It All Starts On The Margins

In our last post, we explored the vitally important difference between poor soil and good soil as revealed in the pages of Scripture. The Word of God is crystal clear as to what people generally constitute poor soil: the moral (Lk 5:31,32), the educated (I Cor. 1:26), and the wealthy (Lk 18:24,25). But if this is true, this has enormous implications for how we should attempt to bring the message of Christ to the world. As Jesus said in the Parable of the Soils, “If you do not understand this parable, how shall you understand all of the parables?” Truly, identifying what is good soil and what is not must be foundational in our efforts to sow the seed of the gospel. Quite simply, our evangelism efforts are generally doomed to failure if we choose the wrong soil with which to work!

But in contrast to the poor soil of the middle class suburbanite that the church normally concentrates on, those who are enslaved to darkness, oppression, and poverty tend to respond enthusiastically to the gospel. Neil Cole reports that of the thousands of church plants his organization has begun, their most successful churches have begun among those fresh out of prison and dealing drugs! In fact, in his advice to church planters, Cole recommends that in an effort to find good soil, they should find the roughest, meanest, and most shady part of town to begin their efforts. If you’re having trouble finding good soil in the suburbs, Cole says, ask a local policeman where the trouble resides. Find out where the roughest bar is, where drugs are sold, or the homes where domestic violence lives. Or find a 12 step group to begin your outreach, not one that meets in a church, but “where the smoke is thick and the darkness thicker.” These people are enslaved to sin, desperate for a cure: these tend to be good soil. Wherever there is drugs, alcohol, or violence, Cole says, this is where the good soil is found.

Yet the idea of beginning a church plant in the soil of the broken flies in the face of traditional church growth theories. The first step in a traditional church plant generally involves rounding up a team of capable, gifted, mature leaders. Next, this team finds a growing locale in the suburbs where young families abound, and pass out flyers to get the word out that a new church has arrived in town, ready to meet their needs. This is a classic example of attempting to begin a missionary movement in the center. To be sure, God can bless efforts such as these, but as a general rule, not nearly as many will come to Christ as if one begins on the margins. The reason is simple: it’s all about the soil. Where the poor, broken, and marginalized live, there the greatest response to the gospel will be seen. For this reason, a truly radical missional movement in our day must begin on the margins, among those in bondage to sin and poverty. These are those society has forgotten and that have been pushed to the margins, yet these are those that represent the good soil that is ripe for harvest.

If we as the church actually realized these truths, we would naturally choose not to settle for occasional, distant acts of charity in our compassion efforts. Rather, we would insist on regular face-to-face opportunities to meet the physical and spiritual longings of those in need. To quote Shane Claiborne once again, “The problem is not that we don’t care about the poor; it’s that we don’t know the poor.” To truly serve the poor, we must build committed, loving relationships with them first and foremost. By building such relationships with the oppressed and marginalized of our society, the gospel’s transforming power is maximized. Further, when all individuals in the church pursue such relationships, it is only then that serving the needy becomes a way of life for all members rather than an isolated, sporadic event for a small minority.

But does not the present paradigm of church as we know it prevent this from becoming a reality? How can the burdensome financial needs of the church institution be met by those who are truly “good soil” with their large hearts but small wallets? What far-reaching financial implications might this have for our churches if we really concentrated on working in the “good soil”? Further, do not the overbooked schedules of the church’s members prevent true every-member, regular interaction with the poor? How can these two barriers be overcome? We will explore these answers in our next post.