William Stringfellow

I don't know how I heard about William Stringfellow, but I'm glad that I did. William Stringfellow was an Ivy educated lawyer who accepted an offer from a church to work within Harlem. His book: My People is The Enemy is an outstanding look at the issues created by the American Dream, the theology of the Evangelical Church, & the reality of a segment of our country we'd rather forget about: The poor. William Stringfellow is a prophetic voice deserving of your time.

"The premise of most urban church work, it seems, is that in order for the Church to minister among the poor, the church has to be rich, that is, to have specially trained personnel, huge funds & many facilities, rummage to distribute, & a whole battery of social services. Just the opposite is the case. The Church must be free to be poor in order to minister among the poor. The Church must trust the Gospel enough to come among the poor with nothing to offer the poor except the Gospel, except the power to apprehend & the courage to reveal the Word of God as it is already mediated in the life of the poor.

When the Church has the freedom itself to be poor among the poor, it will know how to use what riches it has. When the Church has that freedom, it will be a missionary people again in all the world." (Pg. 102)

It's amazing to see how true this still is. We minster to the poor out of our wealth, yet this isn't what they need. They don't need our wealth, which is often the thing that keeps us from truly trusting in God; & in many ways separates us. We all need the good news to saturate our lives. We need to learn to be content & rich with His presence. That's what "they" need. It's also what we need.

William Stringfellow's life is very challenging to us.