wfn.org | Conference Heralds Urban Renewal

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

10-November-1999 
99380 
 
    Conference Heralds Urban Renewal 
 
    Participants urged to come back to cities, help cities come back 
 
    by Evan Silverstein 
 
SAN FRANCISCO - Just outside Old First Presbyterian Church, a passer-by 
plops two $1 bills into a woven basket in the hands of a homeless man. 
 
    A cardboard sign expresses his plight to those who saunter by on a city 
sidewalk that serves as a makeshift dormitory for him and his homeless, 
inner-city companions. "So poor I can't pay attention," it reads. "Spare 
food or change." 
 
    The disheartening message is the same for the other men and women who 
camp out at Old First Presbyterian and participate in its outreach 
programs. 
 
    "There's my morning coffee," the man with the basket exulted as the 
contribution landed softly in his makeshift coffer. 
 
    By helping itinerants to sobriety and a square meal, Old First church 
exemplifies how Presbyterian congregations are ministering to urban 
populations in the name of Jesus Christ. Those ministries were the focus of 
the National Presbyterian Urban Ministry Conference held here Oct. 27-30. 
 
    About 300 Presbyterians from across the nation, including clergy and 
presbytery staff, gathered at Old First Presbyterian, the host church, 
before fanning across the Bay Area to 17 other congregations as part of the 
conference, whose theme was "An Urban Emmaus Journey: Tomorrow's Church in 
Today's City." 
 
    The Bay Area churches treated the conferees to walking tours of 
surrounding neighborhoods, briefed them on their urban-ministry programs 
and arranged discussions with local leaders and pastors. Not all 
participants were from struggling inner-city congregations, but all who 
attended hoped to return home with new methodologies and programs to help 
their congregations thrive in the cross-cultural complexity of the modern 
city landscape. 
 
    Some were from churches with successful programs in place; they were 
eager to share success stories and trade innovative ideas in urban 
ministry, a work-in-progress that takes on various forms in Presbyterian 
Church (U.S.A.) congregations. 
 
    The Rev. Jose Luis Torres, a pastor from Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, drew a 
parallel between urban ministry and the Emmaus story: Two disciples leave 
Jerusalem because they think Christ's cause is lost, but joyfully return to 
the city after Jesus appears to them. Torres said the two "moved from death 
to life. And so must we move our ministry in the city." 
 
    The bilingual congregation of Iglesia Presbiteriana de la MisiĒn, or 
Mission Presbyterian Church, has been busy putting the word "mission" in 
San Francisco's Mission District by turning its gymnasium into a busy 
marketplace every Friday. Beans, rice, tortillas, fruits, vegetables and 
other foods are given free of charge to about 400 people each week in the 
predominantly Hispanic community. In addition, the congregation's deacons 
sponsor a food pantry that provides groceries to 50 families after Sunday 
worship or through emergency requests. 
 
    "Everybody's got to survive, everybody's got to eat. We all get 
hungry," said Beth Abrams, whose non-profit Beth Abrams Center for Peace, 
Art, Justice and the Environment  stocks the market with goods donated or 
purchased with grant money. 
 
    Good urban ministry crosses denominational lines. Abram's volunteer 
group, which focuses on feeding immigrant refugees, receives backing from 
the city's Catholic, Jewish and Lutheran communities, while Iglesia's 
120-member congregation provides the space. 
 
    "They make the church available and we provide the food, so it's a 
marriage," Abrams said as she left the church with a few loaves of bread to 
help feed three people on her block. 
 
    The church, most of whose members are from Mexico, Central America and 
Puerto Rico, formed a non-profit organization, Manos Unidas, that 
coordinates fund-raising to support existing outreach programs and any new 
ones the church may create. The importance of such campaigns cannot be 
overstated in such an economically deprived area, said the Rev. Mauricio 
ChacĒn, an El Salvador native who has been the pastor for six years. 
 
    "Housing in San Francisco is so expensive," he said. "These programs 
save people precious money they need to help pay the rent." 
 
    The congregation also serves its neighborhood through English classes, 
Bible studies and after-school programs and tutoring sessions. The idea is 
to give young people a safe place to gather and a chance to do well in 
school. 
 
    "Especially it is good because we help them (the children) stay away 
from the streets," ChacĒn said. "Otherwise, these children have no other 
place to go. So if we close the door to this program they probably are 
going to be wondering the streets and joining gangs." 
 
    Partly because of crime and fear of crime, many urban congregations are 
seeing declines in membership, as worshipers flee to the suburbs. That's 
the story of Covenant Presbyterian Church of New Orleans, La., an 
inner-city church that one decade ago drew as many as 600 worshipers every 
Sunday; now its membership has dwindled to about 40 members and 20 Sunday 
worshipers. 
 
    The church, barely able to pay its utility bills, sold its building, 
tried unsuccessfully three times to merge with other congregations, and 
moved into smaller quarters. Now it is stable, albeit small, and is 
reaching out to other struggling inner-city congregations with its newly 
formed urban ministry institute. The fledgling corporation helps other 
Protestant congregations survive hard times. 
 
    "They are doing the Lord's work in the city," said Jack Boudreaux, vice 
president of the Covenant Presbyterian Urban Ministry Institute. "We are 
new and still determining what our exact mission will be, but right now 
we're helping other congregations figure out what their best course is 
during times of trouble." 
 
    At Downtown Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tenn., life imitates art. 
Church officials lure artists and musicians from the surrounding 
neighborhood into its sanctuary by offering free studio work space and 
holding art shows. 
 
    This "unconventional" example of urban ministry, as Downtown pastor 
John Hilley put it, brings outsiders into the church, people who otherwise 
would stay away. 
 
    "They have been able to cast the nets even wider, by bringing people in 
who have no affiliation with the church," Hilley said. "They see the art 
that's in the Fellowship Hall and then enter into our worship space." 
 
    Downtown Presbyterian also sponsors programs for the homeless. Hilley 
was hoping to hear some new ideas about that ministry. 
 
    "I'm here to get rejuvenated by people who are in a similar context as 
my own," he said. "Then to go back into my context, and say, `OK folks, how 
do we journey together?'" 
 
    At New Liberation Presbyterian Church in San Francisco, a predominately 
African-American congregation reaches out to its community and bolsters 
membership with hymn-singing by a youth choir and a monthly Family Fun 
Night, with raffles, potluck dinners and games. 
 
    "We just come together, we play games, we do a bunch of potluck eating 
and just really have a good time," said Wanda Shannon, redevelopment intern 
at the church and part-time resource center coordinator at the Presbytery 
of San Francisco. 
 
    To help New Liberation officials plan the church of tomorrow, the 
congregation devised questionnaires to find out what members viewed as the 
"ideal" church. 
 
    "We're working on the premise that before you can reach out, you have 
to define who you are from within," Shannon said while conference 
participants toured the church's Fillmore neighborhood. "You have to have 
the congregation know who they are. Once you do that, then it's easier to 
reach out." 
 
    Theology students are getting a closer look at urban ministry at 
Presbyterian-related institutions such as McCormick Theological Seminary in 
Chicago, one of three seminaries among the institutional, presbytery, and 
congregational bodies that sponsored the conference. 
 
    Every academic quarter, McCormick's faculty offers at least one course 
directly related to urban ministry. In addition, through the Association of 
Chicago Theological Schools (ACTS) and other related organizations, 
McCormick students also may enroll in more than 30 other urban-ministry 
courses, according to Mark W. Wendorf, an assistant professor of urban 
ministry. 
 
    In May 1998, McCormick began offering a Doctor of Ministry degree with 
a focus on urban ministry. The school also sponsors urban ministry symposia 
and an online urban-ministry journal. 
 
    "We're doing lots of things," Wendorf said. "There is much taking 
place." 
 
    The conference, the first national gathering of urban-ministry 
practitioners in five years, was an outgrowth of the celebration this year 
of Old First Presbyterian's 150th anniversary. No other church in San 
Francisco has been in continuous operation that long. 
 
    Organizing the conference took more than 18 months; more than 120 
people participated in the planning. The event was consistent with the 
PC(USA) strategy for urban ministry adopted by the General Assembly in 
1995, which calls for congregation-based ministry, collaboration with other 
institutions in the community and strong support from seminaries and 
governing bodies. 
 
    The conference sponsors included the Urban Ministry Office of the 
PC(USA), the Urban Presbyterian Pastors Association, Presbyterian Disaster 
Assistance, the Presbyterian Hunger Program, the Urban Network on 
Congregational Leadership, the Urban Presbytery Network and the San 
Francisco Presbytery. 

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