I’m always amazed at the different perspective you get when you walk the streets of a place. Driving doesn’t quite cut it – you are too cut off from the action, too insulated from the place you are in, too far removed from the people. When you drive, you don’t have to let a place in; all you are doing is passing through, generally too fast to notice anything but the road.
Walking brings you face to face with the area around you. It’s harder to ignore the houses you pass by or the people you encounter. You can notice things like the number of power meters on a house, or the level of trash left out on the sidewalk, or the small backyards kids have to play in. You can see the houses change from those on neglected lots to those with well-manicured lawns – and those that stick out like a sore thumb in the neighborhood.
We prayed through two neighborhoods yesterday morning, walking around Auburn and Portland Streets, as well as Summer Street. Two very different neighborhoods, but probably no less in their need for the love of God to change hearts and minds. I had only driven around these areas previously; walking them completely opened my eyes and changed my perspective. We have a few more neighborhoods targeted for prayer walks – the downtown and Washington heights to name a couple – and I hope to be similarly changed the next time we go about praying for the houses, the people we pass, and the issues people face.
One of the things we’re hoping to do is to create a church where people don’t associate church with a building, but about people and a relationship. Where discipleship is about a wholistic approach to faith and life rather than adherence to an intellectual set of beliefs or going to the event on Sunday morning. Where we aim to bring the kingdom of God by making life better for every single person, regardless of whether or not people engage with us spiritually. Where we want to love the city the way God does.
I hope now that school is officially over and community life has more or less settled in, we can start really focusing on getting involved in the city – getting to know what resources are available for people on the margins and making relationships, getting involved in activities that spark each of our interests, and getting a better handle on the pulse of the city. I imagine that each of us will connect in very different areas – and how neat it will be to bring these different parts of Haverhill into relationship with one another!
The most exciting part for me is forming relationships with people out in the community. Once I kick this cold I’ve been fighting for the past few weeks or so, I want to get out there and really experience the city! I can’t wait to see what things God is already doing in the city. I can’t wait to pray through neighborhoods, see what there is to be seen, and get a better picture of what life in the city is like for most people. I can’t wait to relate the Gospel to their lives – to tell people that the way of Jesus Christ is full of hope and transformation and new life.
I think there are many unique ways that we can interface with the city – or (using more traditional language) be in ministry to the city. A few things we have planning are a welcoming ministry – new residents to Haverhill often have a difficult time getting involved and connecting with the city. Secondly, we’re thinking about an artists ministry; there is no meaningful artist community in the city – lots of things happening everywhere, but no real catalyst jumpstarting things. There are a few places: like Wingate Street Art District or some of the live music happening throughout the city on Bradford Common or on Wingate. Thirdly – something that I’ve been thinking about lately – is maybe connecting with the green movement in Haverhill. Greening the city is something that has a lot of potential in Haverhill, and there are a lot of people who are interested in partnering to make it happen – from green homes to single stream recycling to a revamped farmers market to community gardens throughout the city. How awesome would it be to have a church interested in helping these efforts?
Anyhow, these are a few of my thoughts about our future as a church in Haverhill. Things are looking up!
Because of all the rain and miserable weather we had been having over the past few weeks, the 4th of July fireworks were postponed from the 3rd of July to the 5th of July. We headed over to the stadium to check out the festivities – the first time for all of us! (Ben and I last year were so exhausted from moving in that we chose sleep over seeing the show).
There were a few vendors, and Team Haverhill, the local citizen action group had a couple tables along with a exhibit of one of their newest projects: Soles of Haverhill “Shoe-la-bration” which is a three month public art exhibit of twenty giant shoes celebrating Haverhill’s history as the shoe capital of the world. I’ve posted a couple of the pictures below.
One of the shoes
Another shoe!
Team Haverhill also was attempting to set the record for the most postcards sent from a single location at a time. The previous record in the Guinness Book of World Records was something like 4,300 from a place in China. According to the official count, we sent over 4,900 postcards promoting Haverhill!
We had a great time seeing the sights. One of the thing we noticed in the stadium was the large number of young kids – middle school and high school – wandering around without their parents. It was surprisingly a very young crowd – also a fair number of young adults with little children – but the number of kids really made an impression on all four of us. This may prove to be a fruitful area for ministry!
Matt and Farrah
The Fireworks Finale