SEATTLE (ABP) — Susan Kim crouches on a corner of busy Broadway Street in Seattle, talking about Christ to two street people known in the area by their aliases, Spacebag and Freedom. They are young men, but their faces are weathered and their bodies marked by tattoos and piercings. They wear mostly black clothing, and their language is rough.
Kim is one of several missionaries and members of Sanctuary, a Seattle church, who are witnessing to street people. Since it's warm, they dispense lemonade and cookies in Capitol Hill, an area that is a haven for the homeless and addicted.
“I've known one of them for about four months now,” Kim said. “We believe that the gospel here is a process of daily meeting the people and praying for them and hopefully allowing what we call the coin to drop. It takes root in people's lives and expands to all parts of their lives. This is just another step in his journey. That's what we try to do. We just walk with people in their journey here.”
Sanctuary is one of several ministries in which missions groups work in partnership with Dallas-based Buckner Children and Family Services. While Buckner has focused in the past on ministries in Texas and overseas, it now has begun focusing on the “in-between” — the rest of the United States. With its first U.S. partnership outside Texas, Buckner Children and Family Services is delivering community-ministry support to churches in the Pacific Northwest.
“It's about providing support for churches who have asked for help,” said Felipe Garza, vice president for Buckner Children and Family Services. “We believe we can help local congregations in the Northwest do meaningful, organized community ministries in support of their missions. We have a 125-year tradition of organizing and implementing community ministry.”
The challenge of ministering in Seattle is that fewer than 4 percent of its residents are evangelical Christians, said Melinda Reed, worship and community ministries director for Puget Sound Baptist Association. “On a given Sunday, more than 90 percent are staying at home, hiking, biking, boating or just dealing with life.”
There are by far more coffeehouses than churches in this metropolitan area. Starbucks alone surpasses the number of Southern Baptist churches by almost 100.
“Our area is unique in that we live on a mission field,” Reed said. “The Greater Seattle area is 4 million strong and growing daily. Although it houses more millionaires per capita than any other area, there is another side to that wealth — homelessness (especially with teens), drug problems and social distress, but mostly a need for Jesus.”
The Buckner ministry plan is to support churches' community ministries through volunteer, prayer and resource support, the Texas native said. The plan will include recruiting churches to meet diverse needs identified by churches in the Northwest.
Among the strategies are:
— Recruiting. Buckner will use volunteers to fill missions needs in construction, ministry to the homeless and hurting, helping start community centers, counseling and caring for recovering addicts and those in transition, and evangelism to targeted groups.
— Prayer. “Nothing can be achieved without this,” Reed said. “Prayer support is the vital link to reach this area.” A website, www.embracingseattle.org, is being used to sign up prayer partners.
— Financial support. Christian ministries in the Northwest need supplies, operating funds, building materials, salary funding and ministry materials.
“We need only to raise the awareness that Seattle is here, that we have needs and that people and partners can make a difference,” Reed said.
Community ministry is the starting point for most missions work in the Pacific Northwest. Many churches begin with a community-service component even before they find a permanent place to meet.
Anchor Church of Seattle is an example of a congregation that has put ministry at the forefront of its mission to reach the community. Pastor David Foster said his congregation of 140 is seeking to sell its current facility, a traditional sanctuary and education space, to provide funds for a community-ministries center.
“We have a vision. We had a month of fasting and prayer and seeing where God would want our congregation,” Foster explained. “We are reaching people in different areas, so we are selling our property and reinvesting in ministries,” he said. “We have been ministry-shy and property-rich. Well, that's not what God called us to do.
“Social ministry is not a means to an end. It is one tool in the bag. Our mission is to make mature, fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. In order to do so, we love them at all levels.”
Sanctuary is a young congregation. It doesn't own its worship facility, preferring instead to rent space from an Ethiopian congregation. It plans to move its services to a local pizzeria soon. The only physical address the church has is its coffee shop and cafe, Perkatory, which not only serves coffee and baked items, but also serves as church office and headquarters for its members.
But as different as the church facilities might be, it's Sanctuary's ministry target that separates it from many other churches, said co-pastor Ed Park.
“Our target group is probably the most diverse and most dense community in the Northwest,” he said. “Within a one-mile radius, there are about 100,000 people. You have the wealthiest people here, and you have the poorest people here, all living in the same place.”
A team of church members and short-term missionaries witnesses daily to the homeless in the Capitol Hill area, dispensing the gospel and hot coffee from shopping carts to anyone who wants to talk. Typically, the street youth reach out for support.
“The street kids have been described as 'throwaways' by most people,” Park said. “A lot of them actually came from the suburbs. There's a lot of neglect that happens at home. You also have the people who grew up in abusive situations, some foster homes, runaways who become homeless. … Our thing is to try to show them, 'Look at what Christ has done,' and let that be a source for change.”
The partnership between Puget Sound Association and Buckner “is uncharted territory, but God has an incredible plan,” Reed concluded. “I believe we are on the brink of a spiritual awakening in the Northwest and community ministry will bring a tangible touch of God to those who have never thought about Christ in a personal way.”
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— Photo available from Associated Baptist Press.