Christians are in the Business of Division
Christians are in the Business of Division
We were the new kids on the block. (I’m not talking about my early 90s boy band crush Joey.)
Northeast Minneapolis has long been known as the city that feels like a small town. There is a church and a bar on nearly every other corner.
When we started Mill City Church there were about 55 churches in Northeast. Most of them averaging 100-150 people or less. So do the math and for a town of 55,000 having a church on every corner hasn’t exactly led to a balloon in church participation.
The last census put Northeast at under 10% participation in a Christian church of any kind.
In the midst of this startling statistic, we were the new kids. Five years ago we moved into a town that had given birth to churches 150 years before us. Churches that had been historically divided in as many ways as you can imagine.
We literally moved, sold our homes and moved into the neighborhood asking two questions: What is God up to here? How can we be a part of that?
We knew God had been at work in Northeast Minneapolis long before ANY of the Northeast churches had been planted.
In an attempt to answer our question, we joined in a long time Northeast tradition: The Celebrate Northeast Parade down Central Avenue. It’s the second oldest annual parade in the state!
We spent hours making the best float we could produce. A sweet skyline nearly 20 feet long. We filled baskets with candy and blasted Johnny Cash over a loud speaker.
“How… relevant we are!” we thought to ourselves.
3000 people saw our float that year as we sauntered down the central corridor – One person joined our community.
Only one.
A really important one named Whitney who is still core to our community. But still, all that work, all that time… and just one person joined us.
When you ask her why – she gives an answer about feeling like God was speaking to her to check us out, but I think it was the Johnny Cash tunes.
What is God up to here in Northeast?
We still weren’t sure, but we decided that what he WASN’T doing was trying to entice people to church with flashy parade floats.
But by that next fall, something amazing began to happen!
God was breaking down walls between the churches in Northeast Minneapolis:
- Pastors began to pray together weekly.
- People began to have an attitude of collaboration rather than competition.
- Multiple churches began to run one food shelf.
- Churches started encouraging each other by sharing discipleship methods.
- Multiple churches began to host equipping training together.
- We worked together to find ways to “adopt” nearby public schools and taking a page from each other’s playbook.
Surely this is what God is doing – because history would suggest when left to our own devices…
Christians are in the business of division.
There is prayer Jesus prays for his followers in John 17 and he suggests God is made famous when his people are in unity.
We were beginning to think he must have been serious!
What happened next surprised us all…
Christians are in the Business of Division
We were the new kids on the block. (I’m not talking about my early 90s boy band crush Joey.)
Northeast Minneapolis has long been known as the city that feels like a small town. There is a church and a bar on nearly every other corner.
When we started Mill City Church there were about 55 churches in Northeast. Most of them averaging 100-150 people or less. So do the math and for a town of 55,000 having a church on every corner hasn’t exactly led to a balloon in church participation.
The last census put Northeast at under 10% participation in a Christian church of any kind.
In the midst of this startling statistic, we were the new kids. Five years ago we moved into a town that had given birth to churches 150 years before us. Churches that had been historically divided in as many ways as you can imagine.
We literally moved, sold our homes and moved into the neighborhood asking two questions: What is God up to here? How can we be a part of that?
We knew God had been at work in Northeast Minneapolis long before ANY of the Northeast churches had been planted.
In an attempt to answer our question, we joined in a long time Northeast tradition: The Celebrate Northeast Parade down Central Avenue. It’s the second oldest annual parade in the state!
We spent hours making the best float we could produce. A sweet skyline nearly 20 feet long. We filled baskets with candy and blasted Johnny Cash over a loud speaker.
“How… relevant we are!” we thought to ourselves.
3000 people saw our float that year as we sauntered down the central corridor – One person joined our community.
Only one.
A really important one named Whitney who is still core to our community. But still, all that work, all that time… and just one person joined us.
When you ask her why – she gives an answer about feeling like God was speaking to her to check us out, but I think it was the Johnny Cash tunes.
What is God up to here in Northeast?
We still weren’t sure, but we decided that what he WASN’T doing was trying to entice people to church with flashy parade floats.
But by that next fall, something amazing began to happen!
God was breaking down walls between the churches in Northeast Minneapolis:
- Pastors began to pray together weekly.
- People began to have an attitude of collaboration rather than competition.
- Multiple churches began to run one food shelf.
- Churches started encouraging each other by sharing discipleship methods.
- Multiple churches began to host equipping training together.
- We worked together to find ways to “adopt” nearby public schools and taking a page from each other’s playbook.
Surely this is what God is doing – because history would suggest when left to our own devices…
Christians are in the business of division.
There is prayer Jesus prays for his followers in John 17 and he suggests God is made famous when his people are in unity.
We were beginning to think he must have been serious!
What happened next surprised us all…
I think you have hit on something that is lacking in most parts if the country. I am down in the belt buckle of the Bible Belt and cooperation is hit-and-miss at best and typically superficial when it occurs. Occasionally you will see something real going on as you are describing. But, we must plug away at getting to where your churches are in NE Minneapolis.
And yes, a Johnny Cash tune or two would have kept me around!
Blessings to you, your cooperative pastors and all your congregations!
Glen,
Thank you for your encouragement. I will be praying for God’s spirit of unity to come to your part of our country!
Sometimes, when it seems the most impossible, God does just that.
Peace,
Stephanie
I seen first hand what Stephanie is talking about, I grew up in a Catholic home and it didn’t involve much community, since I’ve been around Mill City Church (and when I say church, I mean the people) I’ve experienced something I’ve never experienced in a church setting…community! And not just within our congregation, but throughout NE Mpls, we’ve partnered with a few other churches to bring NE ALIVE!!! I have a feeling many have felt the same!
Tom
It really has been amazing hasn’t it Tom? Only God could lead something like this!
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