In fifty years of ministry, I’ve never seen a time with more opportunities for congregations to make a difference through nonpartisan, high-impact mission efforts. As the US government downsizes, new opportunities will arise for ministry in healthcare, veteran care, environment-sustaining and protection work, support for the poor, and so much more.
Some will say we are simply bailing out a government that should do these kinds of things and should focus instead on taking partisan positions and lobbying the government on social and economic issues. But by doing so, we are creating a world in which congregations increasingly mirror the partisan division of the secular world. Rather than transforming the world, we are conforming to the world.
Not being partisan doesn’t mean not taking action. Last year I worked with a United Methodist Conference that was looking seriously at using some of its closed church properties as homes for health clinics in rural areas. There are many areas in the Conference that are currently health care deserts. While these areas can’t support a full-time clinic, they could support a program that moved from one small church property to the next. Instead of itinerant preachers, they would have itinerant health clinics. I love that idea.
Doing the work
While some in congregations spent a lot of time lobbying for low- and moderate-priced housing, Habitat for Humanity has built over 70,000 new homes and rehabbed or repaired another 100,000 homes. This isn’t to say that we shouldn’t lobby for affordable housing. It is to say that we can build and rehab housing during a period when the government isn’t showing signs of doing it.
Back in the mid-1980s, during the Reagan years, friends on the left criticized my congregation for starting a large feeding program for the homeless in Washington, DC. “You’re just making it possible for the government not to do this.” Nonsense. Should we let the hungry starve?
In fact, the program not only fed people, but over the decades developed social service and housing programs that helped many homeless people get housing, receive disability and veteran benefits, etc. Could the government have done that work? Should the government have done that work? While others debated those questions, the staff and volunteers at Miriam’s Kitchen for the Homeless did the work—and continues to do so.
Starting a health clinic or providing a low/no rent location in a congregation’s facilities for a group doing God’s work serving the poor or otherwise marginalized is not a partisan act. The church has been doing in healing work for most of its two-thousand-year history. Giving support to poor and disabled people is a biblical (not political) mandate.
How to Get Started
The thought of doing high-impact projects can be daunting for congregations. They think, “We don’t have the money,” “We don’t have the volunteers,” “We would have to make space for this program in our church.” To seize today’s mission opportunities, we need to stop looking inward to catalogue reasons why we can’t do something and begin to think what resources we would need and where we might find those resources to do something special.
When we started our congregation’s feeding program, I was scared about the ongoing funding issue. We had 70 members and a budget of $100,000. How would we run a feeding program for 300 people? I called Father John Adams, who started and led SOME (So Others Might Eat) the largest church feeding program in DC. His response to my concerns? “John, start the program. The money will come. It always does. People want to support this kind of ministry.” He was correct.
But what about volunteers? How could 70 members, mostly over the age of 70, run a feeding program? What about the students at George Washington University nearby or workers in surrounding office buildings? How about the people in the neighborhood? As with money, volunteers never turned out to be a problem. People wanted to help the homeless. Our program gave them a place to help.
We need to stop thinking of our resources solely in terms of our members and congregational budget. When we look outward to our communities, we can be brokers of goodwill. We can connect people who want to help with people who need help. And many congregations have a rare asset, especially in urban areas: a facility where God’s work can be done.
If congregations don’t respond to the pressing needs in our communities, we will confirm the suspicions of younger generations, who suspect that congregations are completely inward-focused. If we mobilize our communities to respond, we can show the world—and young people in particular—that we still can multiply loaves of bread and fish!
John Wimberly is an experienced pastor and consultant. As a consultant, he has worked with congregations and judicatories on strategic planning, staff designs for the 21st century, and congregational growth as well as financial and administrative management. He has MBA, MDiv, and PhD (theology) degrees. His books focus on effective management and leadership. John believes congregations can have a bright future!
Books by John Wimberly
