Cheryl Wong

MN502 Encountering the City

Thursday, June 9, 2016

God So Loves the City Methodology: Seeking a Theology for Urban Mission 

Introduction:

The purpose of this project is to identify the issues that the migrant community of

Melbourne, Australia faces and to integrate the new migrants into the faith

community in an urban context. In doing so, the methodology that is used is the “God

loves the City” methodology so that there is a holistic, integrated approach in the

midst of multiple complex urban factors.

1.The story

Peter is typical of the middle class Asian immigrant who comes to Australia in hope

of a better lifestyle and in search of better educational opportunities for his three

children below 12 years of age. He has come from a country that has offered him

great employment opportunities amidst the political structures of corruption and rife

injustice coupled with discrimination for his ethnic Chinese background in Malaysia.

Job promotions in the country that he comes from meant there was a glass ceiling for

him based on his race and whether he would participate in schemes or transactions

that would compromise his personal integrity and character. Educational opportunities

for his children were limited as the local universities had a race based quota. In

addition, the quality of education in his home country was compromised with the

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many issues related to race and corruption.

He has applied for an Australian visa that is for points-tested for skilled workers and

has suitable skills assessment for that occupation. It allows him to live and work in

Australia as a permanent resident even though he is not sponsored by an employer or

family member or nominated by a state or territory government. He also has not

turned 50 years of age and has the competent English Language skills which he has

had to achieve in order to prove adequate communication skills.

Like many immigrants in his visa category, he expected to get recognition for his

years of work experience and skills and to get job offers quite soon after settling down

in a new country. However, the weeks rolled on to months as many potential

employers did not give the hoped for job opportunities as he did not have “local

experience.” In the meantime, cultural adjustments and integrating his children to a

new school system meant that he had to deal with the lack of support as he was

distanced from his established network of family and friends from his own country.

Although he had just started visiting the local church, he was not recognized as being

a person of need that would require government assistance or any of the official

church Community Care help. He was not at the poverty line nor did he have to

contend with the lack of material resources. Although there were a lot of community

programs that dealt with the needs of the community with marriage, mental health and

social economic issues, there was none that offered support to those new in the

community.

There was no support system in place to meet his employment needs nor counselling

or accountablility groups that would help with the practicalities of adjusting to a new

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life in Australia. He is depressed and disappointed. The sense of loss and grief from

his established support system is something that he and his family would have deal

with. Inwardly, the emotions that he has to face is one of disorientation and

displacement. The lenses that he has used to view the city that he has moved into is

tainted. He had looked at the gifts of the city and had been very positive in his outlook

for settling into the community but found that the journey has not been easy. In the

meantime, the cost of living in an expensive developed city with increased household

expenditure and other expenses in a high cost labour environment.

To compare the costs of living between his home country, Malaysia and that of

Australia:1Peter would need around 5,912.67A$ (17,370.25RM) in Melbourne to

maintain the same standard of life that he can have with 9,300.00RM in Kuala

Lumpur (assuming he rents in both cities). This calculation uses the Cost of Living

Plus Rent Index to compare cost of living. This assumes net earnings (after income

tax).

Indices Difference

Consumer Prices in Melbourne are 71.19% higher than in Kuala Lumpur

Consumer Prices Including Rent in Melbourne are 86.78% higher than in Kuala Lumpur

Rent Prices in Melbourne are 128.31% higher than in Kuala Lumpur

Restaurant Prices in Melbourne are 187.64% higher than in Kuala Lumpur

Groceries Prices in Melbourne are 55.89% higher than in Kuala Lumpur

1 http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Malaysia&country2=Australia&city1=Kuala+Lumpur&city2=Melbourne&tracking=getDispatchComparison

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Local Purchasing Power in Melbourne is 57.73% higher than in Kuala Lumpur

2.Reading the context

Peter’s experience and dilemma is typical of many new middle class immigrants who

have moved to Melbourne. Australia has long welcomed migrants to its shores based

on visa programmes that would build the economy, shape society, support the labour

market and reunite family.2.

Skilled workers in 2014-15 accounted for 68% of the new immigrants to Australia

and is part of the government’s flexible Planning levels for each year. Migrants lift

2 https://www.border.gov.au/about/reports-publications/research-statistics/statistics/live-in-australia/migration-programme

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the three "Ps" - population, participation and productivity of high economic growth.

Australia has a relatively stable fertility rate of 1.9 births per woman, which is below

the replacement level. That is, without migration, Australia's population will

inevitably dwindle. In the 2011 Census, there were 5.3 million migrants in Australia,

which means one in every four (26%) Australian residents was born overseas.

Australia’s migrant population is relatively large when compared with other Western

nations. Taken as a proportion of the population, Australia has a larger migrant

population than does New Zealand (23%), Canada (21%), the United States of

America (13%) and the United Kingdom (13%).Out of Organisation for Economic

Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations, only Luxemburg (42%), Israel

(31%) and Switzerland (28%) have larger proportionate migrant populations.

Melbourne promotes itself as a diverse city that provides education and employment

opportunities to new arrivals. Migrants in Melbourne are most concentrated around

three regions of the city. In the city centre, close to two-thirds of the residents of

Melbourne Central Business Department (68%). In 2015, Melbourne grew by a

thumping 1800 people a week, the new Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show.3

Why have so many migrants come to Melbourne? According to the 2011 Australian

census, its top source from Britain and secondly, India and thirdly, China.4 It has its

reputation as the world’s most liveable city5 and it offers a quality lifestyle for the

3 http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/australian-cities-boom-as-melbourne-closes-in-on-sydney-20150331-1mbqj3.html#ixzz49qSmOpJR 4 "Australian Social Trends 2014." Australian Bureau of Statistics. Accessed May 15, 2016. http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4102.0Main Features102014. 5 Lucas, Clay. "Melbourne Named World's Most Liveable City, for Fifth Year Running." The Age. May 19, 2015. Accessed April 19, 2016. Melbourne named world's most liveable city, for fifth year running Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/melbourne-named-worlds-most-liveable-city-for-fifth-year-running-20150818-gj1he8.html#ixzz49qqDZICV

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number of migrants with easy access to parks and greenry, low pollution and diverse

cultures. Crime rates are low and is a safe place for those fleeing war or persecution.

The work-life balance is held in high regard in Australian society and it invites

migrants to raise their children and families in tandem. Its close proximity to Asia

enable easy travelling and help form business ventures for companies expanding to

those regions. Australia has a high standard of education and many students come to

Australia to receive a top level university education with many permanently settling

down to live and work in Melbourne. Many families come to Australia aspiring for

their children to fit into a new culture, a different school education system and

ultimately to have tertiary level education as this is highly prized in Asia.

3.Rereading the Scriptures

What is the role of the church in integrating migrants and their families? Are there

leaders in the Church who will recognise these needs and facilitate practical support?

What are the existing structures that the Church has set in place?

Leadership

The Church has always been familiar on the structure and leadership models based on

Acts 2: 42. “And athey devoted themselves to the apostles’ bteaching and the

cfellowship, to dthe breaking of bread and the prayers.” According to the author of

this book 6, the essential mark of a healthy growing church has been the expositional

teaching of the word of God. Although this is a traditional evangelical concept, it is

66. Jamieson, Bobby Hearing God's Word: Expositional Preaching. Crossway, 30 Apr. 2012

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also a mindset that is being challenged as the Church has to deal with theology and

preaching in the midst of a post modernist mindset.7 We need to deal with the realities

of meeting real needs but these reminders might have to come with some form of

integrative teaching that includes cultural awareness and responsiveness to the

contemporary and relevant issues in the city. Is it adequate to have a church

leadership that organises the usual structures of the faith community support without

initiatives of outreach to new migrants and their specific needs?

Community

Fellowship is another God ordained structure and principle that needs to be

understood in context. However, one might want to take this further with the

identification that we have another’s need as kinship.8 Gregory Boyle reminds us that

when we create a community of kinship that God recognizes, we are in a circle of

compassion that moves closer to those in the margins.

The “breaking of bread” is the true communion that happens in homes. When the

disciples break bread to remember Christ, it was a real meal that extended to the rest

of life with the sharing of money, resources and time.9 Yoder reminds us that the

common meal intended to lay down the foundation of a missionary policy that would

include the Gentiles. It is more than the ritualistic symbolism of remembering Christ.

Prayer is understood as one of the deep joys of committed Christian community but it

involves the relational force of a spirit filled community that demonstrates 7 Meyer, Jason C. Preaching: A Biblical Theology. Crossway, 2013.8 Boyle, Gregory. Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion. Free Press, 2010.9 Yoder, John Howard. Body Politics. Herald Press, 2001

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inclusiveness. It is the work of the Holy Spirit that enables us to listen to Him and to

listen to others. We have God’s unexpected interventions for the needs of others since

prayer is action. It is human action that causes God to move in supernatural action in

the lives of the persons we pray for.

However, we need to ask if the community recognizes the needs that are beyond their

own. Golling writes about the overemphasis on internalised fellowship to the point of

loss of interest to those outside the group. A danger in the body life focus is the

danger of what Peter Wagner has called “koinonitis” and is described as a Church

pathology caused by too much of a good thing. The interpersonal relationships

become so deep that almost all church relationships and activities become the focal

point, rather than oriented toward mission in the community.10

4.New Mission insights

Peter’s experience is a typical story of the new migrant coming to Melbourne. It is

during times of transition, turbulence or crisis that people seek spiritual solutions.

How can the church help its new migrants and arrivals and their families integrate into

the church community? What biblical insights or scirptures could inform us about

dealing with Peter’s integration into the Church with practical help from the Church?

Can the Church think more strategically and have a vision that complements the city’s

structure and formation?

The Acts model is a foundation for church community. However, a reflection of

10 Richard Gollings, Planting communities of faith in the city in “God so loves the City” edited by Charles Van Engen and Jude Tiersma pg 134

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church leadership and community dynamics comes from the Old Testament in the

example of Elisha and the widow.

2 Kings 4:1-7 New International Version (NIV)

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4 The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your

servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his

creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.”

2 Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your

house?”

“Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a small jar of olive oil.”

3 Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for

just a few. 4 Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into

all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.”

5 She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her

and she kept pouring. 6 When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me

another one.”

But he replied, “There is not a jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing.

7 She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts.

You and your sons can live on what is left.”

2 Kings 4 : 1- 7 speaks about Elijah the prophet who asks the widow if she had any oil

jars even in her moment of dire need . He started a line of questioning that would raise

awareness. She was blind to her own assets but ultimately, came to realize that what

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she had a list of resources that was crucial to a miracle taking place and that she

would be participating in a provision that would be intergenerational. She was able to

gather help from the community to get all the resources that she would need.

Leadership

Metaphorically, the prophet could represent the role of the Church in a teaching and

leadership structure. The church community must be taught the moral system of

behavior towards extending help to the stranger. Raising awareness of the common

issues and providing the solution that is beyond theologizing and pulpit ministry to

holistic needs is vital to meeting the needs of the individual in community.

Are there leaders in our Church community who would take an interest in the outsider

and ask good questions like Elisha did? Even when he asked the good questions, he

was also able to direct her to the right resources or provide some form of direction.

This method forms one of the foundational principles for ABCD Asset-based asset-

based community development. It is a bottom-up way of working with communities

that focuses on community strengths and assets. It is also about helping an individual

uncover their strengths and gifts. It is about inner healing, dignity and self esteem.

The Church leadership must ask questions about the kind of community that ministry

is directed toward by reflecting continuously about strategic action. What is the vision

that they have in partnership for transformation in the city and society?

Community

The widow had already experienced some form of community from her neighbours.

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This close knit community did not refuse the help she needed. They gave her empty

jars she needed to see a miracle happen. I see that there are already the structures that

are in place to see a miracle happen. These structures are akin to the basic structures

of fellowship and community. The results following verse 42 in the previous book of

Acts reveal how God added to the numbers those who were saved. The results in this

Old Testament story for the widow was that she was able to not only survive but

thrive.

5.Mission Action

If the local churches were more aware of their role in welcoming the stranger, it

would probably minister more effectively to reach out to its members and the

community at large. It is important for the local church community to understand the

mission context in welcoming migrants and new arrivals.

Leadership and community

The independent, individualistic mindset is more predominant in the western culture

and also in the Australian Church. The leaders or pastors that are in the local churches

may seem to be more detached in their approach to problem solving and seem more

able to set boundaries on time and resource sharing. This leads to conflict in terms of

expectations and relationships. A migrant from an Asian background might expect a

pastor to be an autocratic leader and be directive in their approach to issues. However,

there is room for cross cultural awareness training and leadership development to

incorporate effective, holistic ministry. The structures of teaching, fellowship,

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breaking of bread and prayers may have a different connotation for the leaders and the

newcomers. We must continue to remove the barriers that blind us to the liberating

power of God’s word. The Church must continue to identify with the stranger and the

marginalised. Jesus was Asian by birth and this is an often overlooked fact – a point

that illustrates that we forget how to read our Church community contextually.

The leaders of the Church must be aware of the holistic ministry that it should have

towards its community with constant and persistent reminders from pulpit ministry.

The church must practise a prepositional option for the mission of the church. The

prepositional word is “with”.11 This is the incarnational preposition that Immanuel,

God with us. The potential to transform both the leaders and the people they seek to

serve is heightened. Incarnational ministry requires a higher investment of time and

relational energy but the outcome is transformation for the individual and the

community. Human action propels the Divine intervention so that the supernatural

happens.

6.Retelling the Story

In retelling the story of the new migrant and arrival, local Churches need to be aware

of the dilemma of the newcomer. The church must raise awareness of the issues

facing the new arrivals and seek to connect other members of the church with

common goals of integrating.

Leadership and Community

11 Rock, Kris and Joel Van Dyke. Geography of Grace: Doing Theology from Below. Street Psalms Press, 2012. Kindle edition; Location 815 of 4889

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The Church leadership that have identified the needs of the changing and evolving

community are better equipped to help others. The changing face of Australia

consisting of a multicultural migrant culture must surely shape its mission statements.

The practical aspects of ministry must integrate holistic solutions. Networking with

members of the faith community and business leaders of the community would be

integral in providing support. This support has come from the resources and the

strength of the community at large. Sometimes there are boundaries lines in the

geography of grace that should be blurred between faith and business communities.

Jeremiah29: 4

This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile

from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5“Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat

what they produce. 6Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons

and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters.

Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7Also, seek the peace and prosperity of

the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it

prospers, you too will prosper.

Leadership, Community and the vision

This passage in Jeremiah encapsulates the hopes and dreams of the new migrant to a

new city as that is precisely how they would want to settle into a new community.

They would have plans and dreams to get good jobs and own their own homes. These

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dreams incorporate families and is intergenerational. Gornik states that “shalom is a

vision big enough for the city in all of its dimensions”.

Gormik acknowledges the church,12 where this is the church where Christ followers

are called to seek the peace of the church and its welfare. “We do not dwell in a

peaceful urban world where every need is met…but living differently is part of the

witness.” Social location of the discipleship church is a vital part of the Church. The

city confronts the church with an obligation to recover the biblical tradition of

passionate concern for the widow, the orphan, the poor and the stranger. The stranger

in this case, the new immigrant and the new arrival.

The local Church that Peter attends today has a pastor who is concerned about the

needs of new migrants and the unemployment situation. The pastor has organised

forums with help from experienced professionals that would provide assistance with

job seeking skills. These skills range from writing effective resumes to training for

work in an Australian workplace that incorporates cultural awareness. He has taken an

active role in connecting people. There is a job networking group on an email list

where job seekers are given information about current job opportunities that exist.

The Church has a Noticeboard on a Facebook page that gives its members access to

services and resources with practical help from its own community.

Peter is now gainfully employed .His family is also well integrated into the

community as his children have enjoyed going to organised family outings and youth

groups. The Church has small life group structures to integrate newcomers to existing

12 Gornik, Mark R. To Live in Peace: Biblical Faith and the Changing Inner City. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Pub., 2002. Pg 6

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community. He is able to obtain employment in the Australian workplace and has

settled into the Church community, starting small groups that are culturally responsive

to his personal and practical needs. These structures have the mission focus and can

identify with the practical needs of the newcomer.

In my submitted ethnography form13, I had made observations about a Chinese

restaurant in a Melbourne suburb. These were the staff who suffered from the lack of

language skills which had impeded their job prospects or opportunities. These are the

individuals needing to be integrated into the faith community. The vision of the future

is bigger than we can imagine or expect. Elisha in the Old Testament had asked the

widow for oil jars. With the benefit of hindsight, she may have regretted not asking

for more as the multiplication and the miraculous happened with what little she had

even though she had not envisioned more. The vision that members of the faith

community and the leadership of Churches incorporate the staff and waiters in this

Chinese restaurant who have lived in the cycle of being trapped in their employment

and lack of language skills.

This is potentially the bigger vision for community building. Peter feels that he has

started to participate and integrate into the Melbourne community. He has started to

view the city with new perspectives and begins to watch out for the newcomer to the

city. Because Peter has bilingual skills, he is able to interact with the chinese speaking

community. He connects with a chinese restaurant owner and he is able to reach out to

a different migrant group of Chinese speaking migrants who do not have the English

language skills he has. He has learnt to transfer skills to this new group and has even 13 https://moodle.fuller.edu/mod/turnitintooltwo/view.php?id=63509h

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participated in outreaches to this community with language classes and forums similar

to what he has attended.

The Church has prospered because the leadership and its members have learnt to

adapt and adjust to the changing needs in a culturally complex urban city. The

prosperity that takes place at a community level takes place in a citywide context. It

has a ripple effect to enlarge the circle of compassion to include those who stand at

the margins. Peter’s story is a reminder that Melbourne’s churches can contribute to

the integration of migrants to communities in the city.

Cheryl Wong

Bibliography

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1. Rock, Kris and Joel Van Dyke. Geography of Grace: Doing Theology from

Below. Street Psalms Press, 2012. Kindle edition; Location 815 of 4889

2. Tiersma, Jude, and Charles Van Engen. God So Loves the City: Seeking a

Theology for Urban Mission. Wipf and Stock, 2009.

3. Jamieson, Bobby Hearing God's Word: Expositional Preaching. Crossway,

30 Apr. 2012

4. Meyer, Jason C. Preaching: A Biblical Theology. Crossway, 2013.

5. Gornik, Mark R. To Live in Peace: Biblical Faith and the Changing Inner

City. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Pub, 2002

6. Boyle, Gregory. Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion.

Free Press, 2010.

7. Yoder, John Howard. Body Politics. Herald Press, 2001

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