Ben Hein

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The Future of Urban Ministry Training "Let us beware of incurring the displeasure of the Lord of the harvest.”

NEW Post | The ethical complexity of the urban context is only increasing as these communities face the intersecting challenges of globalization, immigration, racism, and economic injustice. Future urban ministers require more education and training, not less. benhein.substack.com/p/the-future...

The Remedy for Our Great Evil Becoming a Church for the Poor

Joshua McIlvaine: It is to be feared that the gospel of the Presbyterian church “is generally confined to those who are able to pay for it; our membership is composed almost exclusively of those who are well to do in the world.”

benhein.substack.com/p/the-remedy...

The Danger of Spiritual Gentrification When the issues of White Evangelicalism come at the expense of my immediate neighbor, I am a spiritual gentrifier.

This is one of my least read essays, but its one I feel that has been most important. It defines a good deal of my ministry philosophy and presence online:

benhein.substack.com/p/the-danger...

The popular, progressive narrative on gentrification paralyzes good actors and prevents positive change in neighborhoods that are trapped in spirals of disinvestment. Some lessons I’ve learned:

Neo-Calvinist application of the institute and organism should look much more like a dance with a lead who supports the unique beauty and skill of their partner, not a rigid corporate structure of predefined tasks and responsibilities.

So, You're Worried About Gentrification? Relax: You're probably not the bad guy.

NEW Post | So, you’re worried about gentrification? Relax: you’re probably not the bad guy.

Someone is going to buy that new or renovated house, and it’s better for everyone if it’s someone who gives a damn.

benhein.substack.com/p/so-youre-w...

So, You're Worried About Gentrification? Relax: You're probably not the bad guy.

NEW Post | So, you’re worried about gentrification? Relax: you’re probably not the bad guy.

Someone is going to buy that new or renovated house, and it’s better for everyone if it’s someone who gives a damn.

benhein.substack.com/p/so-youre-w...

a poster for the war of the rohirrim shows a dark background ALT: a poster for the war of the rohirrim shows a dark background

The best review I can give for LOTR: War of the Rohirrim is I have sat down to watch it twice and I only make it about 20 minutes before turning it off to go do something else.

Both the wealthy and religious elite are here condemned in their lust for power.

Luke later demonstrated that the true church sees and protects those whom the powerful oppress (Acts 6).

Like the rich man in Luke 16 who is condemned for no other reason than his failure to care for Lazarus, the religious leaders and their system is condemned for no other reason than their failure to protect a widow such as this one.

The religious leaders and the wealthy failed to care for the widows. That was their basic duty. They created a religious system that was impressive because of its size, wealth, and power. Jesus pledges to tear it all down.

Correct. Unfortunately this reading goes back to church fathers who seemed to over spiritualize the passage. It’s reinforced by bad pericope divisions. Take out the pericope headings and spiritualized tradition and the natural reading is she’s a victim, not an example to follow.

Jesus’ mission is to bring good news to the poor, including this widow, not to impoverish the poor even further.”
(NICNT Luke, 728)

In Luke’s gospel, This concern for wealth and power while the poor are neglected and exploited motivates Jesus’ judgement on the entire temple system (21:5-6).

As Joel Green says: “Note that in no way does Luke suggest that Jesus finds the widow’s action exemplary or praiseworthy. How could he, when the religious system was supposed to care for such as these, not render them utterly destitute?

Luke 21:1-4 is an example of a text that has suffered from a long tradition of poor interpretation. The widow is not an exemplary giver, she is a victim of exemplary injustice. She is an illustration of a vulnerable one whose house is being devoured (20:47) by an exploitative religious system.

The sinful inequality in people’s lot in life offends Jesus, and his wrath is ignited at the hardness of those who have.

Abraham Kuyper, Christ and the Needy

Everywhere and at all times, the love ethic of Jesus is a radiant light revealing the ugliness of our stale conformity.

Dr. King, "Transformed Noncomformist"

Truly just theologies and ecclesiologies must be done in proximity to the poor and marginalized. Theories, ideologies, or statements on social media from a distance will not do.

Such work must be done with the poor flowing out of deep relationships and daily realities.

According to property records, of the 30 or so houses on the street behind me, about 12 are owned by a large property management company, 10 are owned by 3 different churches, & 4 by a private landlord.

Conversations on gentrification/affordable housing need to include all these parties.

The Ministry of the Mourning Bench No one can grieve alone for long.

NEW Post | The mourning bench is a terrible place without company.
The ministry of the mourning bench is sacred. I thank God for those who have sat on it with me.
I will keep my seat warm, ready to cry again with those whose hearts are looking for rest.

benhein.substack.com/p/the-minist...

The Ministry of the Mourning Bench No one can grieve alone for long.

NEW Post | The mourning bench is a terrible place without company.
The ministry of the mourning bench is sacred. I thank God for those who have sat on it with me.
I will keep my seat warm, ready to cry again with those whose hearts are looking for rest.

benhein.substack.com/p/the-minist...

The Reformed social ethic is as alien in its nature to the inflexibilities of conservative orthodoxy that does not take into account the evolution of human situations as it is to any revolutionary ethic that frees itself from the Word of God.

Biéler, 456

[so] Calvinism in its original form could not fail to see the dangers and vices of capitalism from its very beginnings and oppose them with absolute rigour.

André Biéler, Calvin’s Economic and Social Thought, 454

Biéler: OG Calvinism opposes the dangers and vices of capitalism “with absolute rigor”:

Calvin had never accepted the idea that economic and financial existence could have its own moral rules for Christians and be detached from God's loving and just plan for human beings,

It is a common principle of justice which extends to all nations and to all ages that we should keep ourselves from plundering and devouring the poor who are in distress and want.

John Calvin, Psalm 15:5

Those who have abundance do not enjoy their possessions as they ought unless they communicate them to the poor for the relief of their poverty.

John Calvin, Exodus 22:25

Those who roar like a lion behind the keyboard but hardly squawk in their neighborhood do not yet know bravery or courage.

God wants me to serve my neighbors and not to be useless to them. So I would be a monster and challenging God if I could not devote myself to serve my neighbors as God has given me the means to do so.

John Calvin, Sermon XIII on 1 Corinthians 11-16