Seven excuses for ignoring the desperate in our cities

Looking through the hodgepodge of books I call my library, I recently came upon the oldest book in the collection. Its faded brown pages note the date, 1892. The 90-page booklet by J. Heywood Horsburgh is entitled Do Not Say, Or the Church’s Excuses for Neglecting the Heathen.

Through internet research, I got to know the author. In 1891, Horsburgh led a pioneer missionary party to Chungking in the province of Szechwan in China’s interior for the Church Missionary Society of Great Britain. The province was isolated, the ministry difficult in the midst of a “countryside disturbed by war, banditry, and general unrest.” Horsburgh paid a great personal price in his years of pioneer mission activity.

In this booklet, Horsburgh passionately outlines dozens of excuses Christians might give for not engaging themselves in pioneer missions. Chapter titles include “General Excuses” and “Personal Excuses.” Each of the reasons listed begins with the line, “Do not say . . . .”

As I re-read this little book, I became aware that many of the excuses, listed more than 100 years ago, now resonate in our generation. Why do many Christians continue to struggle to respond to God’s call? Why do we hesitate to engage broken people in our own communities, specifically communities of urban poor people? Though I could never match Horsburgh’s long list, allow me to offer seven excuses Mennonite Brethren might use.

(As I do this, I want to affirm those in our MB family who are on the forefront of ministry in Canada’s communities of urban poor people. Stand firm! God is with us!)

• The call has not been made clear. How much preaching and teaching do we hear based on biblical texts calling us to reflect Jesus’ heart for the city and poor people? Have we succumbed to a gospel that’s self-serving rather than self-sacrificing?
• We have eyes, but do not see. We may know the urban mission field is nearby, but we keep it at arm’s length. We choose to drive around the city, never through it. We may drive through it, but we don’t really see it. Do statistics, demographics, and sociological facts no longer impress us? Do we hear the stories of broken people yet feel nothing?
• We don’t have time. Are we living life on such an edge that we’re unable to give attention to broken people in our world? Could it be we no longer have time to love our neighbours? Mennonite Brethren are committed to a strong work ethic, but has that ethic hindered our ability to love?
• The cost of love is too great. Since the root issue of our cities’ struggles is lack of love, do we gladly give ourselves away in sacrificial love? Many Mennonite Brethren are growing more passionate in worship, but has that worship overflowed into an ability to love our neighbours as ourselves? Have we bought into the lie that we can love broken people from a distance?
• We don’t have a voice. Have we failed to speak against injustice? As those traditionally known as the “quiet in the land,” do we resign ourselves to silence on issues that impact our cities? Has our pledge of active pacifism been replaced with sedentary passivity?
• We don’t pass on a missionary vision to our children. Are Christian parents willing to release their children for ministry and mission? (Not only for a season, but a lifetime?) Do our children feel the freedom and grace to go into difficult ministries with full support of parents, extended families, and churches?
• We’ve given up. Are desperate urban communities viewed as the “black hole” of mission? Do we feel that we’ve sent workers, tried new strategies, and given money, yet nothing has changed? Have we decided the city is too big a mess for us, and maybe even for God?

Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. James 2:5–6

“Jesus, allow us to love broken people with sacrificial love. Give us courage to engage. Please convict us so we do not say the poor people in our communities aren’t close to your heart. Amen.”

Fred Stoesz is a long-time urban minister with World Impact in both the U.S. and Canada. He works part-time as an urban church planting consultant for the Canadian MB Conference.