Full Text for The Church and Poverty: From Concern to Action (Text)

- -. -- Vol. XXIX Summer, 1965 S o . 2 THE SPRINGFIELJIEP. is pblished quarterly b>- the faculty of Con- cordia TheoIogical Seminary, Springf?eld, IIIinois, of the Lutheran Church-h-lissouri Synod. FDITORIAL COJIAIITTEE ERICH H. HEINTZEX, Editor KAYAIOXD F. SURBURG, Book Rmhv Editor EUGENE F. KLUG, Associate Editor ~ I A R I C J. STEEGE, Associate Editor PRESIDENT I. A. 0. PREUS, ex OfFcio Contents Page EDITO1:IAL: Detroit Post Scripts 1 PROFESSOR D. I-ICIEAJANN SASSE: CONGRATULA- TIONS FOR ,I SEPTUAGENEKIAIV Z Heino 0. Kadai, Professor, Department of Historical Theology PROBLEMS IN ESCHATOLOGY: THE NXTUl'IE OF DEATH AND THE INTERi'vIEDIATE ST-ITE 6 Howard \V. Tepker, Professor, Department of Systematic Theoloe THE CF1LJI:CH AKD POVERTY: FKOAI COSCIERN TO ACTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Henry J. Eggold, Professor, Department of l'racticnl Theology BOOK REVIEiVS 3 6 BOOKS RECEIVED 5 1 Indexed in IXDEX TO 1lr~rt;rous PERIODICAL ITERATURE, pltblislted by t!le A~nericun Tireological Library Associutimr, Speer Librlrrl., Prij~ceton TheoTogi- cal Setj~innry, Privceton, h T a v Jersey. Clergy chai~ges of address reported to Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, hlissouri, \+ill also cover mailing change of The Sprit~gfielder. Other changes of address sllould be sent to the Business Manager of Tlre Springfielder, Con- cordia Theological Seminary, Springfield, Illinois. .Address communications to the Editor, F i c h H. Heintzen, Concordia Theo- logical Seminary, Springfield, Illinois. The Church and Poverty: From Concern to Action HENRY J. EGGOLD Essay originally presented at Rural Life Institute Shurt Course for Pastors, University o f Illinois, Urbanu, Spring, 1 9 65. B ASIC TO A DISCUSSION of the activity of the church in re- lation to poverty is the prior question of the role of the church in the world. The history of the church finds the church vacillat- ing between a private and public view of its task. When the church takes a private view of its task, it concen- trates its attention primarily on the individual's relation to God and tends to be blind to the large area of social, political, and economic environment in which people live. It accents religion in terms of man's relationship to God and views the ministry in terms of its priestly function. In this view Christ is opposed to culture.' At the opposite pole, is the view of the church which accents its public function. The greatest exponent of this view in our country was Walter Rauschenbusch.Vor him the Kin dom of God was social, and the task of the church was envisione d as that of producing a society guided by moral principles. But in this one- sided view, Rauschenbusch tended to neglect a man's personal re- lationship to God. Quiet evidently a biblical view of the church's task must take into account both private and public spheres. The prophetic way of the church is not only binding up the broken hearted but also influencing the power structures of our society, and seeking to pro- mote justice in the political, social, and economic realms. The question remains how to accomplish this dual thrust. The answer speaks to pastor and congregation. The Rob o f the Pastor The key figure in the church's war on poverty is the pastor. We all remember the heroic work of St. Vincent de Paul in Paris and of Thomas Chalmers in Scotland in arousing people to a con- cern for the betterment of the poor. The first requisite for a pastor is that he understand the prob- lem of poverty. When George W. Webber began his work in East Harlem, he was a failure. In his desperation he called in a social worker to find out wh . The social worker reported: 'You are trying to be professiona r' s, but you are not willing to be human be- ings who live and share the common life of the neighborhood, who live next door and are neighbors and friends with the people of East Harlem ." ' The pastor must try to see behind the facelessness of poverty; he must see the misfortune of those born poor who have no lobbyist The Church and Puverty: From Concern to Action 31 to lead their cause; those whom technology has dis laced; the 26 % of the farmers who sell only 7% of the farm pro 2 ucts; the despair of many of the 8 million aged, many of whom live alone in a large roomin house; and those trapped in the depressed areas; and the 1 6 &on not covered by minimum wage laws. Furthermore, he must understand something of the political, economic, and social power structures of his community, state, and nation; and, further- more, he ought to know the community resources available to assist him with coping with the sores of poverty in his own flock. Before he can accomplish much good, he must have these facts. Our seminaries ought to see whether sufEcient attention is given to this practical side of the parson's concern. Seminaries must train men for the congregation in mission, not the men the churches want or think the need, but the men they ought to have, r men who know God, peop e, and the world in which people live. Secondly, the pastor must be a leader and servant. James Reston remarks: "Too many preachers, like too many congressmen, are not leading but following the flock, perpetuating rather than destroying illusion and prej~dice."~ As a leader, the pastor is to do what St. Paul says a pastor should do; namely, to equip the saints for the work of serving so that the Body of Christ may be edified.= To do that he will have to engage in a prophetic ministry. The rophets not only assured God's people of God's redeeming grace &It also spoke out against social and economic ills. Like a prophet, a pastor ought to give his people a fair picture of poverty. His task is to challenge the misinformation and prejudice which keeps people from taking a sjmpathic view of the plight of the poor. Some of the generalizations that have to be denounced are these: 1 ) the poor are poor by their own fault; 2) welfare agencies are able to take care of them; 3) poor women have more children to get larger checks from the Aid to Dependent Children; 4) that God rewards the good with wealth and the evil with poverty; 5) that it is God's will on the basis of Ham's curse that the Negro be perpetually in a position of servitude. These glittering generalities that ease the consciences of Christian people need to be challenged. Prophets not only preached. They worked actively to alle- viate the situations they preached against. The pastor must com- bine the leader and servant role in his person, working with the wer structures of our nation to rectify the wrong he h d s . He that responsibility by virtue of the fact that he is a Christian, a citizen, and a leader of men. Whatever your private opinions of Martin Luther King may be, none can deny that he is something of an example of one who combines in his person the role of leader and servant. Floyd Hunter, in his Community Power Structure, found that ministers, teachers, and social workers are in the '%old the line" level of influence, while industrial, commercial, hancial, and political power structures "set the line."B Are we men enough to change this? ~ ~~ ~ , To do this effectively, the church ought to think in terms of a team ministry of clergymen who are able to deal effectively with the various ethnic groups, of social workers who assist, and of physicians and psychiatrists who serve as consultants. Since the hancial re- sources of the innercity are neghgible, the suburban churches ought to assist both financially and in service. The innercity ought to be their common concern. In his book, The Suburban Captivity of the Church, Gibson Winter describes this program. l2 Again, the pastor has a responsibility to equip the saints for service. We have to preach not only the faith which believes but the faith which works by love. Christians must not only be com- forted with the forgiveness of sins, but captives of the love of Christ; they are to ask Paul's question: "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" They must see both their duty and privilege in Christ's name of giving a cup of water to the thirsty. In short, we are to create the creators of a society, men and women who in Christ's name will go about their calling pleading the cause of the poor and needy. For it is ultimately in the person of the Christian that Christ and culture meet. The Role of the Cmgregution Together with its pastor, the Christian congregation must assume its role of responsibility in the war against poverty. Social scientists and theologians alike have been loud in deq i ng the in- effectiveness of the average congregation in meeting the needs of the underprivileged. Peter Berger says : "Organized religion is irrele- vant to the major social forces which are operative and determinative in American society: it does not affect them and relates to them in an overwhelmingly passive way."' Martin Marty cries: 'The parish is sick unto death . . . the parish as we have inherited it is not doing the task and cannot do the task to which Christ has committed his Church in the w~r l d . "~ One of the things that must die is the clubbism of many a congregation. For too many people a church is a club where you pay your dues, enjoy the compan of your kind of people, and en- joy the benefits the church is a i' le to give ou and your family. L Too many churches are self-centered units, nt on being served and maintaining themselves. The church's doors are virtually closed to the outsider, and the windows of the church are sealed off from the cries of the poor and needy. This drawing of the boundaries of the church in terms of a spiritual and ethical elite is, Fackre says, a short step to Pharisaism. Instead, our churches need to become houses of prayer for all people, where people are not united on the basis of economic status or ethnic background, but on the basis of discipleship. Here per- haps we can learn something from Alcoholic Anonymous. Secondly, our congregations ought to be societies of the con- cerned. Love manifested in congregational life performs a sign function in the community. It says: "Here is the way it should be everywhere. Here is a place where people are treated as persons and not as things.'"' The world saw the early church and said, "Behold how they love one another." One of the ways in which the congregation can manifest this concern is in a revival of the diaconate. The deacons in the early church were charged particularly with the care of the poor. We can accomplish this purpose if we will divide our parishes into neigh- borhoods, with a deacon responsible for no more than ten families. He visits these families at least four times during the year, report- The Chumh and Poverty: From Concern to Action 3 3 ing any need the family may have, in order that the congregation may minister spiritually or physically to the family. Again, a congregation ought to be built around comeandgo structures. Ccme structures are those which minister to the indi- vidual. Chief among these, of course, is the worship in which, in this dehumanizing world, a man finds that he together with all Chris- tians is the child of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Allied with the church service are the organizations which can provide support to the individual in his battle of life. As much as we need the come structures, we need also the go structures, which open the windows of the church to the world. Here the church learns of the problems of society; the poor in its neighborhood, the cause of crime, job training, placement of dis- advantaged people, nursery schools, drop outs, the race problem, housing, the power structures of the community and how they work. Through the go structures the members are chaIIenged to meet the social inequities in their community as well as in the world and to take constructive action. A further concern of the church is to gather the poor into the fold of the church. In the inner-city, the suburbs, or rural areas, the poor are there. But to gain them for the church is not easy be- cause poverty actually separates people from the church. The sense of shame, inadequacy, and inferiority prevent the poor from trying to enter the church. How shall we gain them? Churchmen are recommending the cell approach and the revival of the church in the house, particularly as a means of gaining those who for one rea- son or another find it hard to enter a church. Three or more couples gather in a home for Bible study, prayer, and discussion of avenues of service and witness. The cell becomes the basis for evangelistic outreach as new couples are invited to join the group. As the cell enlarges, new cells are formed. This approach to the poor can work effectively in the old, established neighborhood, the suburbs, and in the rural areas. " Another area of concern for the church is the concrete jungle of the inner-city, the home of the Ne o, the dispossessed Oakie who moves to the city, the alcoholic, and tr e beatnik. One of the somest chapters in the history of the church in America is the abandonment of the innercity for the comfortable suburbs. One of the greatest challenges of the church is that of humanizing and Christianizing the innerxi*. To do this effectively, the church ought to think in terms of a team ministry of clergymen who are able to deal effectively with the various ethnic groups, of social workers who assist, and of physicians and psychiatrists who serve as consultants. Since the financial re- sources of the inner-city are negligible, the suburban churches ought to assist both financially and in service. The innercity ought to be their common concern. In his book, The Subu~ban Captivity of the Church, Gibson Winter describes this program.lP A h a l area concern for the congregation is the establishment of nursing homes for the aged. Of our 40 to 50 miUion poor, 8 million are over 65 years of age. \tTith more and more people facing the loneliness, emptiness, and insecurity of old age, every year, certainly the churches of the land have a challenge to provide a haven for our senior citizens. Supra-parochial Forms Emerging in the twentieth century are also s u p r a - p d forms of Christian witness. Perhaps at the head of the list we should put the denominational social action committees. The social action committee has as its primary objective to be in dialog with the pon-er structures of our country particularly on the national level. A new significant development has come to us from the evan- gelical academies of Europe. A European theologian told our faculty that since the organized church was ineffective in maintaining a dialog both with the comman man and with the power structures, representatives of 60th groups are invited to weekend retreats to discuss their problems in order to attempt to arrive at a morally ac- ceptable solution. The National Council of Churches makes use of specialists and leaders of management, labor, agriculture, and gov- ernment, in conferences on church and economic life. l i e find this approach reflected in the establishment of coffee houses. One such is Encounter, a lay center in the heart of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, founded by the United Church of Christ clergy and lai . This institution has proved to be a fermenting factor in the e of the participating congregations and of the county. 9 Another significant development is the institutional chaplaincy. Chaplains have the opportunity to provide aid to people when they need it most. Without a doubt this phase of ministry deserves to be expanded. Industrialists are calling for industrial missioners, whom man- agement sees as conciliators between labor and management. Finally, a recent development is the establishment of the office of the metropolitan missioner, whose task it is to be in dialog with the city power structures and to coordinate urban work. Perhaps the future of our civilization dl give birth to other forms of minis-. But however many forms this ministry may take, basically the mar against poverty and injustice must be fought on the level of the Iwal congregation. The church will always need pas- tors who are &,o to wear the mantle of priest, prophet, leader, and servant. Congregations will have to be concerned about the ministry to their own members but with their church's windows open to the world. In this way, under tbe blessing of Almighty God, we can hope to do our part in translating our concern for poverty into action. The Church and Puverty: From Concern to Action 3 5 FOOTNOTES Cfr.. H. Richard Niebuhr, Christ and Culture (New York: Haruer and Brothers, 1951). Cfr., Walter Rauschenbusch, Chrisfimrity and the Social Crisis, ed., Rob- ert D. Cross (New York: Harper and Row, 1964). Gabriel J. Fackre, The Pustor m d the World (Philadelphia: United Church Press. 1964). p. 25. .. - Ibid., p. 14. Ephesians 4: 31-12. FIoyd Hunter, Community Puwer Stnuwre (Chapel Hill, North Caro- lina: Unirersity of Korth Carolina Press, 1953), pp. 109 ff. Peter Berger, The Noise of SoZemn Assemblies (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1961), p. 38. Martin E. blarty, ed., Death and Rebirth of the Parish (St. Louis: Con- cordia Publishing House, 1964), p. 4. Fackre, op. cit., p. 45. Ibid., p. 56. This approach is described in Abbe Michonneau, Revolutim in tke City Parish (London : Black- Publications, 1957). Gibson Winter, The Suburbon Captivity of the Church (Garden City, New Yak: Doubleday and Company, 1961), pp. 89 ff.