You may have heard of Rick McKinley. He pastors the church Donald Miller wrote about in Blue Like Jazz. Imago Dei in Portland, Oregon, reaches people who live on the margins. McKinley’s book about the church (and all our churches) is called This Beautiful Mess (Multnomah, 2006). McKinley was interviewed in the Fall 2007 issue of Leadership. Here is an excerpt.
1. Did your church reach out to people on the margins from day one?
Not exactly. Early on we were just a small group, and when we started looking at the needs of the city, we had a very honest moment. We admitted that we didn’t really want to love broken, sinful people; we didn’t really want to love Portland.
We prefer safe and protected lives. Most of us don’t want to know about the abuse some homeless vet went through and how he mentally snapped. If I’m honest I have to admit I don’t want to know he exists. I’d rather not know.
But Jesus is ruthless. He’s not ignoring the lepers and the people pushed into places where I don’t have to see them. He goes right to them.
That was a major turning point for us. We met every Wednesday night and repented. I’d lay out all the needs I could see in Portland, and we prayed. We didn’t want to follow some methodology and get 300 people to start a church. We wanted it to be the real deal.
2. As peoples’ hearts were changing, did you begin organizing ministries around their passions?
No. As leaders popped up, they found their expression in different places.
Churches typically create a structure and then fight entropy. A church will start a youth ministry, for instance, and if the youth pastor bails, they try to fill that slot to keep the structure going. Imago Dei isn’t like that.
We are trying to create an environment and see what God births out of it. We’re trying to make sure that the environment is pure: there’s regular repentance, there’s love for one another, there’s Scripture. Out of that kind of environment come ideas for ministry that we’d never come up with.
So we never sat down and said we want to do this or that. We just fought hard to keep the environment weed-free. Out of that came one guy who decided to take his camp stove down to the street corner and feed homeless people. A group of girls felt called to adopt a low-income apartment complex. They went on a prayer walk and found a rehab center for single moms. They got plugged in there and started serving.
If someone wanted to start a boys and girls club, we would say: “That’s cool. Pray about it for a month, put your vision together, and then come back to us.” Everybody has great ideas on Sunday, but if they come back with something on paper, you know it’s something more. We then ask them to gather a team. Nobody starts without a team. If it’s just one person doing it, they’re going to get burned out and frustrated. If they can get two or three people to join them around this vision, then they’ve got a shot.
3. As people from your congregation serve in the city, do you partner with other churches and programs?
Yes, there’s no way one church can do all that needs to be done. It’s ridiculous to even think that way. When you’re serious about community renewal and social justice, man, you have to get everybody onboard. We’ve partnered with secular organizations on AIDS and tried to win a voice for Christians in that community. There’s so much already being done that creating a Christian version really isn’t necessary. Why reinvent the wheel? We definitely believe in “no logo, no ego.”
Everything doesn’t have to be an Imago Dei ministry.
4. What should a church expect if it begins to reach out to people on the margins?
Don’t expect it to grow your church numerically. It will grow your church, but it will grow it deep. The reality is some people aren’t going to get better. So the idea that they’re going to mainstream into the church, become members, and start a home group is just a pipe dream. Some people are never going to get off the street. We see people get off drugs and get their lives back together, and those are great stories. But there are Christ followers who are going to be homeless. You have to know what to expect.
5. Why do you think many churches are reluctant to reach out to people on the margins?
It seems like ministry today has been reduced to strategy and outcomes and production. And, frankly, that is what makes you famous—developing a new ministry strategy. If you can reproduce it and sell it, you can get a book deal.
Ministry to “the least of these” is about people, and it’s messy. But there are godly people all over this country who have been loving people in the name of Jesus, and I think that’s real ministry.
We hear some crazy stories. Like heroine addicts leading each other to Christ. God using heroine addicts! It blows all your stereotypes. The activity of the Spirit among the marginalized is amazing. Sometimes you have to ask yourself, is God at work inside the church? Sometimes I don’t know, but I do know he’s at work outside the church.
Sometimes we’re just reluctant to join him on the margins.
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