Warming up to South Bend

I knew it wouldn't be too long until something like this happened.  Fortunately, I didn't get banged up too badly, just some scrapes.  You see, I've been biking around the Far Northwest area of South Bend doing community ministry for the last three weeks. I hope this chronicle will provide people with a better understanding of community ministry, the growth it brings to the churches involved and a glimpse into the world of ministry.

I began this ministry three weeks ago with the mandate to go and do ministry.  Two Presbyterian churches, Memorial and Westminster, put their money together and got a little bit more from the Presbytery of Wabash Valley to finance this ministry.  I am amazed that two churches could agree and work together like this.  In my years of ministry I have never experienced two churches working together like this without animosity-props to Rev. Ted Lester who laid the groundwork.  For such a partnership to exist it must be of God!  I have said and written for years that the church must change how it interacts with the world and this initiative is proof that others have the same perspective.  This awesome opportunity to do church differently became mine August 1, 2011.

No limits, no guidance, just go and do.  It is often said be careful what you pray for and so it goes.  As my wife reminds me, this is something that I have asked for since I became a minister some 10 years ago, but this is just huge. Imagine-I was sent out into South Bend, Indiana, a city I didn't know all that well, and told to do ministry.  Scary, exciting, challenging...I think I have an idea how those first disciples felt when they started the first churches.

The most overwhelming part of the ministry was all that needed to be done.  There was no boundary regarding the area I was expected to serve, but I reckoned that I should look at areas around the two churches that were funding the ministry.  I also knew that a resource was the church building.  Even with that in mind, it was a challenge to define the area of ministry.  Stakeholders, providers, possible partners and the very people being served had to be identified.  A lot to be done!