CityVoices Newsletter -- December 2006.
A resource of the Seminary Consortium for Urban Pastoral Education

If you're not from Ohio, Columbus may not seem like a "major" U.S. city. No big stock exchanges, no big ports, and less ethnic diversity than other major cities. But don't be deceived. With a population of over 730,000, Columbus is Ohio's largest municipality, and one of the fastest growing places in the Midwest. Nationally, Columbus ranks #15 on the list of largest U.S. cities.

"I think Columbus is a hidden jewel," says Shih-Min Robert Liao, 57, a 30-year resident of Central Ohio who was born in China. "It's getting better every year and it's much more sophisticated than ever before." Yet, Liao admits that suburban Columbus is polite but remote, creating a sense of isolation for ethnic groups. Liao says, "The unique part of racism in this area is that certain local people feel strongly it is their patriotic duty to keep America 'real American.'"

Indeed, a full 67 percent of the city's people are Caucasian, 25 percent African-American, four percent Asian and less than three percent Latino. In an urban area dominated by a mammoth university, resident demographics may be a bit deceiving. The Ohio State University, with its 50,000 students, brings an immense student diversity and energy to the Columbus community.

Economic growth, much of it stemming from the Ohio State Campus, has positioned Columbus seventh among America's Top 10 Tech Cities. That ranking reflects the number of research and technology companies based in Columbus: Battelle ($2.9 billion in research and development annually), the Online Computer Library Center (powers 54,000 libraries in nearly 100 countries) and The Ohio State University itself (one of the largest universities in the nation). Columbus is home to other large corporations like Nationwide Insurance, Abercrombie & Fitch, the Limited and some 70 other insurance companies. Once a huge factory center, manufacturing now comprises about 10 percent of the economic base. Government (both state and federal) is the city's third largest employer.

So what about Columbus' churches? As in any urban area, the city has churches (and communities) of both poverty and wealth. In a recent Columbus Dispatch profile, congregations in the suburbs and city church were contrasted.

"Thirteen miles and lots of money separate Franklin County's richest and poorest neighborhoods. But their churches have more in common than at first appears. In manicured Dublin (suburb) stands Berean Bible Church, strong on evangelism and rooted in Scripture. The middle-class congregation long predates the affluence that has moved in around it in the county's wealthiest census tract. In gritty Franklinton, where the census says incomes are lowest, Greater Christ Temple Apostolic Church was founded by a former barber. For decades, it has fought the social toxins of poverty and crime, but it hopes soon to sell its building and depart. In many ways - including race - the two congregations differ. But both defy stereotypes. And they share a commitment to spread God's Word and serve the needy.

"Most of Greater Christ's outreach has been to young people, with the homeless and Project Redeem, an after-school tutoring program. Some of the church's clientele include homeless people who used to live at or near the Open Shelter on W. State Street, or in the woods nearby. At Berean, some missionary work is local, such as cooking dinner once a month for folks at the Ronald McDonald House. But, says Pastor Roger Vogel, "Our main purpose is to take the gospel to all the world." Missionary support accounts for about 22 percent of the church's annual budget, or about $85,000 last year." (Excerpted from "Rich or Poor, god Comes First," by Felix Hoover, The Columbus Dispatch, November 24, 2006)

Altogether, churches in Columbus are doing a heroic job of preaching the gospel, caring for their people and struggling to cope with the economic winds that have blown good seed upon some communities, and literally devastated many others.

With this edition of SCUPE's CityVoices, we hear the words and stories of four Columbus pastors ministering to communities plagued by a good deal of physical and spiritual need. These pastors have their work cut out for them. Each pastor also has a great deal of love for the Columbus community. As you read their words, allow their passions, their questions and their wisdom to fuel your own ministry in your particular city.

Roger Johnson, Editor - SCUPE's CityVoices roger@scupe.com

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New Life Church: Anchored in Short North

(For the past 11 years, Rev. Jennifer Kimball Casto has served as pastor of New Life Church, a United Methodist congregation located in Columbus' Short North community. Though a small church, New Life has taken on the big tasks of feeding and clothing numerous community residents, as well as tutoring many young people. New Life Church also houses a number of active 12-Step Support Groups. In the following interview, Rev. Casto responds to several questions about her church, community and city-at-large.)

Q. - New Life Church is located in Columbus' Short North neighborhood. What's your area like?

It refers to the Short North business district, less than a mile from the Ohio State University campus, and just north of downtown. Short North is an eclectic and diverse community with a number of art galleries and trendy businesses. The business district is surrounded by a number of historic neighborhoods. We have redevelopment going on in one part of the area, while there is also an area with a highly concentrated number of African-Americans, and generational poverty. We're right in the middle of it all of this, and we're trying to be a bridge between them.

Q. - What's it like to be an old neighborhood church, with lots of big churches growing in new and growing areas surrounding Columbus?

It's very complicated. There is economic growth going on in the Short North currently. There are some very expensive condos being built downtown, and in our area as well. Even the Ohio State campus has expanded - leveling old bars and building an upscale Gateway business district. Property values have gone up and people living in poverty are getting squeezed out. There are fewer and fewer areas with affordable housing for poor people in Columbus.

And that's going to have a dramatic effect on our city in coming years. As an urban church serving primarily people living in poverty, we continue to struggle to have adequate resources to sustain ourselves, let alone appeal to our new neighbors who come with different expectations of church than we offer.

Q. - How diverse a church is New Life?

Many of our worshipping community are homeless people, at-risk kids, and some folks are from the gay community. We have people who haven't graduated from high school, those who are working minimum-wage jobs, as well as people with doctorates earning high salaries. We also have a number of retired folks who are long time members. We've got a little bit of everything in our small congregation (we have about 60 in worship)!

Q. - Pastor Casto, give us a bit more background on the ministry of New Life Church.

New Life Church is actually the union of two old churches. With the United Methodist merger back in the 1960s, there were four United Methodist churches within less than a mile radius. Since then, one church has closed, one church has grown very strong and New Life remains as a merger of the other two. We're right off of High Street - a major throughway in the city.

We serve a free breakfast on Sunday mornings for about 200 people who are living in shelters, on the land, and in our neighborhood. Our vans pick up folks at the shelters, and kids who come to church alone. We also serve breakfast on Tuesdays to a smaller crowd. Our ministry also includes a free clothing room that's open on Sunday mornings, as well as two other mornings during the week. In all, we're probably serving 2,400 people each month. The good news in that is that we are here too help meet the basic needs of our neighbors, but unfortunately more and more people are sliding into poverty, so their needs are greater.

Q. - Pastor Casto, how do you see God at work spiritually through your people's lives, and through your church ministry?

Because of our outreach ministries, people from a number churches volunteer and serve. Many people have been changed by that experience. As they begin to interact with people who may be a different race or in a much more difficult life situation, they not only learn of their struggles, but also of their gifts and faith. We continue to learn that no matter how we may seem different, we all have needs and we all have gifts to share. That has helped many people look at one another in a different light.

There are also many examples of people's lives being radically changed: people with addictions getting clean, people who were homeless moving into more stable housing, people will mental illness finding the support they need and people experiencing the transforming love of Jesus and responding in faith. All of it continues to give me hope.

Q. - What are some hopes and dreams that you have for your church, and for your community?

I'd like us to continue becoming a multicultural and diverse church. We are in some ways, but we have much room for growth, particularly racially. Most of the people coming here have stayed either because they believe in the kind of ministry we're doing, or because they have finally found a place where they belong because of our commitment to being inclusive of all people. Our hope is that more people will do so, and we would show diversity in even more significant ways. We are also beginning to develop a transformational health ministry which will care for the whole person. We are hoping to provide direct medical services, as well as support for mental, emotional, spiritual and relational health.

Q. - What are your hopes for Columbus within the next decade?

We've recently worked to hold political candidates accountable for equity in education here in Columbus, and statewide in Ohio. Our present funding system (based on property values and taxes) for Ohio schools has more than once been found unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court. We need to work on school equity, because education is the key to having access to a better future. Presently, even when students do well in some of Columbus' high schools, they haven't had the kind of opportunities and experiences that kids have had in many of the outer-ring suburbs. That simply is not fair.

My hope is that all children would have access to quality education, which will have a ripple effect in the strength of society at large.

Contact: Rev. Jennifer Kimball Casto, New Life Church, 25 West Firth Avenue, Columbus, OH 43201, (614) 294-0134, nwlifeumc1@juno.com

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Broad Street Christian Church: A Beacon for Olde Towne East

(Rev. Dr. LaTaunya Bynum is pastor of Broad Street Christian Church - Columbus' oldest Disciples of Christ congregation. She came to Broad Street Church in 1996, previously serving on the national staff of the Disciples in Christ. A native of California, she holds degrees from Chapman College and Claremont School of Theology.)

Q. - Pastor Bynum, describe your church and what motivates you for ministry?

I serve some marvelous people in our multi-racial congregation. We're an inclusive kind of place, and we see ourselves as a warm and welcoming church in terms of race and sexual preference. For a Disciples of Christ congregation in this area of the country, that may be quite unusual. But we celebrate inclusiveness as one of our core values. And that kind of diversity is part of what keeps me going in ministry. The other thing that keeps me here is the potential we have. We can really be a beacon in this diverse community.

Q. - Help us identify your community.

We're in Olde Towne East. We're east of the freeway, and that's a bit anxiety-producing for some people. We have our share of crime, but there's some revitalization going on that minimizes that as well. People in Columbus tend to not leave their own quadrant of the city. They'll say, "I never go east of the Freeway," or "I never go west of I-71."

Olde Towne East has some issues, but it's also seen some gentrification. Our community was actually the subject of a major PBS documentary "Flag Wars", www.pbs.org/pov/pov2003/flagwars/ three years ago. "Flag Wars" is actually a pretty good representation of what's been going on with our real estate dynamics.

Q. - What's it like to lead an old neighborhood church, when you've got new and bigger churches in Columbus' outlying communities?

I have no problem with churches growing as big as God lets them. But I do think a small church can provide somewhat of a safe haven for people. Metro Columbus has a strong Vineyard Church and Rod Parsley's huge World Harvest Church. But we also have some traditional congregations that are growing and healthy. Broad Street Presbyterian Church (just three blocks from here) and First Congregational Church (about one-and-a-half miles away) are thriving.

Trinity Episcopal Church is an example of a healthy downtown congregation.

Q. - How do you see God working in people's lives in Olde Towne East?

I see people who know God is calling them to be active in their communities, active in their churches, or to some mission beyond their own doors. I see God at work in people who take good care of their children, and advocate for better schools.

Q. - In what ways does Broad Street Christian Church meet family needs?

We host three different Alcoholics Anonymous groups throughout the week. Our Saturday night group has been meeting here for over 50 years. The Thursday night group is primarily made up of women, many of whom bring their children. For the past five years we've offered a childcare program for those kids, while their mothers are in their A.A. meeting. It's more than merely a babysitting program. In fact, it's been a very helpful ministry for everyone concerned - moms, children and our church.

Q. - What are the issues (or opportunities) that you see facing your church and community?

We need to help people maintain a sense of community. We can do that by either tearing down and rebuilding, or renovating a lot of the abandoned housing in our community. Giving people a safe, decent and affordable place to live goes a long way toward creating personal and family stability.

Another big issue is education. Every child, no matter what neighborhood they live in, deserves a quality education. Middle school out to prepare you for high school, high school ought to prepare you for college. And if you choose not to go on to college, you ought to be prepared to work, or to get the further training you need for work.

Q. - Columbus is one of the Midwest's fastest-growing cities. How is that growth reflected in your own area?

Lots of new housing is being built downtown. Our mayor, Michael Coleman, is a relentless booster for the city. We have some new energy coming into the city in terms of ministerial and political leadership in our communities.

There will always be churches in the city. As our suburbs grow, the challenge will be for urban churches to maintain a sense of their own integrity. And there's a lot we have to teach others about what it means to be diverse congregations.

Q. - Pastor Bynum, what hopes and dreams do you have for your church?

I want to see Broad Street Church double in the next five years. Right now we have about 60 people worshipping. I'd like to grow by 20 percent each year. I dream of an education ministry for preschoolers right on through seniors, and I also dream of a stronger outreach ministry. The church is called to reach beyond itself, and can't be defined by the walls of any particular church building.

Contact: Rev. Dr. LaTaunya Bynum, Broad Street Christian Church, 1049 East Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio 43205, (614) 258-9567, lmbynum@columbus.rr.com

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Church for All People: Community Development for Columbus' Southside

(Rev. John Edgar is pastor of Church for All People and Associate Director of Community Development for All People, both located on Columbus's near south side. Church for All People is a cross-cultural, cross-class church that welcomes and celebrates diversity. Rev. Edgar has ministered among Columbus' United Methodist churches since the 1980s and maintains a passion for his city.)

Q. - John, in what various roles have you ministered in Columbus?

In 1980 I was appointed pastor at the Shepherd United Methodist Church, in a neighborhood that had gone through racial transition. The congregation was 90 percent African-American when I came, and I'm a white guy. I had a great time leading that church's outreach. In 1985 I became Director of Urban Ministries for our two United Methodist districts in metro Columbus. At that time, there were 88 United Methodist churches in Franklin County.

I returned to the local pastorate in the 1990s and later became Superintendent for the Columbus South District. In 2002, I helped launch the United Methodist Free Store - a direct service that has grown amazingly. The next year, we reorganized that outreach and formed it into Community Development for All People. From that, Church for All People was begun.

Q. - Tell us more about the Free Store.

Launching the Free Store was a tremendous experience! We started a simple direct service of providing free clothing and household items to anybody who wanted to come. We placed the store on Parsons Avenue - the historic dividing line between poor black folks (east of Parsons) and low-income white folks (west of Parsons).

More than 25,000 families now hold Free Store membership cards, and more than 80,000 low-income folk have shopped with us. Other Free Stores have since opened up. We don't own them or run them, but they have emerged out of the energy of what we've done here on Parsons Avenue.

Q. - John, what are the guiding principles behind all that you're doing?

We're committed to extreme hospitality - there are no "eligibility requirements." Everything in the store is free, and anyone can come and shop. No one has to prove that they are worthy of our help. That's become the framework for everything else that we've done in ministry, church included. Everybody here knows our theme: God loves you just the way you are, and God's not finished with you yet.

Q. - What about Church for All People?

We launched Church for All People with a small group of liberal, social justice types who still thought their faith mattered. We wondered whether we could convince any low-income people to worship with us. Now, over 100 people gather each Sunday morning, and we do a second service each week on Tuesday morning. About half the congregation is African-American, half is white. The overwhelming majority of folks are very low-income. Up to 20 percent of our folks may be homeless, living in shelters or camps down along the Scioto River. Basically, our church is a hard-living group of people.

Q. - Tell us more about your ministry values.

Everything we do is centered in the belief that there's "a divine economy of abundance." God has provided us with more than enough if people will only give the best of what they've received. While I was a district superintendent, I'd travel promoting the Free Store, asking people to make donations. I'd tell people that "There's a divine economy of abundance - more than enough if we will only share."

While driving home from a church meeting one night, I thought, "Oh my God, what if it's true! What if there really is choice? We either live in a mistaken assumption that ours is an economy of scarcity, or there's a doorway into an economy of abundance by God's grace, if we will only believe enough to share."

I got together with the folks who helped launch the Free Store and we convinced ourselves that there is an economy of abundance triggered by the willingness to share from the best of what we have. What else would we have to do in order to trigger more abundance? What does it mean to use only what you need and to make sure that the best of what you've received gets passed on to others?

We formed our community development corporation with two goals. The first goal was to tart micro-businesses to create employment. Ninety percent of the poor folks I know dream of going to work. We've started a jewelry-making business, and we run a construction labor pool.

Our second goal has been to buy vacant and abandoned houses, rehab them and sell them for homeownership. We've partnered with the City of Columbus, HUD and the Enterprise Foundation. We're pretty small, but this year we've built two houses, rehabbed two other houses and bought an 18,000 square-foot commercial building with room for four apartments and our headquarters. This year we will do $3.9 million worth of direct services and community development production. There is an economy of abundance.

Q. - Where do you see Church for All People going in ten or twenty years?

We've just bought the 18,000 square-foot building across the street and we'll move in there the end of February. It'll double our worship space, which is also our hospitality space when the Free Store is open. We'll continue doing multiple services and in five years, we could easily have a worshipping congregation of 400-500 folks. At the same time, our goal is to develop capacity to create small businesses and begin to leverage re-investment into our community. We would like to encourage employers to take a look at properties on Columbus' south side that previously housed manufacturing.

Contact: Rev. John Edgar, Church for All People, 895 Parsons Avenue, P.O. Box 06063, Columbus, Ohio 43206, (614) 445-7342, revjohnedgar@aol.com

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Fruit of the Vine: Building Bridges in the City

(Dan Franz is a Pastor at Vineyard Church of Columbus and Director of the church's Fruit of the Vine ministry. The urban mercy mission includes a variety of outreach efforts: a food pantry, free medical clinic, homeless ministry, prison ministries, nursing home ministry and work with Habitat for Humanity. Started in 1982, Vineyard Columbus has grown to be one of the largest Vineyard churches in America. The church has recently built a 52,000 sq. ft community center designed to serve the northeast quadrant of Columbus with medical, dental and legal services as well as tutoring and ESL
classes.)

Q. - How did Fruit of the Vine get started out of Vineyard Columbus?

Fruit of the Vine started about 14 years ago with a single mom handing out peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to street people near downtown Columbus. It grew with more and more volunteers coming on board. The ministry included a free food pantry and a free medical and optometry clinic. I came on staff eight years ago, and the ministry has grown since then, by the grace of God.

Vineyard Church of Columbus (actually in suburban Westerville, Ohio) is a fairly large church (7,500 worshippers) with a lot of outreach ministries. Fruit of the Vine is the ministry that works in downtown Columbus neighborhoods. There are other good and equally important Vineyard ministries at work through our church. Fruit of the Vine uses two buildings that are located in the city about 13 miles from the home church.

But Fruit of the Vine is our urban and mercy ministry. Throughout each week we work extensively with the working poor in Columbus and with our friends in the homeless community. Our pantry distributes 5,000-6,000 pounds of food each week. About four years ago we moved the food pantry to a new building to accommodate growing needs. We have a medical, optometry and dental clinic that serves about 2,000 patients each year with excellent medical care and with prayer ministry teams. Between 150 and 200 people accept Christ at the Clinic each year and many hundreds are touched by God in prayer with healing and encouragement.

Q. - Dan, where do these services take place?

Primarily in the Short North district of Columbus, about 13 miles south of Vineyard Columbus. Our homeless ministry works with people camped along the Scioto and Olentangy Rivers, as well as with people along the railroad tracks. That means visiting people at homeless camps, distributing lots of food and blankets and transporting people to our small groups and recovery meetings.

Q. - What kind of impact is Fruit of the Vine able to make?

First, we'll always be involved in an unconditional mercy ministry because Jesus was. Also, we're trying to make disciples and help people become whole - in every area of their life. Billy Ray was a guy we'd known for about a year, living down under the Short Street Bridge. He was a long-term, hard-core alcoholic and crack addict. Groups from our church came and reached out to him. God spoke to Billy's heart. He was converted and went through detox. He found his own apartment and enrolled in the Vineyard Leadership Institute here in Columbus. Billy now works full-time at Vineyard Columbus as a pastoral intern, and he's an immense help to me and others.

People reached by the Medical Clinic, and the several other ministries taking place throughout the year have made a real connection with Jesus Christ.

Q. - Dan, what is it that Fruit of the Vine is able to do best for Columbus?

It's not like the people we serve are our clients. We're known in Columbus as being friends. We're a bridge between the church and the street. God wants church people to interact with the poor as real people! We work in prisons, in nursing homes and in homeless camps. We've got the medical clinic serving people without insurance and without legal status in this country. Exodus teaches us to treat strangers like we would want to be treated, because we too were strangers.

We try to equip our people to treat other people as friends and neighbors. We don't want to hold Christianity out on the end of a stick to people. It's offensive and brings an "us and them" mentality that we want to avoid. We want our volunteers to treat people like human beings and talk about normal stuff. Our volunteers also listen to the Holy Spirit and are ready to share Christ and offer prayer.

Q. - Do you have a strategy for working together with other churches to meet the city's needs?

It took us a couple years of volunteer efforts to build our medical clinic in Short North. Other churches have pitched in as well. We now have doctors and nurses who don't go to Vineyard Columbus, but still participate in our medical efforts. On Thursday nights, our medical clinic is the home of New Salem Baptist Church's "Abide Wellness Program." They're a city church with a wellness counseling program, but had no place from which to house it.

Besides other churches, I connect with the Columbus Coalition for the Homeless. We know that we're a small part of an overall effort, and there are a lot of people to cheer on in Columbus.

Q. - How would you describe the spiritual state of greater Columbus? Are churches aware of spiritual needs?

Columbus is a kind and generous city in many ways. While we have a substantial way to go in meeting the needs of our community, there's a heart beating here.

A church like Vineyard Columbus is suburban, but we also have a ministry in the city. Fruit of the Vine is a bridge ministry. Most of our people at are not going to live downtown. But what I can do is build a bridge that's respectful. When a church group comes from the suburbs to visit a homeless camp along the river, their eyes are opened. They say, "I've gone over that bridge lots of times, but I didn't know people lived under there. What can we do?" We've now had over 1,500 people from our church participate in Fruit of the Vine outreaches - about 20 percent of our congregation. As our Senior Pastor Rich Nathan says, "We want to be the best friend to the City of Columbus that we can be."

Contact: Pastor Dan Franz, Fruit of the Vine, 6000 Cooper Road, Westerville, Ohio 43081, (614) 890-0000, dan.franz@vineyardcolumbus.org

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Must Read!

"A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future," by Daniel H. Pink, Riverhead Books, New York, 2005

Daniel Pink's "A Whole New Mind" is not a ministry, mission or urban church book. It's not a Christian book in any sense of the term. But it is a breakthrough book for city ministers who are tired of what doesn't work and willing to change how they think (and do) in light where our world is moving.

The subtitle "shouts" the author's conviction that right-brain thinking holds the key to the future. Artistic, playful and interdisciplinary qualities are now trumping the linear and analytic qualities that have dominated western society for decades. In the book's opening chapters, Pink points to three big reasons for the Conceptual Age we have entered: abundance (of wealth and things), Asia (the blossoming of education, technology and jobs across the Asian continent) and Automation (well, need I explain).

Since the logical, linear, left-brain senses are no longer so needed in Western society, Daniel Pink spends the bulk of his book explaining the six "L-directed" senses that will be crucial for leaders to master in the Conceptual Age: Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play and Meaning. He's literally urging leaders to create within themselves "whole new minds."

"Easier said than done!" you say. Well, not so fast with your dismissal. Pink is definitely on to the kind of mind/heart alterations which the best urban pastors have practiced for years. In working with urban people, we recognize that human stories tell volumes more than any set of logical facts. We have long ago recognized the powerful role that empathy has in all human relationships. But as he progresses, the author explodes into whole new regions of multi-disciplined thinking, acting and leading which are crucial to the future success of urban churches.

While Daniel Pink's "A Whole New Mind" has thus far been a favorite among cutting-edge web designers and tech gurus, its integrative and multi-disciplined emphases have much for God's servants in city communities. Read an excerpt and purchase a cheap used copy at www.amazon.com.

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Thanks for Reading SCUPE's CityVoices

For current information on all of SCUPE's academic and urban church programs, take a peak at our "new look" website, www.scupe.com. Here you'll find everything from course syllabi and registration requirements to numerous urban church resources. Enjoy a blessed Christmas holiday, and look forward to another edition of SCUPE's CityVoices in February.

Roger Johnson - Editor, SCUPE's CityVoices SCUPE, 200 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60601,(312) 726-1200, roger@scupe.com

Copyright 2006© CityVoices, Chicago, Illinois