Cutting Edge Ministry by Cheri Holdridge

"Beware ministry on the cutting edge; because on the cutting edge you bleed." I'm told this piece of advice was circulating more than a decade ago, in the church growth movement, among mega church staff people. The idea was this -- better to play it a bit safe when trying to grow a mega church. Let someone else experiment. Use the tried- and-true methods that are working to grow your church -- and don't take too many chances. This advice may have worked in the 1990's of fast growing suburban church planting; but in my world, the words take a different twist.

I work in the urban context, with people who, for the most part, "live on the edge" every day. They don't choose to be on the edge, it's simply a fact of life. And yes, when you live on the edge, it's messy and bloody. So, likewise, cutting edge ministry with people who live on the edge, can be both messy and bloody. But I have to say, I think ministry on the edge is a familiar place for Jesus.

In this first six months of the Village Church these are some of the life situations we have encountered among our community: death of a friend from a drug overdose, a pregnant single woman asking for help so she can keep her baby, a divorce, a lesbian being publically kicked out of her leadership position in a church for being a lesbian, a homeless family with a mom with epileptic seizures living in church buildings for housing, an ex-con, a war vet dealing with post traumatic stress, and parents of transgender children looking for support. The list of people living on the edge goes on and on. . . .

Sadly, there are few churches prepared to deal with the REAL WORLD hurts that REAL PEOPLE are dealing with, and so church is the last place people go when they need help. People turn to bars for community; and turn to sex and drugs to numb their pain. They buy lottery tickets and go to casinos in the hopes that money will give them freedom.

This is a great time to be planting churches. People need hope. And every Sunday morning, at The Village Church, I see about 60 people who would not have a place to worship if it were not for this edgy church. We meet in an old restaurant/bar, and serve great coffee and have music led by a band leader who does not know any hymns. Joe is often sleepy from playing a gig at a bar on Saturday nights. But he drags himself out of bed to play at The Village Church on Sunday mornings because he wants to offer HOPE to people who live on the edge. You see, on the edge you bleed, and people who live on the edge need the healing message that God loves us no matter what!

So, yes, beware ministry on the cutting edge. On the edge you bleed.

But people on the edge of life are already bleeding.

And Jesus is already hanging out there with them, so I'm pretty sure that's where Jesus wants us to be to -- a church, on the edge.