Walk a Mile in My Nikes

I live in the suburbs. I live next to one of the communities that has repeatedly has been selected as one of the most desirable places to live in the country - Naperville, Illinois. The city I live in Aurora wasn’t a suburb, but Chicagoland has expanded to us and past us. It almost reaches DeKalb at this point, some 50+ miles from the Loop.

The suburbs have gone from being the place to live to a much maligned location. We are bad for the environment; we burn gas at a ridiculous rate. Our carbon footprint is mythic in size. Our homes are too big, life is too artificial, we are too consumer oriented, we are too busy and isolated. Arrogance and assumption are the hallmarks of our lives. We are obsessed with status. We drive SUVs and minivans everywhere and anywhere. We have programmed our children to the point they cannot even breathe. The suburbs are the essence of excess.

Okay, fine, guilty as charged. So now what? Are we all going to rush to live in the city? Are we going to run out to the country and live in the small hamlets that dot the landscape? No. We are not going away. The suburbs are not fading from the land. And if you have any missional mindset this is where it is happening. You want to rough mission field, come on out here. Go into the city you see need everywhere. You have poverty and drugs and marginalized people every where. Turn around and there is a need. Come to the suburbs and you will discover poverty, drugs, marginalized people and abuse. Whatever the city has we have. We just hide it. We bury beneath a veneer of nice lawns and beautiful homes. Alcoholism is the same in a three story walk up or 4000 sq.ft. home.

You want to create an authentic ministry, build it out here where every one hides something. You want to develop disciples sold out Christ come out here and build into lives that work too much and commute 90 minutes in one direction. Teach servant hood to those who measure their lives by the initials attached to their names – CEO, COO, CIO, CFO. Here is where the need is, we just lie about it. We pass people who are dying of loneliness in the McMansions wondering why their kids hate them. We wave at people with addictions and self destructive habits. How many cutters live in the Southside of Chicago?

It is easy to parody the suburbs. We are an easy target for disdain. We are also seen as the cash cow for the urban ministries that are doing the “real” work of the kingdom. I applaud those ministries and gladly support them, but do not think for a minute that the urban path is the hardest road. Come out here and see what God can do in this realm. Here is where creativity and endurance and faith are daily essentials. Come on out here where the Kingdom of God is truly needed.