There was a time when the front porch was a space where people gathered informally for conversation and relationship. Friends and neighbours could walk by and stop if they saw you sitting there. You might share some drink and personal connection. News was shared and stories were heard. Community was found on these steps and platforms at the entrance to our homes.
Inside someone’s home was where you could find a greater level of intimacy in relationship. Many of us are quick to invite someone inside our homes. Yet, they generally remain sacred and intimate spaces, and people intuitively know to respect our privacy.
And the front yard? Well, a little too open-spaced and unwelcoming for the passer-by.
It was the front porches that played a role in developing and fostering relationships. They were something, somewhere between the front yard and the inside of our homes. They were places connection came easily.
Now, we don’t have them by and large. They have been designed out of our communities and homes. We are removed from our neighbours and have lost these informal, yet important spaces for connection.
These community hot spots are still needed; we hunger for opportunities to connect in ways that the front porch once offered. Front porches always promoted and fostered relationships to grow since a casual conversation with a passer-by may have lead to a more significant form of connection later on. A few talks about the weather over a few weeks could have led to some discussion about personal struggles and concerns.
Jesus’ style of ministry was a type of front porch ministry. He gathered with folks as they were out and about doing their daily routines. He encountered people where they were through informal, non-planned settings. It worked. People grew to know him – really, God – and very well. With him, they fellowshipped, walked the road, dined, listened to his teaching, struggled, and prayed. Even more, they were set forth to bring his message to a lost world. They became his ministers through casual, day-to-day contact with him.
Jesus is not physically present with us today. We can’t have a complete imitation of his time here on earth. Yet, his Spirit is within each of us, and through this we can emphasize a style of ministry that promotes growth in Christ through some informal and open-ended means.
We have a front porch ministry here in this church. It’s the youth pastor’s office space, Starbucks, Tim Horton’s, a home or a provincial park. The youth pastor and other adults have sought out youth to connect and walk the road with them as did Jesus and his many followers.
It’s about building a relationship with youth that their personal questions of faith and life can surface and find expression.
Questions and comments range from the personal, to the profound, to the theological.
Where else but a front porch ministry would some of these questions/statements arise?
- I want to be a pastor. What do you think?
- If Satan chose to rebel against God and take a bunch of angels with him, does that mean there is free choice in heaven?
- I don’t have much of a relationship with Christ. How do you experience one?
- Things aren’t so good between my dad and me.
- What do you think about the death penalty?
- I’m lonely in school and don’t have any friends.
- I don't understand the Lord's Supper. It seems so depressing. Isn't it supposed to be a celebration? I mean, isn't that the way it once was?
- My adjustmet to this country has not been easy. I really would appreciate some prayer and talk once in a while.
These are just samples. Yet, a front porch approach – connection, openness and availability – fosters youth to grow in their journey of faith that meets them where they live. It’s the coffees, the drop-in’s, and the quick or long talks that over time build a relationship of trust such that the youth are led to greater knowledge and relationship in Christ. Kids are pastored in this style of the front porch. The vision is hopefully – in part – experienced through this Place within VCRC's ministry.
There is a downside. It’s organic and therefore not something that has a sign up sheet or a spot on a calendar. So, some kids can be or are currently missed. Yet it’s our hope that every youth is accounted for in this Place. So, in or Covenant Community (youth ministry committee) we’ll be regularly looking over our list of youth and checking to see that each is covered by an adult mentor who routinely looks out for him or her, connects with him or her for coffee, stops by to see him or her at school and so on. This may be the youth pastor or some other adult leader who expresses interest in this type of ministry.