Words'nTone

“Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will have welfare” (Jeremiah 29:7).

Claire Gaudiani, in her book The Greater Good , presents an argument that it is philanthropy that actually drives the American economy.  Unlike any other country in the world, Americans, overall, are more generous with their resources, and as a result, have helped to create a way of life that is fuller and more prosperous for the majority of its citizens than any society on the planet.  She points out that “Among others, economists Lester Thurow and Robert Barro and management consultant Peter Drucker concur that investments in human capital make the greatest impact on long-term productivity of the society” (33).  In fact, she posits that it is American philanthropy that has the potential for “saving capitalism.”

Now, it is not my interest to “save capitalism,” nor to save the American way of life—even though I benefit from it and very much appreciate it.  But, it is my within my interests to figure out ways that our Gospel can penetrate the lives of people.  One thing that has always bothered me is why evangelical churches are not willing to invest in the community or communities that surround them (just because it’s a good thing to do).  In my brief review of Sidewalks in the Kingdom: New Urbanism and the Christian Faith, I observed that “God instructed Jeremiah, ‘Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will have welfare’ (29:7).  Seems a simply enough principle.  Imagine creating an approach to church life, church growth, and evangelism based on seeking the welfare of the city—the city (or neighborhood) that your church represents?  Imagine.

I understand that we live in a corrupt world, as John the Apostle tells us, that is passing away.  This statement was not to lead the church away from caring about the society around them, but to remind the church its existence is not dependent on the world (because the church will not pass away).  Nonetheless, the church is yet still called to be “salt and light” to this dying world, to our own fading culture.  My, now almost a decade long, vocation in the human service world, where everything I do seeks to invest and develop human capital from among at-risk and vulnerable populations, is driving me toward—what I think is—a more biblical view of the Kingdom of God and the life of the church.

After reading my short review for Sidewalks in the Kingdom my good friend Pastor Eric Marx shared a story that has impacted his own church ministry:

James Bender in his book How to Talk Well relates the story of a farmer who grew award-winning corn.  Each year he entered his corn in the state fair where it won a blue ribbon.  One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew it.
This reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors.  “How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?” the reporter asked.
“Why sir,” said the farmer, “didn’t you know?  The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field.  If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn.  If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn.”
He is very much aware of the connectedness of life.  His corn cannot improve unless his neighbor’s corn also improves.
So it is in other dimensions.  Those who choose to be at peace must help their neighbors to be at peace.  Those who choose to live well must help others to live well, for the value of a life is measured by the lives it touches.  And those who choose to be happy must help others to find happiness, for the welfare of each is bound up with the welfare of all.

Again, the lesson here is not a hard one:  If we are to grow good corn, we must help our neighbors grow good corn.  I can almost hear our Lord say, “Go and do likewise.”

© Chip M. Anderson (May 2004)
    Words’nTone, Habits of the Mind,

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Eric Marx is the senior pastor of the Evangelical Covenant Church in International Falls, MN.  I highly recommend this church and commend to you the ministry of this most humble and fantastic man of God.

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