This is the next instalment of the serialisation of my book – The Teeth of our Exertions – full details of which can be found here.
Love the church
Third, we need a love for the local church. The church is God’s mission plan for the world. Mark Dever rightly says, ‘a local church, by nature, is a mission organization’.[1] The local church is God’s mission plan because local churches do local evangelism. In Romans 15:19, Paul says, ‘from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ’. Obviously, Paul had not preached the gospel to every person in the region; he had planted churches in each area who would continue the ongoing work of disciple-making. The Lord has not commissioned us to take the gospel out as lone-rangers but has called us to commit to local churches with and through whom we can reach the lost.
Paul is clear that Jesus gave his life for the church (cf. Eph 5:25). The church matters greatly to Jesus and is at the centre of his plans. If we don’t love the church, we demonstrate that we don’t have the mind of Christ. Worse, it may suggest we don’t love Jesus at all. This is the essence of what John tells us in his first letter, ‘If anyone says, “I love God”, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen’ (1Jn 4:21). As Mark Dever rightly puts it, ‘joining a particular local church is an outward reflection of an inward love – for Christ and his people… If we are Christ’s followers, we too will love the church that he gave himself for’.[2] It is in and through the local church that we will reach deprived communities. The church is God’s vehicle for reaching the lost, our love for one another is the most compelling apologetic that will draw the lost to Christ (cf. Joh 13:35), and so we must love the church if we are to really love and reach deprived communities with the gospel.
If these are the things that we must have on a personal level to reach the urban poor, what do churches in these communities need? We have already made the point that not everybody is called to minister in deprived communities. However, the wider church has a duty to facilitate the taking of Christ to where he is currently not known. So, what can the wider church do to support ministry in deprived communities? There are three main areas in which they can partner in this work: prayer, money and people.
Pray
In the first instance, churches in other parts of the country can pray for ministry in deprived communities. I don’t mean generically praying for ‘church in hard places’ in the way we tend to when we haven’t bothered to take the time to find out what they are actually doing. Jesus was clear that, ‘apart from me you can do nothing’ (Joh 15:5). This means that our ministry is entirely pointless unless it is bathed in prayer. As the Psalmist says, ‘Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain’ (Psa 127:1). Those of us working in deprived communities covet the prayers of God’s people for without them we can do nothing.
You can partner with us in the work of reaching deprived communities by committing to meaningfully praying for us, and others doing similar work. I do not mean simply rattling off a few perfunctory, unspecific thoughts about the ministry on such and such an estate. I mean actually partnering with churches in deprived communities by regularly asking them what they would like prayer for. Then, when they tell you, be sure to pray for it. There is little more encouraging than when people contact you – without waiting for your prayer letter – to ask what they can pray for you. It makes it clear that you are in the thoughts of another church who really want to pray for your ministry in specific ways.
There are a number of ways you might do this. You could ask a partner church for a regular monthly prayer letter that is specific to your prayer meeting. Alternatively, you could arrange a skype call and allow your partner church to pray with you at the same time. Otherwise, you could invite a representative from your partner church to update you regularly at your church prayer meeting. Otherwise, you could invite somebody to come and preach at your church – and likewise you can send preachers the other way – and receive prayer updates in the middle of your main church service. Similarly, you may send a delegation to spend a week in your partner church, seeing the work that goes on first-hand and then commit to praying for those works on your return. There are all sorts of things you may do but the key is to be sure that you pray regularly, specifically and meaningfully for churches in deprived communities.
[1] Dever, M., Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, Crossway, (Wheaton, Illinois, 2013), p.165
[2] Ibid., p.176-7