Saint Sabina

This past Sunday I was in Chicago and attended the Saint Sabina Church located in South Chicago. St. Sabina is a Catholic, African American congregation. When I arrived at the St. Sabina church, at approximately 11:20 am, I parked one block from the Sanctuary on the opposite side of the main entrance. I parked in front of a bar, and within one block walked past a store front African American churches which was in session and the preaching could be heard from the street as we walked by. As we approached the church, I first noticed a large lighted sign with the words: “Stop the violence, our children are dying”. Walking closer, I noticed a playground at the front of the church which had 31 wooden, mock coffins, each with a wooden cross and plastic flowers on top, which surrounded the playground. After the service, I noticed a woman standing and looking at the coffins. I asked her why there were 31? She told me that when they put the display up a few weeks earlier, “31 of our innocent children have been killed by guns this year”. I asked her, “31 from your church or from your community?” She said, “31 from the community, but since the display had been put up, 3 or 4 more children have been killed as well”. She said that just last week a young boy was sitting on his porch when he was hit by a bullet.
As I approached the main entrance I noticed a line of youth waiting to enter the sanctuary. Each were wearing a red T-Shirt which said, “Young Warriors for Christ” in the middle of the shirt, just under the word “warriors” was a crusader shield. As I entered the sanctuary, which was quickly filling to capacity (I would estimate 500-700 people were in the service) the service was already started. I first noticed several TV cameras along the sides, and also that Jessie Jackson was speaking from the front with the priest and a couple of other people at his side. Jackson told about the experience of him and the priest being arrested the day before as a result of a boycott of “Chucks Gun Store” . "Jobs are going out, guns are coming in." was a theme which Jackson had the congregation repeat with him. Jackson tied his comments to a history of African Americans who have had to fight to gain victory over slavery and in battles. As Jessie Jackson left the sanctuary, he shook hands with people, and held up a small boy.
The 3and half hour service which started when Jackson left, was an experience easier experienced than described. The mixture of Catholic and African heritage was quite unique and blended together in a very natural way.
The mission of the church is making disciples of the believers. The whole thrust of the service had a tone of moving the church outside of its walls and making an impact on a destructive society. In every sense, I would call St. Sabina a missional church. Their primary focus is not being relevant in order to get people to come into their church, but rather mobilizing the believers in the church to go out and change the world. I would encourage you to look up the website for St. Sabina, and get an idea of what a missional and yet contextualized church looks like. While you are on the site, listen to some of the sermons of father Pfleger. http://www.saintsabina.org/index2.htm (if you would like a complete ten page description of my visit along with cultural observations, let me know and I will e-mail you a copy)

Dr. Paul Hiebert

During the past two years I have had the privilege to get to know an incredible person. On several trips to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School I struggled to find economic housing in the area. Dr. Paul Hiebert, generously opened his home to me and several others as well. In the evenings we would share a meal together, and then return to work. At about 9:00pm we would gather in the living room for ice cream and for a time to talk about anthropology. To have the opportunity to sit down and talk about current trends in anthropology with Paul Hiebert is about as good as it gets for a missiologist. I would compare it to sitting down to talk with the apostle Paul about the New Testament.

The last time I stayed with Dr. Hiebert was in October. At that time he knew that his cancer was progressive and that he might not survive it. After teaching PhD courses all day, he worked until 9:00pm each evening in order to complete two new books. He completed these books during the last two months of his life and they will probably be published later this year. During the last two months of his life, he also completed a graduation address which I have copied below from the Trinity web page. http://www.tiu.edu/tiu/newshiebertcommencementaddress
Dr. Paul Hiebert's Final Message to Students Read at Commencement
The late Dr. Paul Hiebert, a renown missiologist, missionary to India, and distinguished TEDS professor of mission and anthropology, was invited to deliver the Commencement address for Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Trinity Graduate School on May 12, 2007. Dr. Hiebert died of cancer on Sunday, March 11, 2007, but his message was read at Commencement by his close friend and colleague, TEDS Academic Dean Dr. Tite Tienou.


TEDS Academic Dean Dr. Tite Tienou reading Dr. Paul Hiebert's Commencement address on May 12, 2007.
A Rapidly Changing World
The world in which you minister is radically different from the one Frances and I entered in 1960. Then it took us three months by ship to reach India; three weeks for mail to go and return, and three days to book an underseas cable to phone the U.S. People returned once every seven years on furlough. Today transcultural flights and instant communication have become routine.
Every few centuries, we seem to pass through an "Alice in Wonderland's mirror" and enter a world radically different from the one we left. In the past we adjusted old theories and methods of ministry to a changing world. Today we do not need old theories and methods. We need new kinds of ministers and missionaries who learn to think in new ways, to exegete their social and cultural contexts as well as others, and faithfully communicate the Gospel to our new world. Most of us leave seminary with a deep understanding of the Gospel, but with few ways to exegete humans. The message we preach often touches the surface of people's lives but does not transform them deeply. We must develop more effective methods of understanding and go deeper to understand the central questions people are facing. We need to show them that the Gospel provides definitive answers to their felt needs and their deep theological needs. In other words, we need theologians and missionaries who do both theological and anthropological reflections on the human scene more deeply and who learn how to incarnate faithfully the Gospel in contemporary human contexts.
Our Unchanging Lord
In our fractured, changing world, the great news is that Jesus Christ, the lord of all history, and the commander in world mission is the same today as he was with Adam, Moses and David. He is the Lord who took on human flesh to bring us salvation, and a new creation.
We who have walked before, commend you into God's hand. We have lived in changing worlds, and have experienced our Lord's faithfulness and constancy throughout our lives. If you asked us: if we had the chance would we live differently, I know most of us would say no, not at the deepest levels of our lives. As we grow old, we can look back at the story, "the plot" of our lives, and see that God has been writing a drama in our years of living. When we were young we sometimes saw our life stories as detective stories, as mysteries, as tragedies, possibly as comedies, but in looking back we realize that these are great Love Stories. He who created us is coming back to bring us home as his bride.
Our Challenge to You
We who have gone before today charge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus: be ready to minister in season and out of season; reproving, rebuking and exhorting with complete patience and teaching. Like Paul we encourage you to share the Gospel you have heard among us… with the world. YOU are already the leaders of the world church in the 21st century. Remember, central to your task is to train leaders who will, in turn, train leaders—not followers. Remember that God is writing a story in your lives as you minister in his kingdom, but your story takes on meaning because it is part of an eternal story. Paul received that Gospel and passed it on to Timothy, who passed it on to those who followed . That Gospel has come down through the centuries through our spiritual genealogy, and we must pass it on to those who follow us. When Christ returns, he will continue establishing his eternal reign of peace, justice and love over the universe.