Life in the Diaspora

“So Joseph got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt.” Matthew 2:14

When we think of Christmas, one of the first images that comes to mind is the baby Jesus lying in a manger, sleeping peacefully under the watchful eyes of his parents while angels, shepherds, Magi, and even barnyard animals gather around to worship him. Such tranquil images often cause us to overlook the fact that this momentous event—the birth of our Lord—took place amidst great political, social, and economic turmoil.

We forget that the baby Jesus was born into a backwater province of the Roman Empire where strong anti-Roman sentiment characterized the feelings of Jewish peasants who were barely able to eek out a living after paying their share of taxes to Rome. Likewise, we overlook the brutal tactics employed by Roman rulers in order to insure that nobody—not even an innocent baby boy rumored to be a king—would challenge their hold on power. Thus, Joseph and Mary soon found themselves fleeing with their newborn to escape the politically-motivated slaughter of baby Jewish boys in Bethlehem.

While Matthew briefly records Joseph and Mary’s flight to Egypt and notes that, following the death of King Herod, they were able to return home to Palestine, he mentions nothing about their actual sojourn in Egypt itself. While we can’t be certain, it is not unrealistic to assume that Joseph and Mary might have taken refuge in the large Jewish expatriate community in Alexandria and, as was the case with Jewish migrant communities elsewhere throughout the empire, they undoubtedly faced the stigma of being foreigners in a Gentile world.

Twenty centuries later, Matthew’s account of the flight to Egypt continues to resonate with migrants around the world who have had to flee their homes due to political, social, and economic turmoil. And like the expatriate Jewish communities scattered throughout the Roman Empire (and beyond) during Jesus’ day, today’s migrant communities must also confront the stigma and discrimination so often inflicted upon them by the majority culture.

We first met Kevin two summers ago when a Haitian lady who lives across the street from our church came to register him, along with her own small children and grandchildren, for vacation Bible school. Later we learned that when he was just two years-old, Kevin’s pregnant mother was arrested by Bahamian immigration and, lacking proper documents, deported to Haiti. Since Kevin’s father, who had never married his mother, works on one of the Family Islands and only comes to Nassau once per year, this lady offered to take Kevin in to her already overcrowded home. While accepted into her home, Kevin has never really become a part of the family and, frequently, is blamed and severely beaten for the misdeeds of the other children.

Now six-years old, Kevin has been a regular participant in our weekly after-school homework program for the past two-years. Even though he is in the second-grade, Kevin—like many other public school children his age—is still unable to read. Despite his turbulent home life and poor academic performance, Kevin is surprisingly very pleasant and helpful. He is often the first child to arrive at the church and the last to leave, insisting on helping us to load and unload supplies from our car. And one night last summer when Estela stopped by the church to take care of some things for the next morning’s vacation Bible school, Kevin appeared out of nowhere and followed Estela around as if he were her bodyguard, refusing to leave her side until he saw that she had safely gotten in the car to drive away.

What does the future hold for Kevin? Will he learn to read? Will he someday be reunited with his mother and siblings in Haiti? Will he graduate from high school? Will he regularize his immigration status and find a job? As this year’s Christmas season comes to a close, let us not forget the many Haitian children just like Kevin who—like the Jewish migrants of Jesus’ day—routinely face hardships and discrimination because they are foreigners in a strange land.

This article originally appeared in News from Daniel and Estela Schweissing on 2 January 2009. The painting, titled "The Flight into Egypt," was done by Vittore Carpaccio in A.D. 1500.

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Exegeting the Word and the World

Pat Loughery over at In the Coracle has written a helpful post on exegeting communities. Normally, those of us in ministry think of exegesis in regards to analysis and interpretation of biblical texts. But a growing number of urban ministers are finding that to do effective ministry, it is just as important to engage in careful analysis and interpretation of the community one serves. Pat's post, which is based on material he is studying at Bakke Graduate University, offers some helpful tips for getting started with this type of exegesis. For a more thorough look at this subject, I would recommend Ray Bakke's book The Urban Christian.

Getting Acquainted with The Hub

Through my involvement in the Bahamas Human Rights Network (BHRN), I've recently become acquainted with The Hub, which has graciously allowed us to hold our meetings in their facilities. Basically, The Hub is a gathering place for artists, writers, activists, and others who are interested in exchanging ideas and collaborating together on common projects.

Even though Nassau is fairly small as far as cities go (with a population of approximately 211,000), there is quite a diversity of groups that have formed around common intellectual interests or social causes, with many of them often operating in isolation from one another. While that may well continue be the case in the future, I think The Hub's central-location and its commitment to bringing folks from various groups together will ultimately enrich the artistic, intellectual, and activist endeavors of all involved. BHRN's past few meetings, for example, have seen a number of new folks show up to see what we're doing. And the Bahamas Historical Society, another group with which I am involved, has been discussing ways which we might also collaborate with The Hub. Indeed, I am looking forward to seeing how these possibilities develop.

The Hub describes its mission as follows:

"Thirty spokes share one hub." - Chinese Proverb

Located in Nassau's urban heart, The Hub is a versatile, collaborative space that facilitates the sharing of ideas and resources across disciplines, particularly in the arts, but not exclusive to the arts.

The Hub sees collaborations between artists and non-artists (for example, environmental groups) as integral to its mission. The Hub could be described as the central location where all the various "spokes" meet and share. As such, it will enable individuals as well as organizations to form alliances, which serve to strengthen and support a sense of community within the larger cultural context of Nassau.

The Hub's program focus is to encourage more unconventional, progressive ways of thinking within and between various artistic disciplines. A range of activities occurs at The Hub, including a film series/club, lectures and demonstrations, workshops, exhibitions, installations, performances, live music, theatre, poetry readings, discussions, gatherings, Junkanoo shack, and other activities as artists propose them.

Founded by Margot Bethel and Jonathan Murray with the support of many other artists, The Hub is of, and for, the artist community of Nassau. Artists and allied community members are encouraged to approach The Hub with ideas for shows and events, or to help out with building The Hub into a diverse and multi-disciplinary arts and social justice organization. All are welcome.

Click here to learn more about the various activities taking place at The Hub. You won't regret getting more involved.

Jou Drapo Ayisyen (A Photo Essay)

Jodiya se jou drapo ayisyen. Or, for those of us in the English-speaking world, today is Haitian Flag Day.

Here in Nassau, Haitian Flag Day celebrations were observed throughout the weekend, the biggest event being yesterday's parade and cultural festival sponsored by the United Haitian Association in the Bahamas (UHAB) as part of their ongoing collaboration with the International Languages and Cultures Institute (ILCI) at the College of the Bahamas.

Both Estela and I attended this event as members of the Bahamas Human Rights Network (BHRN) where we, along with several of our colleagues, helped to staff an information table promoting BHRN's work in the Haitian community. While a number of people did stop by our table and we did collect contact information from several dozen people interested in joining our mailing list (and, hopefully, attending our meetings), I found the day to be productive for other reasons as well.

First, it was a great opportunity to get better acquainted with a number of our colleagues from BHRN in an informal, casual setting. Many of our colleagues bring years of activist experience to BHRN from other human rights organizations--both local and regional--and it was great to hear their stories and learn more about their work, something we don't normally get to do at our regular meetings.

In addition to getting better acquainted with our colleagues from BHRN, we also bumped into numerous friends and acquaintances from throughout the Haitian community and, likewise, met a lot of new and interesting people for the first time, thus developing a greater appreciation for those who are working on behalf of and in collaboration with the Haitian community.

As with last year's Flag Day events, this year also proved to be an important--albeit painful--reminder that the Haitian churches, while often doing good work amongst immigrants from Haiti, have not yet figured out how to minister effectively to the Bahamian-born children of their members. Consequently, at Haitian Flag Day once sees hundreds of Haitian-Bahamian young people who have drifted away from churches that have failed to effectively reach their generation. Many of the Haitian churches, of course, do have sizeable youth groups, many of whom participated in providing entertainment for the day's festivities. But based on the general trajectory we've observed over the past eight years of ministry with local Haitian churches, it is likely that many of these young people will no longer be active in the church five to ten years from now. (This, of course, is a complex issue that is beyond the scope of this particular post. For those who are interested, Manuel Ortiz offers a helpful analysis of ministry issues ethnic churches face in reaching second-generation immigrants here.)

Last but not least, this was a wonderful celebration of Haitian culture and history. In spite of Haiti's political instability and status as one of the poorest countries in the world, the reality is that Haitians have developed a rich and beautiful culture that has made significant contributions to the regional history and culture of the Caribbean and, indeed, the African-Diaspora throughout the Americas. In that regard, this weekend's Flag Day celebrations properly emphasized the positive aspects of Haiti rather than dwelling upon the negative. Yes, things are tough in Haiti but Haiti and the Haitian people also have much to celebrate and to share with the broader international community. Hopefully, that is the message that was communicated through this year's celebrations.

Remembering the Plight of Haitian Women

Today, in honor of International Women's Day, let us remember the plight of Haitian women in the Bahamas. Below, I have posted a story my wife wrote for our newsletter nearly two months ago.

During our first week back from Christmas break, the ladies from the morning women’s group and I decided to do some visitation in the McCollough Corner neighborhood where our church is located. In total, we were able to visit the homes of six different women, pray for them, and share the Good News of salvation with those who are not yet believers.

At the first home, we met Francine, a Haitian woman who came to Nassau just ten months ago. Shortly after she arrived, her brother found a man for her to live with. Because it is very difficult for Haitian women to find jobs to support themselves, it is not uncommon for many to end up in arrangements like this where they cook, clean, and provide sexual favors for a Haitian man—often a married man whose wife and children are still in Haiti—in exchange for room and board. Unfortunately for Francine, her situation—sad as it was—turned out worse than most. The man she was living with beat her almost every day until he finally abandoned her, leaving her alone in a one room shack, five months pregnant, and with no means of supporting herself. Francine told us that she asked her mother to send for her so she could go back home to Haiti. But her mother was unsympathetic, reminding her that if she comes home she will not be able to send money to support the family back in Haiti. You see, the economic situation is so desperate in Haiti that even though Nikelia has not been able to send home a single penny since arriving in Nassau, her family is still staking their hopes on the fact that she will eventually be able to do so. Like so many Haitian women in Nassau, Francine is trapped between the prospects of a future of dependency on men or the possibility of dashing the hopes of her family by returning home empty handed. What could we possibly do for Francine or the many other women in our neighborhood just like her? We did the only thing we knew how to do in that moment. We prayed for Francine, shared the gospel with her, and promised to visit her again.

Later that afternoon, we met another lady by the name of Anna. She is from Haiti but is married to a Haitian man who was born and raised in the Bahamas. They have three children, two in Haiti and one here in Nassau. Because her husband is a drug addict and rarely gives her money, she relies on prostitution to earn extra spending money and to send something back home to her family in Haiti. Unlike Francine, Anna seemed far from desperate. On the contrary, had we not known her occupation we would have been impressed with her entrepreneurial zeal. But in the absence of better employment opportunities, she—like many other Haitian women—has chosen this lifestyle because it presents the best option to improve her economic situation. While she politely listened to us while we shared the Gospel message, Anna seemed reluctant to commit her life to Jesus, knowing that that to do so would bring an end to her otherwise lucrative “business” activities.

One of the things that we discovered during these visits is how inadequate the Gospel message seems to be in light of the difficult problems faced by the women in our neighborhood. We were not surprised that many of the women we visited refused to embrace the Gospel because they believe that the church does not and cannot meet their needs and, worse yet, the pastors and leaders only want their money. Indeed, we learned that it is very difficult, even hypocritical, to ask women such as these to give up the lifestyle upon which they depend for their very livelihood. Put differently, we learned that it is not enough to simply preach repentance and belief in Jesus Christ. We must also work to provide these women with opportunities to economically support themselves in ways that will allow them to enjoy the dignity befitting those who are created in the image of God.

The week after our visitation, we took a break from our normal activities and spent a day in prayer and fasting, inviting other members of the church to come and join us. One of the main things that we prayed for was for the salvation of the many Haitian immigrants residing in Nassau and, especially, those living in the vicinity of our own church right here in McCollough Corner. Just as importantly, we prayed that we would be more faithful in living out the Gospel message, that we would do more than just preach the right words, and that we would be able to minister effectively to both the economic and spiritual needs of our neighbors.

Beyond Business as Usual in the Church

My last couple of posts have offered critiques of prosperity theology. But as the Christian activist Jim Wallis often says, "Protest is good, but alternatives are better." While I have previously offered some of my own thoughts regarding alternatives to prosperity theology, I thought it would be helpful to share a concrete example of a local Bahamian church that that has developed its own distinctive alternative.

The following article highlights the ministry of Pastor Clint Kemp, the former pastor of New Providence Community Church (Clint just resigned from that position about a year ago to move on to other things, so the church is currently in transition to new leadership), who has been on the cutting edge of racial reconciliation, environmental justice and, most recently, Haitian rights. Indeed, Pastor Clint's fifteen-odd years of ministry can hardly be characterized by anything along the lines of "business as usual."

Clint Kemp is his name. He's an entrepreneur, little known pastor and thirteenth generation native of the Bahamas. Maybe you haven't heard of him yet, but he is changing the face of Christianity in the Bahamian culture. His story sheds new light on how the church can once again regain influence in culture. The story of this community being the church provides an entirely new paradigm to consider for those experimenting with pressing the Gospel forward in the context of American culture.

New Providence Community Church is shaping the culture of the Bahamas because they have approached their mission with the belief that they are called to be the Gospel in the context of their community. By deciding not to make their church a place for people to come and see, they have pushed their people to go and do. And they clearly illustrate the influence one church can have when it takes this mission seriously.

Click here to read the rest of the article or, better yet, do a Google search to learn more about Pastor Clint's numerous contributions to the Bahamian community.

A graduate of the conservative U.S.-based Moody Bible Institute, Pastor Clint certainly did not begin his ministerial career as a likely agent for social change in the Bahamas. Yet, over the years he has been significantly influenced by a number of socially progressive evangelicals such as the Latin American theologian René Padilla, Shane Claiborne of the Simple Way in Philadelphia, and Robert Guerrero of the Iglesia Comunitaria Cristiana in Santo Domingo. More importantly, he has not blindly and uncritically employed theologies and ministry techniques from abroad to address Bahamian problems. Instead, he has carefully and thoughfully crafted an approach to ministry that takes into account the distinctiveness of the Bahamian context.

That being said, it is important to remember that even within the Bahamas--small as it is--there are numerous subcultures within broader Bahamian society. Thus, while Pastor Clint's approach to ministry has been largely successful in the affluent western district of New Providence, the question must be asked: How well would this approach work for those of us working in a different socioeconomic context like, say, Bain's Town, Grant's Town, or Mason's Addition? My guess is probably not so well. Nevertheless, I think Pastor Clint's pioneering efforts are to be commended and should--at the very least--give those of us in other contexts the courage to be innovative in finding new ways to be faithful to the Gospel message in our respective communities. Likewise, New Providence Community Church remains an outstanding example of how more affluent congregations can effectively develop partnerships with the numerous local ministries such as this one that work directly with those on the margins of Bahamian society.

Holiday Gifts for Teachers

James Lang, a columnist for the Chronicle of Higher Education, makes some practical suggestions for helping out teachers in our cash-strapped public schools.

The fact that most urban schools are underfunded and poorly equipped is no secret:

You may think back fondly on your days as a kindergartner, and remember a wonderland of crayons and markers, coloring pages, paste and scissors, and myriad supplies for arts-and-craft projects. My wife's students will never know such bounty. She was forced to spend most of her supply budget on copy paper--not that she ever gets to copy much on those blank sheets of paper, since the photocopy machines are perpetually breaking down.

While the best solution, suggests Lang, is to address the broader issues of why schools are not being properly funded in the first place, he also shows how we can give school teachers a hand while we fight the long term battles that will ultimately increase funding for public schools.

Last year, as the holiday season approached, a colleague and friend of our family asked my wife what sort of school supplies she needed for her classroom. My wife rattled off a list. Before my colleague left for her holiday break, she and her husband filled up a laundry basket with school supplies and delivered it to my wife just before Christmas. That basket of gifts made a substantial contribution to my wife's students in the weeks and months following the winter break. My colleague didn't spend a fortune. Glue sticks, scissors, crayons and markers, paper, cleaning supplies -- for $20, $30, or $50 you can easily fill up shopping bags with much-needed supplies for struggling schools.

Imagine what a difference we might make if each of our churches were to "adopt" a nearby public school and take the inititiative to help out in this way.

Click here for the rest of the article.

Theological Education in the Bahamas, Part III

This is the third of a five part series that previously appeared in News from Daniel and Estela Schweissing between February and August 2006. A more in-depth theological treatment of this topic can be found in the upcoming edition of the American Baptist Quarterly.

FINDING ALTERNATIVES TO BUSINESS AS USUAL IN THE CHURCH

Most of our students who come to study with us at Atlantic College are tired of business as usual in the church. Or more precisely, they’re tired of the church as business. Saturated by the “name it and claim it” teachings of prosperity theology from the United States, many Bahamian churches have become platforms for self-seeking pastors and church leaders to get rich at the expense of their congregations while ignoring the rampant poverty, social ills, and spiritual decay of the communities they serve. Patrick Johnstone reports in Operation World that “Materialism stimulated by tourism and drug money has deeply affected every level of society. Nearly all Bahamians claim to be Christian, but nominalism is widespread. A 55% illegitimacy rate, widespread drug addiction and family breakdown are symptoms of spiritual need.” To this, we might add that the Bahamas has one of the highest rates of HIV infection in the world. And in spite of significant economic advances during the latter half of the twentieth century, a large underclass of black Bahamians continues to face grinding poverty. At the same time, a seemingly endless flow of Haitian immigrants are joining poor Bahamians in the urban slums as well as constructing shantytowns on the outskirts of major towns and cities.

Even when churches have not succumbed to the teachings of prosperity theology, they are frequently characterized by their indifference to the social and spiritual needs of the communities where they are located. By the time of Bahamian independence from Britain in 1973, the results of economic development from the post-World War II tourist boom coupled with the new opportunities available to black Bahamians in politics, civil service, and commerce resulted in the creation of a sizeable black middle class that lives in relative prosperity compared to its Caribbean neighbors. As middle class families began migrating from Nassau’s ghettos to newly constructed suburban neighborhoods, historic inner-city churches gradually became middle class outposts whose members and pastoral leadership commute from the suburbs several times a week for worship and fellowship. While some churches have developed a handful of ministries to meet the needs of their poverty stricken neighbors, such efforts are often peripheral to the main priority of serving their middle class members. When a heavy emphasis on prosperity theology is added to the equation, it becomes easy to see why so many Bahamians are dissatisfied with business as usual in the church.

While most Bahamians consider themselves to be Christians, an increasingly large number are no longer regular church goers. Many who were once attracted to the church in hopes of bettering their economic situation have given up on God when it became apparent that he was not delivering on the “blessings” that the pastor promised that they would get. Others have become disillusioned by the hypocrisy of pastors and church leaders that seem to be more interested in their own personal economic advancement rather than the spiritual and physical welfare of their congregations. These same frustrations could easily have driven most of our students away from the church as well. Instead, their commitment to serving God has led them to seek answers through theological study at Atlantic College. Even though few of our students are able to articulate the precise nature of the problems in the church when they begin their studies, they intuitively understand that something is wrong with the prevailing model of ministry and their hope is that they will someday be able to provide a different kind of leadership. Put differently, our students are looking for alternatives to business as usual in the church.

One such student is Maria Bowe—now an Atlantic College alumna. Maria was raised in the Roman Catholic Church and received all of her formal education through Catholic schools. As a young adult, her involvement in her church’s soup kitchen ministry led her to discover her vocation for serving the poor. Though energized by her involvement in social outreach, she began to question many of the church doctrines and practices that she had grown up with. As Maria’s doubts about her faith increased, her participation in church activities gradually dwindled until one day—about nine years ago—she walked out of the church during mass and never returned. By this time, Maria was a housewife, the mother of two small children, and a psychology student at St. Benedict’s College in Nassau. Shortly after leaving the Catholic Church, she began attending a Pentecostal/Charismatic congregation and transferred to the theology program at Atlantic College.

Maria’s coursework at Atlantic College reinforced her commitment to serving the poor and also sparked a passion for evangelism, which eventually led her to pursue an internship in evangelism through one of Nassau’s inner-city churches. As one of our brightest students, Maria’s contributions to our classroom discussions of business as usual in the Bahamian church frequently illuminated me as well as her fellow students. This January—just a little over two years after graduating as her class salutatorian—Maria started her own ministry in a storefront on Bernard Road in Nassau, an inner-city neighborhood that has been largely neglected by both the church and social services. Named Zoar—after the village where Lot and his family took refuge when fleeing the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19:23)—this ministry emphasizes evangelism, discipleship, mentoring at-risk youth, and counseling victims of sexual abuse.

In the future, I hope to be more intentional about preparing students like Maria to experiment with new models of ministry. During my first term of service, much of my effort in the classroom was directed at helping students to critique the prevailing prosperity theology model of ministry. While that task was important, it failed to provide my students with alternative approaches to doing ministry. With no alternatives, I found that our critique of prosperity theology was insufficient to prevent students from reverting back to business as usual upon their graduation from our program. But what alternatives were available? Through a process of trial and error, I eventually stumbled across the writings of John Perkins.

Perkins, an African-American with a third-grade education, grew up in a sharecropping family in rural Mississippi during the Jim Crow era. Following the murder of his older brother, he escaped from the South by migrating to California where he married, started a family, and became a successful businessman. He also began searching for spiritual meaning in his life—a journey that eventually led him to Jesus Christ. After several years of active ministry as a lay leader, Perkins sensed God’s calling to pursue a new ministry in his hometown of Mendenhall, Mississippi. So during the turbulent years of the Civil Rights Movement, Perkins relocated his family from the relative safety and economic security of California to the poverty-stricken and racially-charged atmosphere of the rural South. There, he ministered to the spiritual and physical needs of his former friends and neighbors, eventually developing a model for ministry that is now known as Christian community development (CCD). Today, Perkins’ model has been widely replicated in dozens of locations throughout the United States—primarily in impoverished inner-city neighborhoods.

So what is Christian community development? CCD is a holistic approach to ministry—emphasizing both evangelism and social action—that is rooted in the biblical principles of relocation, reconciliation, and redistribution. Because CCD is based on broad theological principles rather than a rigid methodology, it has been successfully replicated in both rural and urban settings as well as in a diversity of racial and ethnic communities.

RELOCATION – Jesus Christ did not commute back and forth from heaven to conduct his ministry here on earth. Rather, he chose to relocate to earth so he could live and minister amongst us for the duration of his ministry (Jn 1:14). Likewise, practitioners of CCD recognize that their ministries are most effective when they choose to reside in the poor communities they hope to reach instead of commuting from the suburbs. It is only by living side-by-side, in solidarity with the poor, that one can truly understand the problems faced by poor communities and, ultimately, the solutions that are needed.

RECONCILIATION – The essence of the gospel is summed up in two commandments: we are to love God and love our neighbor. While a person is reconciled to God through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, scripture teaches that we cannot truly be reconciled to God until we are reconciled to our neighbors (I Jn 4:19-21). Most impoverished communities are fragmented by racial, ethnic, language, and class barriers. Hence, a major focus of CCD is demonstrating the love of Christ in ways that bring about genuine reconciliation between people of diverse backgrounds.

REDISTRIBUTION – Poor communities typically lack things such as economic resources, education, health care, and jobs that are needed to develop a healthy community. CCD seeks to redress these inequities through training of indigenous leadership and economic develop projects (2 Cor 8:13-14). More than just charity, it also attempts to apply biblical principles (e.g., Lev 25) to transform the social and economic structures that keep people impoverished.

During my last semester at Atlantic College, I introduced my students to CCD by requiring them to read Perkins’ autobiography. Not surprisingly, Perkins’ story resonated with the experience of my students and our lively class discussions seemed to suggest that CCD may very well be a viable ministry model for the Bahamian church. That being said, I have not forgotten about the dangers of utilizing imported U.S. ministry models that often prove to be irrelevant to the reality of Bahamian culture. Yet, there are sufficient continuities between the urban experience of African-Americans and black Bahamians to convince me that CCD can be successfully adapted to Nassau’s own unique urban culture. Likewise, CCD already has a proven track record of being replicated in a variety of racial and ethnic contexts. While that doesn’t guarantee that CCD will succeed in the Bahamas, it does provide me with a reasonable basis to begin providing students with more training in the theology and methods of CCD upon our return to Nassau. In a country that holds the dubious distinction of having both the highest per capita of drug addiction and the highest per capita of church buildings in the world, we are hopeful that CCD will provide our students with a practical alternative to business as usual in the church.

COMING NEXT: This newsletter has examined how CCD provides a model for pastoral response to the spiritual and social concerns faced by the residents of Nassau’s inner-city neighborhoods. But more than just a pastoral response is needed. A political response that challenges the social and economic structures that keep Bahamians impoverished is needed as well. Next, Part IV of our series will show how theological education addresses the political question in “Recovering the Tradition of Black Radicalism in Bahamian Religion.”

PREVIOUSLY
Part I: Why is Bahamian theological education important?
Part II: Bahamianization of the Theological Curriculum

Incarnational Ministry, Part III

My Personal Experience with Relocation

About eight or nine years ago—back before I had ever heard of John Perkins, Christian community development, or even the theology of relocation, my wife and I were both working in the inner-city of Denver. Every morning, I would drive her to whichever elementary school she would be substitute teaching at for the day and then I would head over to my own job at Curtis Park Community Center which was located in Five Points--one of Denver's poorest and most dangerous urban neighborhoods.

One of the things that my wife and I quickly realized was that nearly all of the people that we worked with were like us; they lived in comfortable affluent suburban areas and commuted into the city to work with the so-called poor. There was, however, one crucial exception to that rule that challenged me to think about the significance of relocation, even before I knew that others were already promoting that as an effective strategy for urban missions. My boss at Curtis Park Community Center was the only employee—at least the only employee at the administrative level—who actually resided in the community that we were trying to serve.

Without getting into a detailed explanation, let me just say that one of the major thrusts of Curtis Park Community Center was to provide training and support for our clients—primarily single mothers on welfare—that would enable them to get off of welfare and into the workforce. Anyway, one of the things that I eventually realized is that when our clients learned that my boss was also their neighbor, he was able to much more quickly and easily establish a good rapport with them. It’s not that the rest of us weren’t able to establish good working relationships with our clients; it’s just that my boss had significantly greater credibility with them than we did because he lived in their neighborhood and was viewed as a community insider whereas the rest of us were viewed as community outsiders.

Over the past three years, my wife and I have become increasingly convicted about the need to relocate to the Farm Road district of Nassau in order that we might be able to minister more effectively to the city. So when we returned to Nassau last year following our home assignment, we moved into an apartment located right off Collins Avenue. This is approximately a five to ten minute drive away from Emmaus Baptist Church--the Haitian congregation where Estela works--as well as Atlantic College and Theological Seminary, where I currently teach. Lest anybody get the wrong idea, I should point out that I do not consider our current home to be an example of full-relocation but rather a compromise that is best viewed as a semi-relocation. For us to truly relocate—to truly follow the example of Jesus Christ himself—we would really need to live someplace in the midst of Farm Road like Hay Street, Lewis Street, or McCollough Corner where we could fully establish our presence in the Farm Road community itself.

That being said, we have found that living on Collins Avenue—rather than suburban Stapledon Gardens where we used to live—has been an important first step in a journey that is slowly opening the doors for greater ministry involvement here in the city. My wife, for example, is now providing tutoring and informal mentoring to a number of young people from D.W. Davis Junior High School. And just this month, we’ve begun hosting a series of marriage enrichment classes for a number of young couples from Emmaus Baptist Church. Both of these ministries are being conducted from our home. And we’re able to that because we live in a location that is readily accessible to folks who are living here in the city. If we were still living in Stapledon Gardens instead of Collins Avenue, it would not be such a simple matter for inner-city school kids to drop by our house on their way from school or for members of our church to stop by on their way home from work.

Coming Next: Getting Out of the Church and Into the Community


PREVIOUSLY
Part I: Introduction
Part II: The Biblical Basis for Relocation

Incarnational Ministry, Part II

Previously: Introduction

Last week, I briefly examined the life and ministry of John Perkins, showing how his particular understanding of incarnational ministry is expressed in the concept of relocation. By relocation, Perkins simply means that we must live in the same community as those whom we seek to serve. Perkins argues that it is only by living side-by-side, in solidarity with others that one can truly understand their needs and problems and, ultimately, the solutions that are needed.

While most of us might be inclined to offer excuses as to why relocation really isn't necessary, we would do well to remember that it is rooted in our biblical understanding that Jesus lived in solidarity with those whom he hoped to reach. More specifically, John 1:14 teaches us that “The word became flesh and made his dwelling amongst us” and Philippians 2:5-8 teaches us that Jesus “being in very nature God . . . made himself nothing.” In other words, Jesus Christ did not commute back and forth from heaven to conduct his ministry here on earth. Instead, he gave up the glory of heaven and chose to become a human being and live right here on earth amongst us so that we might be saved.

Now if that isn’t an amazing sacrifice in and of itself, what I think is really interesting is that Jesus really, truly “made himself nothing” in every sense of the word. If Jesus was going to relocate, he could have easily chosen to incarnate himself in Jerusalem or even Rome—the religious, political, and economic power centers of his day. But Jesus deliberately chose not to become the son of the Jewish High Priest in Jerusalem, nor even the son of a high-profile rabbi in Rome. Instead, he chose to become a mere carpenter’s son in an obscure peasant village in the backwater of Palestine so that he could live and minister amongst those who needed him the most. Likewise, persons involved in urban ministry recognize that their work is most effective when they choose to reside in the poor communities they hope to reach instead of commuting from more affluent neighborhoods.

While relocation finds its strongest support from scripture in the example of Jesus, there are other significant examples as well. We are familiar, for example, with the story of Moses in the book of Exodus. Moses could have easily spent his life living in the comfort, safety, and social prestige of Pharaoh’s palace. Instead, he chose to give all that up so that he could live amongst Hebrew slaves and work for the freedom of his own people. I’m sure that was not an easy decision to make, and no doubt it was even a harder decision to live out. When the children of Israel were out in the wilderness grumbling about how much better off they would have been had they remained in slavery in Egypt, I’m sure that Moses was thinking how much better off he’d be if he would have never left Pharaoh’s palace. Indeed, if we were in Moses’ position, I wonder how many of us would have made the decision to leave Pharaoh’s palace so that we too might become poor in order that we might minister to slaves.

Another good example of relocation is found in life and ministry of Nehemiah during the post-exilic period of Old Testament history. Before Nehemiah was born, the Kingdom of Judah had been destroyed and the city of Jerusalem was burned to the ground by the Babylonian army and the Jewish people were forcibly deported from their ancestral homeland and scattered throughout much of the ancient Near Eastern world. By the time of Nehemiah, there were a large number of Jews living in Persia and even though they were living as foreigners in exile, many of them had done quite well economically and had risen to positions of political and social prominence. We’re familiar, of course, with the biblical stories of the men and women who became quite successful while living in exile. Daniel, for example, became a high ranking administrative official under Darius. Likewise, Esther—a young Jewish woman—became the Queen of Persia and, ultimately, wielded significant political influence over decisions that affected her people.

Like Daniel and Esther, Nehemiah had also risen to a position of political prominence and economic comfort within the Persian Empire. Specifically, he was the King’s personal cupbearer. This was a good job, providing Nehemiah with a prominent position in society as well as direct access to the King of the largest known empire in the world. In other words, he had made it; he had arrived. But then one day all of that changed. He heard through the grapevine that things back in Jerusalem—the place that his ancestors had been deported from—were not going so well. Apparently, the tiny Jewish remnant that had survived the exile and returned to Jerusalem was struggling for its survival. It was then that God laid it upon Nehemiah’s heart to give up everything he had and relocate to the rubble and ashes of Jerusalem so that God might use him to rebuild the Holy City.

I don’t have time to tell the rest of the story here, but what I find significant about this story is that Nehemiah could have easily spent his life enjoying the economic comfort, security, and social prestige of the King’s palace. But instead, he gave all of that up and chose to live amongst refugees so that he could work for the betterment of his own people. But God blessed the effort and sacrifices made by Nehemiah and used him in a might way to rebuild the walls of the Jerusalem. If we were in Nehemiah’s shoes, I wonder how many of us would be willing to leave Persia so that we too might become poor in order that we might minister refugees.

Observing how the concept of relocation is demonstrated through the lives of Jesus, Moses, Nehemiah, and even modern day disciples like John Perkins gives us new meaning to the words of Jesus when he taught us that, “any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33).

Coming Next: My Personal Experience w/Relocation

Incarnational Ministry, Part I

I’d like to begin by telling a story about a man named John Perkins. Perkins is an African-American with a third-grade education, who grew up during the Jim Crow era in a sharecropping family in rural Mississippi. Following the murder of his older brother by the local sheriff, he escaped from the South by migrating to California where he married, started a family, and became a successful businessman. He also began searching for spiritual meaning in his life—a journey that eventually led him to make a commitment to Jesus Christ.

After several years of active ministry as a Christian businessman, Perkins sensed God’s calling to pursue a new ministry in his hometown back in Mississippi. So during the turbulent years of the Civil Rights Movement, John Perkins and his family left the relative safety and economic security of California to return to the poverty-stricken and racially-charged atmosphere of the rural South. When he got back home, he was received with mixed feelings. It’s not that his friends and family weren’t excited about seeing him again. But they just couldn’t understand why he would leave the good life in California to come back to a godforsaken place like Mendenhall, Mississippi. But what his friends and family didn’t realize is that Perkins had simply given up the good life of economic comfort to pursue that abundant life that Jesus promises in John 10:10.

In spite of the initial skepticism surrounding his return, Perkins was ultimately able to minister to both the spiritual and physical needs of his former friends and neighbors, eventually pioneering a model for ministry--known as Christian community development--which has been widely replicated by hundreds, if not thousands, of Christians seeking to effectively minister in urban settings. Basically, Christian community development is a holistic approach to urban mission that is not just interested in saving souls—important as that task is—but is also concerned about meeting the physical and social needs of others as well. Holistic ministry is rooted, in part, in the tradition of Martin Luther King, Jr. who once said:

Any religion that professes to be concerned about the souls of men, and is not concerned about the slums that cripple the souls, the economic conditions that stagnate the soul and the city governments that may damn the soul is a dry dead do nothing religion in need of new blood.

The linchpin to Perkins’ method is the concept of relocation, which is based on his understanding of incarnational ministry. By incarnational ministry, I simply mean that in order to reach others, we must become like them in the same way that God chose to become human in order to minister to us. So by relocation, Perkins advocates that we must live in the same community as those whom we seek to serve. Increasingly, many Christians have recognized that their ministries are most effective when they choose to reside amongst the people they hope to reach, even if that means leaving the economic comfort and cultural security of their homes and neighborhoods to do so. It is only by living side-by-side, in solidarity with the others that one can truly understand their needs and problems and, ultimately, the solutions that are needed.

Coming Next: The Biblical Basis for Relocation

Upcoming Community Development Conference

The Christian Community Development Association will be holding its 19th Annual Conference this coming October 10-14, 2007 at the Adam's Mark Hotel in St. Louis Missouri.

“Show Me Jesus—Beyond the Walls”, is the challenge we face in a society and world that is more and more divided. As followers of Christ, must show everyone that Jesus is indeed alive and working to heal our world, with the church as His primary agent of hope. And, to be faithful to this mandate we must go beyond the walls of our comfort zones, into places of extreme brokenness and marginalization.

We invite you to join us in St. Louis, where we are working to provide an experience that will encourage you, inspire you, connect you with others, educate you and challenge you to go beyond the walls in your ministry to the least, the last and the lost of our world.

This year we have another great lineup of general session speakers, including: Dr. A.R. Bernard from New York City, Pastor Cheryl Sanders from Washington, DC, Pastor Robert Guerrero from the Dominican Republic, Pastor Phil Jackson from Chicago, and Pastor Efrem Smith from Minneapolis, MN.

Learn more about the conference here; register here or browse the program from last year's conference here.

Celebrating Haitian Heritage

Yesterday, May 18th, Haitian Flag Day was observed as a national holiday in Haiti and was also celebrated throughout much of the Haitian diaspora. In some school districts and municipalities in Southern Florida, the entire month of May has been designated as Haitian Heritage Month.

Here in Nassau, Haitian Flag Day festivities will be held today--May 19th--at Cable Beach. Hopefully, my wife and I will be able to participate in the Haitian Flag Day activities this evening. If so, I will provide an update to this post in the next day or so.

UPDATE (as of 5/25): Estela and I did go to this activity and it turned out to be pretty typical as far as outdoor festivities in the Bahamas go. Haitian Flag Day celebrations were held in the parking lot of Fidelity Bank at Cable Beach and there were several vendors' tables where Haitian food and souvenirs (e.g., Haitian flags and t-shirts) were sold as well as live entertainment provided by local Haitian artists.

What I found to be REALLY interesting about the event, though, was the demographic. There were probably at least three generations of folks present at the event, ranging from very small children to middle-aged adults who were all clearly born in or grew up here in the Bahamas. Most of the Haitians that we encounter through our work in the local churches are immigrants from Haiti. Their children are often born in the Bahamas but it is rare for many of them to stick around in the church after they become teenagers and I could easily count on one hand the number of Bahamian-born Haitians that I know who attend a Haitian church. So this event was a good opportunity to observe a whole segment of the Haitian community that we rarely come into contact with. More importantly, it is a poignant reminder of the challenge the Haitian churches face in finding more effective ways of ministering to their youth and building up a new generation of leaders rather than remaining dependent on the constant flow of immigrants from Haiti to grow their membership.

I was also inspired by the theme for the event, chaj pou youn, se chaj pou tout (or, loosely translated as "the burden for one is the burden for all." In a social context where the black crab complex (as defined by Bahamian author Patricia Glinton-Meicholas) seems to plague Haitians as much as Bahamians, the theme was a welcome reminder of the importance of working together and supporting one another for the good of the Haitian community rather than fostering rivalries and competition. In terms of community development, I would like to find ways to develop this theme by fostering greater collaboration between Haitian immigrants and Bahamians of Haitian descent. Too often, our churches themselves have simply reenforced negative patterns of individual competition and have done little to promote a sense of social responsibility.

Read more about this event here.

Bringing Peace to da Streets

Gang related violence has been an ongoing problem in Nassau's inner-city neighborhoods since at least the 1980s. Carlos Reid, a former gang member and author of Out of the Hood, has been ministering to Nassau's at-risk youth through his organization Youth Against Violence for well over a decade.

Amongst other things, Reid has been successful in training at-risk youth in conflict resolution skills, creating employment opportunities, as well as providing positive alternatives to violence through programs such as the Nelson Cooper "Peace on da Streets" Basketball Classic, which is held every July.

While I have not yet had the privilege of getting acquinted with Carlos, I have read his book and heard many good things about his work from other local pastors. His ministry is a good example of how the church can play a positive role in addressing some of Nassau's chronic social problems.

Click here to read more about Carlos Reid's ministry.

Rebuilding New Orleans

Mike Broadway over at Earth as it is in Heaven has posted a couple of helpful items showing how churches in New Orleans are using the principles of Christian community development to rebuild the communities that were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Mike and some of his students from Shaw University Divinity School were in New Orleans this past week as part of the Churches Supporting Churches project which seeks to assist African American churches located in the areas of the city that were most severely stricken by Hurricane Katrina.

Churches Supporting Churches operates on the belief that "the Katrina catastrophe exposed again the triple evils of poverty, racial injustice and militarism in this region of the US identified by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. nearly four decades ago. This Kingian Legacy is the context we need to address the moral and practical challenges to address these conditions." Consequently, their objective is to go beyond simply providing food, clothing, and shelter to Katrina victims but to actively support churches in the task of rebuilding their communities and, most importantly, preserving the integrity of those communities for the original residents rather than allowing them to be bought up and redeveloped by land speculators.

"The Word made flesh dwelt among us"

Mike Broadway over at Earth as it is in Heaven has just started a series of blogs on the principles of Christian Community development (CCD). I first met Mike, a theology and ethics professor at Shaw University Divinity School, at a conference about three years ago. At that time, Estela and I were struggling to develop a strategy for ministry to the decaying inner-city areas of Nassau. Mike suggested that I read the works of CCD pioneer John Perkins, which I began to do immediately upon my return home from the conference. That turned out to be a major turning point for us and our ministry, a journey that I eventually hope to document on this blog.

The first and foundational principle of Christian community development is relocation, which Mike describes as follows:

As a principle of incarnational ministry, relocation insists that a calling to serve people is a calling to live among them. The Gospel of John says that the Word Made Flesh dwelt ("tabernacled," pitched a tent) among us. I like to say it this way: the Word became flesh and moved in next door. Jesus came to all the world, but he did so in one place, among one people. Lacking his own home, perhaps we should say that the Word became flesh and slept on a pallette in our spare room.

Having defined what relocation means, Mike goes on to explain why it is important:

Why is relocation important? It is not merely an answer to WWJD. It is also built on sociological observation. It has to do with race and class analysis. It has to do with our social psychology. We tend to act on things that directly affect us. If there is a pothole in the street near your driveway, you are the one who is most likely to raise some noise to try to get it fixed. If there are dozens of potholes in another neighborhood where you do not live and where you never drive, it is very unlikely that you will even be aware of them. You are almost guaranteed not to become an activist over those potholes. Our residence affects what problems drive us to act.

I was especially challenged by Mike's description of the implications of relocation for our churches, in general, and pastoral leadership, in particular.

If I am a pastor of a church but I don't live in the neighborhood where the church's building stands and where the church meetings occur, then I am mostly a visitor to the neighborhood. I may spend many hours in the building, working in an office, having meetings with others who drive to the church from across town to attend meetings, and strategizing about the church's work. At key times of the week, I lead and participate in large gatherings for worship, study, and fellowship, and after two or three hours I lock up and go home. If I think about the neighborhood, it may be focused on how the adjoining properties could become part of a larger church plant, or about how the look of the neighborhood buildings and people might make people nervous about attending the church.

Sounds quite a bit like our situation here in Nassau, huh?

If this piece got you thinking, you might want to check the rest of it out here.