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by Matthew Heyd
For Christians, history’s most dramatic transformation has a single human face: Jesus Christ. Over time theologians came to understand this divine spark — the Incarnation of God — as dwelling not only in Jesus but in all of us. Through this new relationship, Incarnation changes everyone. If God dwells in each person, then everyone is important — the scruffy old man murmuring beside you on the bus and the young mother juggling crying children in the grocery line.
Incarnation not only defines who we are but requires us to act. In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the Great Commandment — proclaimed by Jesus — joins loving God to caring for our neighbors. In Luke, this declaration is followed by the familiar story of the Good Samaritan. Jesus’ clear point: God’s people are those who take action for their neighbors.
And so, for people of faith, social change becomes a Gospel mandate — a mandate we have gladly taken on. A 2001 Hartford Seminary survey found that 96% of Episcopal churches participate in a feeding program at least once a year, offering hospitality through a hot meal or bags of groceries.
Yet, despite our best efforts, devoted volunteers now face longer lines of people requiring assistance. There is more need now than when we began. Can our congregations take on transformational ministry — challenging the underlying problems that bring people to our front doors for food or sanctuary?
It seems like a loaded question. For every parishioner or priest who longs for more activism, there is also a vestry member worried about hearing political speeches from the pulpit or draining budgets and staff time with large social programs.
Despite these real issues, the answer is yes. Every faith community can discern a call to transformational ministry, if they pay attention to their relationships. There are tiny congregations that Google Maps can’t find, and parishes on the social and economic margins of cities with part-time clergy and small budgets that have become the center of social action in their communities. Like the Good Samaritan, they have listened to their neighbors and sought change.
Parishes of any size, in any location, can tackle the hard work of nurturing transformational connections to their neighbors because relationships are transformation’s real core. There are few better examples than St. David’s Church in the South Bronx, not far from Yankee Stadium. Where once there were only vacant lots and burned-out apartment blocks, the parish has organized with other congregations to build 2,000 single family homes — most bought by first-time homebuyers. The parish has also helped launch two high-performing high schools and run crack dealers out of doorways a stone's throw from their front steps. Changes are so dramatic that a community organizer friend recently wrote that leaders like St. David’s vicar, the Rev. Bert Bennett, deserve as much credit for turning around New York City as former mayors like Koch and Giuliani. This claim sounds presumptuous until you walk around St. David’s neighborhood.
St. David’s experience dispels conventional wisdom about what resources parishes need to pursue transformational ministry. They have exactly one full-time staff person — Bert — and maintain a modest budget. Though the congregation sponsors youth programs, they have no affiliated outreach center or community development corporation. St. David’s members didn’t begin by signing petitions or firing off bulletpoint press releases outlining their platform. They don’t have a certified social worker on staff.
Instead, they helped found South Bronx Churches, a local affiliate of the national Industrial Areas Foundation organizing group. They spent long days conducting one-on-one meetings with neighborhood residents to identify their most important needs. Then they gathered a coalition powerful enough that City Hall was obliged to listen and respond to their concerns. Big projects grew from quiet, focused conversations.
BEYOND THE SOUP KITCHEN
Wouldn’t “relational” describe soup kitchens as well as it does St. David’s rebuilding efforts? Potentially. The best soup kitchens and shelters welcome those in need as guests and not as clients. The Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan serves lunch to 1,200 people every day and knows nearly all of their names and stories. Holy Apostles guests register to vote, write together (and have published books), and perform therapeutic drumming together. Incarnational mission allows ministries of hospitality to become transformative because “charitable” efforts offer the possibility of moving beyond providing a single bag of groceries or hot meal.
How can soup kitchens and new townhouses both represent transformation? Both seek Christ in the world around them. Holy Apostles and St. David’s are different faith communities that serve very different neighborhoods. The parishes’ diversity represents good news for other congregational outreach committees and vestries — and also a big challenge, because these examples remove every excuse that we can find (no staff, no money, no time) to avoid taking that next step toward transformation.
The truth is, transformation never happens quickly. It requires a commitment to hard, slow work. Think about how much time it takes for your congregation to accept risk or to trust those who believe differently or come from diverse backgrounds. The measurement is usually in years, and not months or days.
With change, conflict becomes inevitable. We are misled by evening news bulletins that suggest clashes over social transformation equal marches, placards, and political slogans. The most uncomfortable conversations occur in vestry rooms and parish halls where we discuss with our friends and fellow parishioners what it means to find Christ in the world around us, and incorporate that understanding into our activities and ministry budgets.
There is no finish line. Incarnational mission means continual rediscovery of those around us, one step at a time. The difference between accepting lengthening food-pantry lines and an incarnational, transformational mission is that, by sorting out root causes, we understand that the needs and possibilities of those who knock on our front doors will continue to change. St. David’s is planning for four new schools in its neighborhood…and who knows what’s next? The first step to changing your neighborhood or mine is to ask repeatedly the same question the young man asks Jesus: Who is my neighbor? — and to help our communities to listen with patience to the answer.
Matthew Heyd is associate director of the Trinity Grants Program and chair of the Social Concerns Commission for the Episcopal Diocese of New York.
Learn more about Susan Tilt's painting Transfiguration: Dwellings . Tilt is a member of Episcopal Church & Visual Arts.
This article appears in the Transformation issue of Trinity News.
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