Lost Cities

A couple things came to my attention this week regarding the health of churches in our cities. First, on Monday the New York Times published an article on the struggling churches of Harlem. As older residents die or move to Florida in retirement many of the historic black churches in Harlem are struggling to stay open. The newer residents who are moving in are younger and different.The same thing is happening in cities all over the USA and indeed, the world. The dual challenge of globalization and urbanization are two of the great challenges and opportunities the 21st century church faces. The challenge is not just in North America. This leads me to the second thing that brought this challenge to my mind this week. Ed Stetzer a former colleague, sent out a tweet this week stating that only 1% of the population of Paris (France) are evangelicals. It reminded me that people in great urban centers around the world need to know Jesus. The North American Mission Board Strategic Focus Cities is a good start. We must do more to plant and re-plant churches in these great urban areas. We can give. We can go. We must pray. What else can we do to reach these cities? What are your ideas? Let the conversation begin.

RIP: Art Linkletter, CBS radio & TV personality died this week at age 97. I met Mr. Linkletter, 8-9 years ago at a community wide prayer breakfast. He was a complete Christian gentleman and gave a great speech on the power of prayer. I know I'll show my age with this but Mr. Linkletter you were right: Kid's Say the Darndest Things.

What I Learned from the Church Lady

Well, no she wasn’t really the church lady from the ‘80s Saturday Night Live skit but she did remind me of the Dana Carvey character. We recently bought a new home and one morning, while working from home an older lady knocked on our door. When I opened the door, she walked right in, saying, “Hi, I’m ____ and I’ve been visiting new residents for 25 years!” Before I could explain to her that we’d lived here eight years she was into her well-honed and well rehearsed speech. She gave me information about the best doctors and dentist in our area. Before I could get a word in edgewise, I was learning all about our local symphony and museums. She had her speech down and nothing, including me was going to slow her down.

After she was done, the longest fifteen minutes of my life, I finally got her out the door. Later I learned that she worked for a group of doctors, dentists and local businesses to promote them to newcomers. And nothing is wrong with that practice. It’s called direct marketing.

At dinner that night I retold the incident to my wife. We had a good laugh about my encounter with the woman and how she reminded me of the church lady. Funny thing about the church lady is that she was clueless. She had her views. She wouldn’t listen. She had her speech down and nobody was going to stop her.

Reflecting on those lost fifteen minutes I was reminded of how my denomination has done evangelism training. Starting out in ministry in the 1980’s I’ve been through “The Four Spiritual Laws,” Evangelism Explosion and Continuous Witness Training (CWT). Each time I learned a new gospel presentation it was awkward. It felt canned. It felt like a speech. It was not until I had personalized and internalized the material, without compromising it, that I could share my faith naturally. Unfortunately some don’t get it. They continue to peddle their message whether it’s about local doctors or heaven forbid the Gospel. Please don’t misunderstand me, I am thankful for the training in evangelism I have received. But don’t just learn it----internalize and personalize it-----and most important----share it NOW!