detroit: how migration changes a city

Migration in and out of cities is a fascinating phenomenon.  From the early 1900's forward, there has been a massive influx into urban centers in the US.  Some of this has come through immigration.  Much of it has been a  result of industrialization; the improvement in farm implements did not require the same workforce to run a farm, at the same time the cities were opening factories.  During WWII, over half a million African Americans migrated to northern cities to fill jobs which were being vacated by men leaving for war.  This created, almost overnight, places like Chicago's south side, and New York's Harlem.  In influx of African Americans into cities, sparked what sociologists call white flight.  Suburbs are the result of white flight.  This left most major urban centers as predominantly African American.  While urban centers continue to grow--at least in the sun-belt cities--there has been a push since the late 70's to move to the suburbs and back out to smaller towns.  The influx of technology jobs (as industrial jobs are sent overseas) provided the means for this migration out of the city.


Detroit has seen exaggerated forms of all of these eras of migration, the most devastating of which has been white flight and the current down turn in the economy.  Detroit has shrunk by half its population over the past decade or so.  Over one third of all homes in the city are vacant.  The entire state is expected to fall below 10 million in population.  This exodus out of the city has sparked a major crisis for city leaders as they are trying to operate the same services for the same size city, geographically, with half of the tax base.  The city is facing a 15.3% unemployment rate and is suffering from a 2.8 billion dollar deficit.


Rather than looking to the federal government for a bailout (it is arguable that government has been a major contributor to the problems in Detroit), they should look to innovators, individuals with an entrepreneurial spirit and hard work ethic, organic solutions (a government prop up will only prolong the bleeding not stop it), and private investors (when money is needed--though judicious government should be used to prevent speculation).


One such group of innovators is the Catherine Ferguson Academy.  They are providing education to young pregnant mothers, who would otherwise have to drop out.  While they only provide services for 300 of Detroit's 3,000 young pregnant mothers, they have a phenomenal graduation rate of 90%.  They have reappropriated some school grounds have have turned it into a working garden.  The women are taught how to grow fruit and vegetables and then turn and sell their produce.  Aside from teaching them valuable job skills which can feed their family, they are learning self reliability and responsibility.  Two filmmakers have put together a documentary showcasing the school.   I highly recommend that you take an hour and watch this video.


One of the solutions to the problem of waning tax base and a vacatant city, some have proposed shrinking the size of the city's footprint.  This is a great idea.  The word self-sustaining needs to be in everyone's vocabulary.  Some have proposed using vacant lots for gardens like the Academies'.  It is no small irony that in the cycle of migration that the rural and the urban are now going to be mixed to one degree or another.


What can we learn?  Do you have a city with urban poor?  Rather than build your next church building or campus, why not buy some unused plot of land in your city.  Find the people in your church who are just sitting on pews with skills in gardening and husbandry.  Start a working community farm.  This demonstrates your genuine concern for being a blessing to your community.  You are giving people the skills and dignity to take care of themselves.  The people in your church will see an direct connection between your church and your community. 


Otherwise, we end up looking like the typical Americans and they typical Christians who tithe to themselves.  


Here is a funny video:

Poor Grosse Pointe - watch more funny videos

eccleastical greed: a lack of ethos in urban space

As promised, I am going to blog following the TIME Detroit blog. I want to provide some 
theological and missiological reflection on their Detroit restoration project. Part of what is
amping me up on this post is my two previous posts {here and here} so you might want to 
briefly check those out before proceeding.

I don't know of any churches whose express purpose is to live for self. I don't know of a church
website, brochure, pastor, etc who would not say that they are not interested in helping their 
community and reaching the world. Yet, this is the exact impression most people under the 
age of 30 think of churches. Most churches state quite the opposite. Most will say that they 
are there to help their community. Why is there this disconnect? Perhaps it is because there 
is a Grand Canyon sized chasm between what churches say they are interested in doing and 
how they actually behave. When walk and talk are perceived to be this far apart, it presents a 
problem in a church's ethos.


Darrell Dawsey recently posted an article titled, "Ditchin' Religion."  He says

we put too much faith in these ministers, their big churches and the feel-good rhetoric they sell on Sundays.

While his cry to ditch religion is a bit premature, he says what many are probably thinking:

I can't help but wonder how much better our communities could be if we put even half the energy that we invest in keeping these pastors well-heeled into our public schools, politics, finances or businesses. 

I do not profess to know the situation on the ground in Detroit (at least beyond what is online and in print).  Their church situation is probably similar to the church situation around then country.  

In most pioneer missions contexts, missionaries are not allowed in as missionaries.  They must have a legitimate purpose for being in that country.  I believe the time has come in our own country that we need a specific purpose and reason for being in our communities.  Our role should never be to merely take up space in the city which only gets used once a week and provides little more than a meeting space.  We need to use the space more than once (and for more than just believers) and carry our own weight.  

Churches are religious organizations.  As such they are exempt from taxation.  This means that they use space which requires utilities and public services such, as fire and police, but they don't pay into the system.  Currently there are large census tracts with vacancy rates of 30-50% and higher!  At the city level, this makes maintaining adequate police and fire services difficult since they must still patrol and protect the same area but with fewer tax dollars to help them.  

This has been a problem for a Houston suburb as well.  There are so many churches moving in {because land is cheap} who are not paying into the system that the city is struggling to provide adequate services.  A barrier is growing slowly  between the city and the churches since the city knows that they will never win a fight to tax the churches and since the churches will never actually pay into the system.  Would it be so hard to pay for services that they are using?


Churches all over Detroit are struggling to keep things running cutting staff and services and charging for things like funerals.  But what if each minister were bi-vocational?  There would not be the stigma of "freeloading" in a sinking society.  It is time to abandon church as a purely Sunday function.  Why should everyone go through such sacrifice for the sake of one building?  Why not sell the building and give back to the community?  We have nothing to loose and much to gain by giving it all away and living like we truly believe this world is not our home rather than building kingdoms to ourselves. 


The urban crisis facing Detroit demonstrates the divide between church life and city life and how out of touch we  are with the problems in the world.  The church all over America is in the same boat but, since there is no crisis at hand, we do not realize that we are dragging our communities down rather than being a blessing to them.  In my previous post I recounted how Gallery Furniture has been a beneficial fixture of the community.  When it burned down, the community rose up to help it rebuild.  I can't imagine that happening for most churches were they to find themselves in similar circumstances.  


There is a lesson here if we are listening.

help wanted: bloggers needed

I need your help and I need it fast!  This is a blogging project for church planters, missiologists, strategists, sociologists, missionaries, and urban minded folk {any of those people can be actual, armchair, or wannabe status}.  I need your help getting the word out to and recruiting  these people.  I am stealing Ed Stetzer's idea wherein he recently used a number of bloggers to cover his vision trip to Taiwan. 
Here is the project.  In the Oct 5, 2009 edition of TIME magazine, they are starting a special project in Detroit {you need to find that copy and read the entry article on Detroit}.  They have purchased a house and moved some of their staff to Detroit for a year to cover the city.  They will be analyzing what went wrong, and possible solutions for making it proper.  You can find their stuff on the web.  For those who agree to blog with me, I am asking you to subscribe to their blog, and provide theological and missiological interaction with their articles, data, and opinions.  I believe that other cities can learn much from the decline and, hopefully, rise of Detroit. 
Just to pique your interest, here are some sobering facts:

• The city's population has plummeted from just over two million in 1950 to barely 900,000 in 2000.
• Detroit was once the 4th largest city; now it is the 11th.
  
• The median price of a house is now $8,000.
• 25% of the available houses are from foreclosures.
• Unemployment rate is almost 30%.
• 20% of postal addresses city wide are unoccupied. 
• There are 56 census tracts that are there are above 30% unoccupied.  Five of those tracts are 50% and greater unoccupied.
• 7 in 10 murders go unsolved.
• Check out this photo essay.

Here is the skinny: TIME attributes the fall to four things.  First there were the race riots and "white flight."  Second, Mayor Coleman Young practiced the politics of retribution and isolation.  Third and fourth, the economy collapsed at the triumvirate hands of stalled auto makers, unions, and pandering politicians.   
Some initial questions I have to get you started are {relate everything back to your context-what are the lessons and insights here?}:

• What is the role of racism in the decline of Detroit?  How does this relate to wight flight in your city? 
• How could the church have prevented wight flight?
• As America "browns" and whites move into majority minority status in most urban centers, what should be their outlook on their place in the future?
• What is the role of the church in restoring the city?
• How has the church failed?
• What role has greed played, both corporate and individual, if any, in the economic crash?  In what way is your city and church partaking in greed which is going to lead to their decline?

So here is what I need from you:

• Read the Oct 5th article on Detroit.
• Subscribe to TIME's Detroit blog.
• Blog {please let me know if you are doing this}
• Pray
• Mobilize

If I get enough feedback and interest I will set up a group blog wherein we can syndicate our posts.  If someone out there can make us a logo, that would be great as well.