I live in the United States, specifically in Brooklyn, which is one of the five boroughs comprising the City of New York. Unlike popular thought, Brooklyn is New York City, not just Manhattan. At one time Brooklyn itself was a separate city. Many feel its downfall came when it allowed itself to become part of the City of New York. However, be that as it may, Brooklyn has come to be known as the Borough of Churches, having a rich social, cultural, and spiritual history. Literally in some neighborhoods, there are not only churches on every other block, but to be ecumenical, their are houses of worship every few blocks, if you consider the storefronts, small synagogues, kingdom halls, and mosques. There are worship spaces literally in some folks homes. Certainly there are diverse places of worship.

Let me be more specific in regards to the situation that faces the faith community of which I serve. I am a Deacon in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, (ELCA). My congregation is Bethany Lutheran Church, which sits about 5 to 6 miles downwind from the site of the World Trade Center. Geographically, my church is located in the Southwest Brooklyn Conference of the Metropolitan New York Synod. As a rostered deacon, I am called to word and service. I minister to my home church as a Parish Associate for Ministry in Daily Life, in a non-stipendiary capacity. In my professional life, I am a licensed Social Worker, serving in a voluntary, not-for-profit, community based hospice program, which renders care to an ethnically and culturally diverse, and ever changing demographic area. One in which there has been a large influx of Arabic, Asian, Latino, and Caribbean immigrants as well as one of the most densely populated areas in the United States of elderly persons. There are many churches that have bi-lingual, and in some cases tri-lingual ministries.

The challenges facing the urban churches are myriad. One of the most important, is the challenge of discipleship in an age that is fast, in the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, becoming, and I am paraphrasing here, a place of religious worship, in a “religion-less” society. The urban church, and I can only speak from the perspective of my home congregation, and the few bordering our neighborhood, face daunting financial problems, with dwindling congregants. In some places churches have had to be yoked together in common to utilize varied talents and skills, so as to reach out effectively to the specific needs of the flock they serve. There are a lot of lost sheep falling through the cracks out there! The reality is that in some cases this has been necessary to just financially survive, because they/we literally live, economically week to week, tithe, to tithe, to make ends meet.

I am not an expert on what makes urban ministry work, nor do I have a fool-proof blue print that is a “one-size-fits all,” solution to remaining viable. A pastoral colleague of mine, who interestingly happens to be a Rabbi, serving as a pastoral care coordinator in the aforementioned Hospice, where I work to pay the rent, recently commented that many churches as well as synagogues, reminded him of the ” house church” model in early Christianity. There is an interesting discussion of this in the book Stewardship and the Economy of God by John Reumann. I looked at the Rabbi and he smiled saying, “do you think that only Christians have read Luke-Acts”? He went on to explain that he was not speaking from a marketing perspective. Clearly doctrinal differences cannot be glossed over, nor should they be, because disaster can follow when ecumenical outreach is attempted in that way. However the church, as the living mystical body of Christ, has had to face challenges, sometimes greater than those posed by urban centers, exacerbated by recent terrorism, and believe me I am not a knee-jerk patriot! It has had to evolve, while maintaining its focus and doctrinal integrity. Recently there has been rapprochement between the Reform Church, the United Church of Christ, The Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian, Church, and the ELCA. As the Rabbi went on, he saw as a way to stay viable and respect the different traditions, without marginalizing them, was to find common areas of shared ministry, i.e., outreach to the homeless, care to the homebound, linking those who are underserved nutritionally, educationally, emotionally, and spiritually, to those services that can assist them, and in a real and immediate way operationalize the shared ministry of service. A few years ago I worked for an out-reach mental health program that ministered to MICA clients, (I hate labels, but MICA referred to the Mentally Impaired, Chronic Abuser- multiple addicted, who themselves in many cases had been either physically, and/or sexually abused themselves). These were the folks who we had to find in “Shelters for The Homeless,” a term that refers to reconverted armories that house so many transient folks, that one reminded me of an island of lost souls. A friend of mine, an ex-nun said to me, “until the powers that be, forget about political party, or philosophical political orientation, stop putting band aides on gaping wounds, and realizing that while funding helps, the perspective needs to be that we are dealing with a spiritual challenge that encompasses and perhaps even transcends a psycho-social one, that no real change can or will happen”! I kind of found this friend to be a very insightful, spiritual person with many years of learned-lived practical wisdom. Her words to me were, “if more politicians read the parable of the Good Samaritan, assuming that they could read, and understood the word empathy/compassion,” (please save me from “compassionate conservatives,” and the term “government intelligence/senate intelligence” an oxymoron, if ever there was one!) She insisted that very little would change. For she reminded me that as Jesus said, “you will always have the poor with you.” Are they not also mentioned in the Beatitudes? At the end of Lutheran Worship we are reminded to “go in peace, to love and serve the Lord. Even when he/she is sleeping homeless on a grate, a few blocks down from a grand opera house. If there is any hope for ecumenical dialogue, spiritual relevance, and I will use the word, religion’s and congregation’s sustainable viability, there needs to be an accountability to the Ten Commandments, not as just tyrannical “shoulds”, or rules, but as calls to creating common community. If it means starting out small to become once again big, or forget size, and think integrity, just in mission with the call of discipleship, so be it!

Remember Jesus used the image of the Mustard Seed.

Respectfully submitted, with blessings Cheers,

Frank Attanasia Deacon

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