting. We were eager to impact the community but really had no idea what to do.
We decided that a good starting place would be to walk the neighborhood and talk with people. We picked the densely populated area between Elmwood Avenue and Broad Street. Most of the multi-family houses there are close together and overflowing with kids. Our little band of walkers looked out of place. Some thought we were police patrolling the area or detectives. Or city workers. We did this in the summer so we found kids playing in the streets, sweet elderly folks staying cool on their covered porches, men washing cars, moms cooking. Oh! The smell of savory Dominican food filled the air in the afternoons!
Inquire and listen
We found everyone, well, almost everyone, friendly. It’s not our practice to systematically knock on doors and ask people if they know Jesus. I know some Christians still do this, but I like to let things unfold organically. We just walk. And pray. Sometimes we might just wave to someone or say hi. We’d ask certain people questions about the neighborhood. Sometimes we found ourselves in situations where we could help people move something heavy or break up a fight. Eventually, a door would open up for us to go deep with someone.
I hesitate to give you a formula or specific things to say. The best principle is to simply be sensitive. Think how you would want to be approached if you were sitting on your porch or washing your car. For example, it’s usually best for women to approach women and men to approach men. It’s not a hard fast rule, but it’s wisdom. Sometimes conversations just happen spontaneously and they flow beautifully. But other times, we might take a chance and approach someone who at least looks friendly. It’s always a good thing to ask them if you can ask a question. If they say okay then introduce yourself—“I’m Scott, this is my friend Nate, our church recently moved to the neighborhood. We are curious what kinds of things our church could do to serve the neighborhood?”
Again, it’s not a formula. It always came out different each time. But the underlying spirit was to inquire and listen. If we barreled in and tried to just preach to people we would have been pushed away. But listening to people and their stories fosters relationships. It’s better not to force feed the gospel to people. When children are force fed, what happens? They usually cry, gag, or throw up. So it’s better to lead with listening and serving. At the right time, we usually end up sharing about Christ. But it’s good to wait until the Spirit puts a curiosity in someone.
Keep showing up
We did these neighborhood walks frequently, at least once a week. The Ren staff and interns were also walking the neighborhoods during the afternoons. We got to know the director of the community center, variety store owners, restaurant workers, and schoolteachers. I noticed that we didn’t immediately have deep connections with people. Not at all. The first month or so was a little awkward. We got some strange looks. Neighbors were suspicious. Hearts were closed and conversations were short. But as we kept showing up to the same area over and over, something happened. People started to be familiar with our friendly faces. The neighborhood kids followed us around after a while. In fact, there came a point that when we arrived each week there would be a sizable gang of kiddos waiting for us!
With all the kids waiting for us each week we realized we needed to up our game. We brought chalk art, bubbles, sports equipment, and anything else we thought the kids would like. The ice cream truck I think knew what time of the week we were there and also knew I’d cave and buy like 40 popsicles for everyone. We got to know the parents. And some invited us into their houses. We shared God’s love and prayed for them. Some came to the church.
We made mistakes, like the time we thought it would be fun to pit the girls against the boys in a water balloon fight. Yeah, don’t do that :/
Mitchell Street
There was one particular street where it seemed like almost every house was open to us. It was a street with dozens of kids. I remember this one father named Carlos who really took pride in his house. His small yard was immaculate and his house was perfect. It really stood out! Next to his house was an empty lot where people would drive by and throw junk, like mattresses, old furniture, and bottles. The lot was overgrown with tall weeds, covered in trash and rubble. I remember talking with Carlos and listening to him vent about how much the junkyard lot bothered him. I said, “Maybe we could clean it up?” By “we” I meant the church, but Carlos quickly responded and said, “Let me know and I’ll be there with my lawn tools.”
Okay, now something was happening. We started planning a clean up day with lots of fun stuff for kids to do. Instead of cleaning up the lot ourselves, it seemed good to ask all the neighbors if they’d like to help in some way. They did. It was a beautiful sight to see a local church partnering with neighbors to beautify an empty lot. Together, we were taking something desolate and making it a place for kids to play and relax. Moms came over with watermelon. There was an abundance of food. Kids were everywhere helping—sort of. Carlos was wrestling with weeds. We worked hard and there was joy that day. This led to other garden projects in some of the tiny yards on the street. Flowers were planted. Relationships deepened.
Again, it’s not a formula, but there are underlying principles at work. Be in the neighborhood. Let God open doors and hearts. Don’t force anything. Listen and serve. Let the Holy Spirit orchestrate. Pray. And repeat.
Missionaries
This is essentially how good missionaries reach communities all over the world. They usually don’t know what to do. Oh, they’ve read some books on the country they are in. Maybe they took a short-term trip previously. But, for the most part, they don’t know how to win the trust of the people and communicate the gospel in a way the people will understand. Oftentimes, the Lord sends missionaries who have almost nothing in common with the people. The missionary must do the hard work of learning the language, the customs, the culture. The missionary must figure out a way to gain credibility as an outsider. Most missionary autobiographies we read tell of how reaching people took time. It was trial and error, one step forward, two steps back, tears, confusion, setbacks, persecution. But they kept at it until they succeeded.
I believe the secret to the success of many missionaries was not that they were so smart or gifted, or just so unusually deep in God, or that they had great resources. No. It’s tenacity. Missionaries who don’t let up will always, in due season, reap a harvest.
The lack of success, at first, also has a way of deepening our dependence on the Lord. Sometimes we have to exhaust all of our human efforts to reach people before we finally start leaning on God to show us what to do. Don’t forget that God Himself is leading your team on these expeditions. He knows exactly what to do. Well, maybe we’ll explore that another week. Hope these letters are helping!