pat loughery

One of the foundational beliefs for Ray Bakke and for Bakke Graduate University is that location, place, physical context, city, georgraphy – space is important. Ray writes in “Street Signs: A New Direction in Urban Ministry” (Ray Bakke, Jon Sharpe) about the process of doing this work. Here is a handout from my Overture I class on the topic of exegeting communities. If you’re not familiar with the term ‘exegesis’, you may think of it as a critical analysis of a text, specifically within its context. Or just read the wikipedia entry. Usually we speak of exegeting sacred texts like the Bible, so the idea of exegeting not a text but a city is unique.

I’m revisiting this topic in order to make sure I understand it well. Here’s a link to the journal entry for the day in class that we learned this subject.

I’m going to draw directly from a handout from Ray Bakke titled “Exegeting Communities – an Overview”. This entry will be nearly a direct quote of the entire handout. I’ll add my comments in italics between square brackets [like this].

Some Primary Assumptions

1. The idea assumes a fallen humanity and a sinful word, but we also assume that the Trinitarian God revealed in all Scripture is committed both to the spiritual transformation of persons and to the social transformation of places.
2. This idea assumes an ecological view that spiritually healthy person s and families benefit from what reformers like Luther and Calvin called “common grace institutions,” i.e. good schools, health systems, economies and employment, freedoms and security.
3. In America at least, this concept assumes the idea that pastors are stewards of churches which receive local property tax exemptions and national income tax deductions, which were placed into the Constitution by national founders who understood the social benefits of churches.
4. This idea assumes that Church and mission persons are leaders of institutions of and for their communities, and not merely in them, which is the “club house” model of church or agency.

Some Primary Steps

1. Visit every member of your congregation where they work and affirm their calling in that work place as their primary mission field. Equip and empower their ministries in the marketplace with all the issues, challenges and agendas, as well as the ethical and moral challenges. [Here, Ray’s perspective is that of a full-time paid pastor in an existing church.]
2. Map the assets of your community (a la “Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community’s Assets” (John P. Kretzmann, John L. McKnight), seek to affirm the signs of hope that exist, and increase the capacities of those things you discover truly are God’s gifts to building a healthy community.
   [Instead of looking at a community to find its problems, you instead look at a community to find its strengths and the places that God is at work. This perspective – looking for the good instead of the bad – reminds me of the Celtic perspective on humanity as carrying the image of God even in infancy]
3. Visit every church in the community, first to learn of their histories, calling and ministry, but also to thank them for serving in the community and helping people you will never reach. Ask the priests or pastors, “What is the most important lesson you have learned in serving your community?” You will be amazed at what you did not know and what you will learn.
4. Then, visit every other social organization in the community, such as schools, police, hospitals, fire departments and businesses, such as realtors and others who have community data and up-to-date information. Even pubs can teach you a lot. Feel free to apologize for not coming to see them sooner. Invite them to your church, along with the pastors you meet, to introduce, to interview, and to see what they can teach you.
   [You may be able to tell that Ray’s background is Baptist :-), but the basic idea is this – meet the community leaders and get to know them. Network, and invite them to your church to appreciate them, but NOT to evangelize them in the classic sense. Ask questions and listen well.]

My experience, and that of countless students over four decades, is that if you spend 20% of your pastoral time networking your way into significant relations of church and agency leaders, within a year you will know the community as well as anyone, and they will know you. Given that 90% of urban people especially come to Christ through relationships, and not programs, and evangelism, put simply, is “scratching people where they itch in the name of Jesus”. Your networking time will then pay huge dividends in your ministry.

[During our class time, Ray mentioned that for church planters, he would bump that number from 20% of your time networking to 50% or more of your time.

He strongly suggested riding along with local police to get their sense of what’s happening in your area. For parents, network at kids’ activities. Work from a local coffeeshop instead of your office.

The bottom line is this: Learn to listen to your cultural context, ESPECIALLY if you want to transform the context and not just to draw people out of it to some theoretical safe zone.]

My question for you is this: How have you learned about the area in which you live? Who have you listened to, and what have you heard?