Standing in the Margin: How Your Congregation Can Minister With the Poor (and perhaps recover its soul in the process)

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Summary: Using all the space on the page...
Review: In the forward to this text by Mary Alice Mulligan and Rufus Burrow, Jr. (both are professors at my seminary, with whom I have studied in the past few years), David Buttrick states that one of the difficulties mainline Protestantism has had in the past generation has been its inability to preach to the poor and adjust to the general change in American culture, that change being that increasing affluence is no longer considered a birthright, even of the (now shrinking) middle class. He suggests as other analysts have that we live 'between the times', likening this period to that between the Renaissance and the Reformation, where there is cultural upheaval and confusion.

Into the mix, Mulligan and Burrow suggest a programme of twelve sessions to be used by churches to recover a sense and practice of ministry to the poor and marginalised. Ministry in the Margins for the authors takes on a different meaning that what most comfortable, mainline churches might think of as being such a ministry - it is not simply charity or volunteer work, however well-intentioned and dedicated; it is not self-pity at the loss of status of the church; it is not gentrification, which can make an old neighbourhood or community look very nice, but usually at the expense of pushing out the previous people; and it is not an 'anything goes' idea of accepting everyone and everything. Mulligan and Burrow see Ministry in the Margin as communal, Christian, and focused upon those persons who have been ignored, abused and overlooked by traditional hierarchies and powers.

There are several practical aspects of the text. This is intended to be used in a group setting, as people come together and read the Bible, study and converse with each other, taking care to include the voices of all. The twelve sessions consist of study/presentation times and question/answer times, done in pairs. The book itself has six primary sections, each divided into a presentation of materials (for the first sessions of the pairs), and then questions to be considered over the course of time until the second session of the pairs. Mulligan and Burrow suggest that different people lead sessions, but that the same person who leads a presentation session conduct the question/answer session following. This gives both adequate lead-time for questions and answers, as well as sufficient time in the planning and conduct of meetings - question time won't get squeezed out in favour of more presentation.

The six primary sections look at the idea of Ministry in the Margins, working through issues of vocation and call to Ministry, looking at biblical and theological bases for such ministry, a special emphasis on the prophet Micah ('what does the Lord require'), putting together a practical Ministry in the Margins, and finally recognising and mending wounds.

Mulligan and Burrow weave together narratives from history, biblical sources and spiritual literature to create an interesting narrative. They draw on rabbinic sources (God's council with the angels to find where the world needs mending) as easily as personal stories (their son's writing lessons in school) to bring their points to life in an accessible and enlightening manner.