I want to affirm our church and our partners in the work we are doing among the poor.
Toronto Alliance Church is a church that is situated where poor people live. Of course this is not all that TAC is, and there are plenty of people who are not poor who live near the church. But a main aspect of our church is that we minister among the poor. This is possibly because we partner with other churches who, for the most part, do not live among the poor, but who heavily invest in our ministries.
We are in the right areas! We are doing the right work! And we are very thankful for those who partner with us in ministry!
And a recent book (2016) affirms us in this....
In their book, Church in Hard Places, Mez McConnell (a Scott) and Mike McKinley (an American) argue that “... Christian churches should invest themselves in establishing churches that will reach the places where poor people live” (34).
What I want to unpack a bit is how McConnell and McKinley build up to this point.
They helpfully and clearly write out three interconnected “pillars” that form the basis for their book:
First, they argue that the Gospel is not to be hidden away. Instead, God intends for the Good News to be spread abroad!
“First, the gospel is a message that must spread. The New Testament shows over and over again that when the gospel message comes into the world, it comes with a powerful centrifugal force” (29).
Next, they make the point that the Gospel is good news for the poor.
“Second, we see in Scripture that while the gospel must go to all nations, we should expect to see it spread particularly among the poor. This is a matter of both historical reality and theological principle” (29-30).
(Of course, the gospel is meant to spread to all people. Period. But we would do well to remember passages like these: Luke 4:18-19; Luke 7:22-23; Acts 2:42-47; 1 Corinthians 1:26-29; James 2:5.)
These two chaps then link back to their first point (i.e., that the Gospel is meant to be spread abroad) but add a third detail: this occurs through the presence of churches.
“The third pillar that undergirds this book is that the spread of local churches is God’s normal means for spreading the gospel. The church is at the heart of God’s saving plan” (31).
This leads them to a fourth point, which I quoted, in part, above:
“If it is God’s will that the poor and marginalized should be the recipients of his love and salvation [#2 above], and if the normal way that poor people will hear of that love and salvation is through the witness of a local church [#3 above], then it seems that Christian churches should invest themselves in establishing churches that will reach the places where poor people live [this is #4 - the new point]” (34; bolding was done by me).
We are just such a church! We are in the right areas! We are doing the right work! And we are very thankful for those who partner with us in ministry!
Since we are in the right place, doing good work, let’s keep plugging away! The thoughtful and diligent effort is worth it!
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9).