I read a recent post by Al Hsu, the author of The Suburban Christian which confirms much of the data I have been mentioning on the new suburban poverty. This poverty is even more insidious because of the way the suburban context hides the poverty, isolates people in their poverty and leaves people in despair in ways somewhat different than in urban contexts. I would even argue that new forms of poverty are taking over the suburbs as thousands have been talked into sub-prime mortgages and various other enslavements which leave them with little or no money for other necessities despite having a suburban home to live in.
This new context of poverty draws attention to the impotence of many church structures in the suburbs where poverty cannot be dealt with through another program. People won’t know or come to such a program in the suburbs. And the programs will not address anything but short term needs (which is necessary but not sufficient to be called God’s justice). We need to find ways of becoming communities of justice in the suburbs just as the neo monastic folks have been pioneering inthe cities. It will look much different in the suburbs for the cost and structure of the burbs is completely different. Yet intentional communities are just as important: communities that seek and teach the ways of simple living, loving people, sharing peace and restorative justice to those caught up in the cycles of suburban impoverishment.
There are other people writing on this stuff . My good friends at Allelon just posted my article (a condensed version of what I presented at the Evolving Church Conference last March) as a first stab at what it is a very complex and important discussion for our times.
What do you all think about suburban poverty? In what ways is it different than urban poverty? And in what ways can intentional community in the burbs take up some of the same principles as neo monastic community in the urban contexts?
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Great questions. As someone who lives and serves in an inner city community, I have only recently been seeing (and moderately engaging) suburban poverty/justice issues. They are very real, but as you say, very different.
Unlike in our neighbourhood, where people wear their brokenness on their sleeve, the suburban culture of respectability (or the myth of respectability, I should say) throws up walls that not only hide ones own suffering, but allows others a convenient means by which to avoid the uncomfortable feelings of seeing our neighbours suffering.
Of course, this can’t last forever. It will explode, just like it has in urban communities. The trick is address the unseen now before the roots spread even deeper. Al Hsu has been very good at this (though I suspect Canada and other non-American countries will need to wrestle with the cultural specifics that change the dynamics).
I am glad that you mention intentional community as a response to this challenge. This is critical, especially if we can see that we do not simply do it as a means to an end (i.e. solving a poverty/justice problem), but rather because it goes to the heart of our missional and ecclesiological identity and vocation as God’s people. We do it for us as much as for others (loving your neighbour as yourself).
Without wanting to take away from this, we are wrestling with an emerging trend that Christians find the poverty/justice issues of the suburbs more “attractive” than the urban ones. Fewer people are helping in the critical work of the urban centers, often justifying it through a conviction that their missional calling is elsewhere. I am not suggesting that they are all wrong, but given the vast need, some of them must be. Any thoughts?
Peace,
Jamie
Poverty is becoming a big issue in rural areas, too.
Jamie… good to hear from you. I don’t have anything new or insightful on the question you raise. I am surprised by your statement tho, that suburban poverty is drawing efforts away from inner city efforts. Because here in Chicago, suburban poverty isn’t much talked about as far as broader para church ministries of justice and mercy go.
I find it interesting that the cities I know best, Chicago, New York, Toronto, Boston Minneapolis, have become centers for wealth in their urban centers in the past twenty years. The wealth and gentrification in Chicago is simply stunning. The city is the place to be for the wealthy. Young wealth and older wealth gravitates to the city. What are churches in these places doing to engage the poverty?
Peace .. DF
Jamie… good to hear from you. I don’t have anything new or insightful on the question you raise. I am surprised by your statement tho, that suburban poverty is drawing efforts away from inner city efforts. Because here in Chicago, suburban poverty isn’t much talked about as far as broader para church ministries of justice and mercy go.
I find it interesting that the cities I know best, Chicago, New York, Toronto, Boston Minneapolis, have become centers for wealth in their urban centers in the past twenty years. The wealth and gentrification in Chicago is simply stunning. The city is the place to be for the wealthy. Young wealth and older wealth gravitates to the city. What are churches in these places doing to engage the poverty?
Peace .. DF
No real insights, but I’m following with interest. In our present context, in the suburbs of a city we are overshadowed by the main Mercedes Benz and Porsche plants, so on the surface our village is rich, and the demographic of our church is tilted accordingly, but some of us are seeing the Turkish and Russian-Germany who live largely in two apartment blocks and who won’t come to a protestant church programme, wondering how we can relate to/reach out to/advocate for them. We are also preparing for a long term ministry in Rural Germany, which many would consider a “Soft” option, but there is a lot of poverty there, and I suspect it’s as hidden as in the suburbs. Thanks for the continued posts on this. It’s good to see other people are seeing that poverty isn’t just an urban issue…
Hey David,
Sorry for my lack of clarification. First, it is not specifically suburban poverty that is drawing efforts, but more generally suburban ministry. I can only speak for my context, but churches are disappearing all over our inner city neighbourhood, with many wonderful and innovative missional expressions in suburbia. I am not diminishing their importance, but it still seems to be to be a drastic imbalance in where Christians are investing their lives. (Again, I am being context specific).
Winnipeg is also not a wealthy city. What wealth does exist often (though not always) contributes the conditions of poverty in the inner city community. The inequity of how and where the city invests clearly demonstrate a significant preference for the higher tax bracket.
The wealthiest churches in our city, with only a few exceptions, have all moved to the outer limits of the the city, even the suburbs. Many of these, when they do engage the community, do so with a heavy prosperity “gospel”. Again, perhaps I am too limited in my view from my own context, but that is what I see. I hope that clarifies.
One more thing to add: I firmly believe that, especially in the Western Evangelical church, our future as authentic Kingdom building communities is inseparably linked to the marginalized in our society. As Lilla Watson, a Murri Aboriginal woman, once said:
“If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time… But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine,
then let us work together.”
Peace,
Jamie
Out here in the far west Chicago suburbs I see this all the time. Kendall County is the third fastest growing county in the nation. We have tons of those cheaply built cookie-cutter homes that create the “house poor” culture out here. We are too rich as a county to get any government aid, so social services are nonexistent.
I see this with the moms in playgroup all the time. They got the house but they have no connection to anything. No phone, no TV, no internet. Their husbands won’t give them money for gas so they are stuck in their big homes with no connection to anyone. More and more these moms are “homeschooling” (no real education, just basically having the kids at home) so they they don’t have to pay all the fees of public school (which are quite hefty out here). If our playgroup happens to meet on their block they show up and stay hours longer because they are desperate for some contact with people.
Every other house in some of these 2-3 year old neighborhoods has a “for sale” (read foreclosure) sign on it. I’ve heard countless stories of the men just disappearing to escape it all and leaving the mom who has been out of the workforce for a number of years stranded with a few kids, a big house, and a lot of debt.
This is a real problem. It seems messed up to me to say that suburban poverty isn’t as important as urban poverty or that it should be ignored until urban poverty is fixed.
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