Every now and then I get the strangest looks walking into a group of hip, relatively new Detroiters working on development plans for the city or our church neighborhood. The looks come because I am wearing my clerical collar. Even when without the uniform, my presence is often questioned with side glances, questioned expressions or hesitant greetings of, "Um, nice to see you."
What do you do with a clergy person at a development meeting? Or when planning new street art projects? Or building a board for a new non-profit? Am I there to give them lectures on abortion, gay marriage or contraception? (Pro, pro, and pro, just for the record.) Do they think I am going to take up a collection? (Well, only if they ask me.) Worse yet, will I try to "save" all of them in Jesus Christ? (I usually do not carry my life preserver.)
Spirit of Hope, the Christian community where I serve as pastor in Detroit, serves almost 11,000 free meals a year. We give out 50,000 pounds of food in our pantry. Thirty young men are mentored every year in our Pray and Play Basketball League. We built Spirit Farm, four city lots of love to grow food for ourselves and our neighbors that also beautifies a stark major intersection in the city. Forty people attend our weekly Spirit Spit Open Mic. Forty families are served each year with our own Sunshine Community Preschool. Countless neighborhood meetings, projects and programs are launched from our property annually. We clean up local vacant lots, parks and the streets. We provide a place for some to dry out from their addiction, be welcome in their HIV status and find power in their respective sexual orientations or gender expressions. Addicts who lost everything at the casino down the street come by for gas money or a ride. And yes, we do have Sunday morning worship where we praise God and participate in the sacrament.
So yes, we have opinions and a stake in the future of our neighborhood and our city. We will be at every table possible to influence the physical, cultural, environmental or spiritual direction of our community. Hundreds of small and middle-sized congregations all over Detroit are making a difference. When people fall through the cracks, we are there. And in Detroit, hundreds fall through the cracks every day.
While those who grew up in the city usually know the value of faith communities to Detroit, many newcomers near the center-city do not. Of course Christian leadership of the past several generations has done a phenomenal job of alienating, abusing and hurting people, something for a later blog post. Nevertheless, the micro-level work of countless churches has been essential to Detroit. Many neighborhoods would not exist today without them.
As Detroit development becomes more foundation-based and government grant-orientated, smaller organizations, including faith communities, are being left out of the conversation. It is our responsibility as those communities to make sure we are at the tables of influence and cross streets of decision-making. However, without community power-brokers paying attention to the faith-based work going on in their neighborhoods, they will miss a massive resource. Without the street-based voice and experience-soaked souls of the faith community, decision makers and resources holders will fail in understanding significant dynamics of the places they seek to transform. The largely hands-off approach of mega-church non-profit corporations, local foundations and government agencies cannot make up for personal relationships that are the building blocks of our communities. Of course faith communities are not the only places these relationships happen, but they are among the oldest, most stable and most reliable.
Still, many are hesitant to work with us. Yes, we will challenge. We will bring up issues of class and race, and the more progressive of us will also name gender and sexual orientation as places of justice that must be planned for in development projects. (I remember some years ago, as I began to speak at a development corporation meeting, a member cursed me out under his breath out for bringing up the issue of racial injustice, again.) However, it is better for difficult and life-changing conversations to happen at the beginning of a project than the end, when opportunities for buy-in and local support are long gone.
Lutherans, Episcopalians, Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, members of the UCC, and hundreds, even thousands of others are here sweating and loving this city. We ignore them at our own peril.
On the East Side, The Ecumenical Catholic Church of Christ (a worldwide Church Communion that seeks Unity among the Churches), has reopened historic St. Anthony Church Christmas 2010 on 5247 Sheridan Street, Detroit, MI 48213 right off Gratiot and south of I-94.
Their website: www.cathedralofstanthonydetroit.org
They have worked very hard with volunteers to bring the church back. They have started a food and cloth pantry for the neighborhood, a community garden, and the neighbors love the presence of this Church as they feel not left alone and abandoned. A church can make a difference. People come to church as far as Washington Township.
Come and see this new church community and join their Sunday Mass at 11:00 AM where people find acceptance and new spiritual home.
I would've known that they were relatively new at hands-on charitable work if you hadn't said so. Anybody who's been at it for a while knows that you don't let differences about religion get in the way when you're there to see what you can do to make sure that a certain shelter stays opens, or to get food for a food bank whose supply is falling while demand rises, or discussing where to look for badly-needed doctors and nurses for a free clinic, things like that. You put the arguments aside and you get down to work.
Religious groups do a tremendous amount of good, relieving state budgets a bit from the welfare demands of the day. We're willing to serve on committees and get out and slog in the streets. We're sometimes good at organizing.
You may not have any use for our faith-base, but don't hesitate to use us in the community. I am now a member of a more easy-going faith that tends to believe in worshiping God alone, doesn't proselytize, judge or dictate. Much of what they do is invaluable service but without the strings of a strict membership.
My favorite part was walking into the lobby that first Sunday and finding a full-fledged coffee/latte bar! My morning coffee with a dose of quiet reflection, doesn't get better than that.
Some of the largest churches own acres upon acres of land and surround themselves with iron fences and round the clock security....
What I've often asked churches which occupy close proximity: "Why don't you join together to address neighborhood concerns?" They looked at me like I was from another country.
I applaud this church's efforts, but if he is only serving 30 families then perhaps they should hook up with some of the mega churches in the area, starting with the Archdiocese and Hartford Memorial Baptist Church, Second Ebenezer, Straight Gate and Greater Grace Temple.
Absolute and complete right of individual choice is what I believe, and the only way to legislate that in government is to make opportunities available that uphold each person's right to have the deciding of and consequences for their actions. Of course sense has to be a part of that, but too often common (or as I like to think of it, uncommon) sense is completely lacking in both religion and government. Morality is about man's treatment of others - not sex.
It would seem to me that learning early to make your own choices and living with them is invaluable to a balanced, happy life. It's your own responsibility and should be on your own head if your decision is a disaster. It's called learning from experience, I believe.