Vancouver’s Tenth Avenue Church (see page 17) has been at the centre of a controversy over whether churches could be required to obtain municipal permits to offer help to the homeless.

Activist Bill Chu established Faith Communities Called to Solidarity with the Poor, which advocated for almost nine months, on behalf of Tenth Avenue and other churches; their work led to Vancouver City Council’s decision to rescind the permit requirement.

Jonathan Bird of City in Focus made the following presentation May 15 to the City Services and Budget Committee of Vancouver City Council, before Sam Sullivan’s motion was passed.

I NOTE with pleasure that the mayor’s motion is grounded in the city’s mission statement and policy of sustainability. These are declarations that I – and, I suppose, virtually all Christians – wholeheartedly endorse.

The increasingly influential term ‘sustainability finds its closest biblical parallel in the vision of community and justice articulated by the ancient Hebrew word shalom.

Shalom, sometimes translated into English as ‘peace’ or ‘welfare,’ points to the shared experience of holistic wellbeing made possible when humanity is in right relationship with God, neighbours and creation. We are all more intimately connected and mutually dependent than we imagine.

Integral to the lived experience of shalom, as testified to by both the Jewish scriptures and the New Testament, is the fact that each human being is created to express uniquely God’s own character – and is therefore the bearer of some necessary gift to the rest of us. It is our duty and our blessing to help each other discover, cultivate and release those gifts into the world.

The poor prized by God

The Bible is equally emphatic that the poor are especially prized by God, that every society is judged according to the degree that it proactively asserts the divine right of the poor to flourish among us.

Shalom speaks to an ethic – a life path and communal commitment – which begins in compassionate personal love (which is the original meaning of ‘charity’) and proceeds to righteous public justice.

For this reason, Christians practicing a radical hospitality created the first public hospitals, orphanages and the foundations of the modern welfare safety net more than 1,500 years ago, when the Roman Empire collapsed into social chaos. For the same reason, Canada owes its universal health care system to a Christian pastor turned politician.

Shalom is so much a part of what God’s people are called to do, that we have been commanded to extend it even to those who would be our enemies.

Seek the city’s welfare

When the Jews were taken into exile to Babylon – capital city of one the most violent and oppressive regimes in world history – God told them to “seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you . . . and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jeremiah 29). Again, the word translated here as welfare is shalom.

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Paul similarly advises Christians to bless their Roman persecutors and to live peaceably with all – and he goes on to say that “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink” (Romans 12).

But what is this God-given command to “seek the welfare of the city”? Building the sustainable city, the city that endures for eternity because it is founded on justice, is a central theme in scripture. Astonishingly, city-building which focuses upon the just treatment of the poor and the afflicted is directly linked to religious worship.

In Isaiah 58, the prophet – addressing Jews who had been recently released from Babylon to rebuild Jerusalem – speaks these words from God:

“Is not this the fast [the form of repentance and reverence] that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free and to break every yoke?

“Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? . . .

“If you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then . . . your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.”

The Messiah’s ministry

It was in just these terms that in the Gospel of Luke Jesus stood up in synagogue to announce the inauguration of his ministry as the promised Messiah.

Just days before he was crucified for claiming to be this Messiah, he explained who shall be judged righteous and thus shall inherit his kingdom. They are those who fed and clothed and welcomed and nursed “the least” of God’s children, because in doing so to strangers they have done it to Christ himself (Matthew 25).

All of this is to say that “provision of services to marginalized people” is not an ancillary service provided by faith communities, it is an essential service. It is essential not merely to the wellbeing of our vulnerable neighbours, and to our commonwealth as residents of this fair city. It is – do not doubt it –               a primary expression of our worship of God.

Therefore I do not come here seeking your permission for churches and other faith communities to serve the poor. We do not require your permission. You do not have jurisdiction in this matter.

Instead, I come here respectfully to express our gratefulness that you apparently share the same desire to see Vancouver become “the most livable city in the world” for all who call it home. And I come here to say that churches in this city are eager to partner with you in pursuing our joint goal.

I take the mayor’s motion to be an encouraging first step in this process.

While we do not concede that the city has the right to say whether we may or may not serve the poor on church premises, we do recognize the city has a stake in the quality and impact of our actions.

June 2008