June 20 issue

In the city, might the saving process go both ways?

By Charlie Kraybill Making my way through the Union Square subway station in Manhattan, I caught sight of a young woman in a head covering, the size and shape of which indicated she belonged to an eastern Pennsylvania Mennonite splinter group. I rounded the corner and saw she was accompanied by a dozen plain-dressed people singing hymns while the largely oblivious passersby, well, passed by. I stopped to find out what they were up to. The woman handed me a pamphlet, which included an address for Pilgrim Mennonite Church in the Bronx. I may be off the Mennonite grid these days, but I live in the Bronx and like to think I know where the Mennonite churches are located. I was just starting to talk with the young woman when one of her male colleagues approached and took over. His name was Tony Hollinger, from Lebanon County, Pa., and a friendly enough fellow. Turns out these Pilgrim Mennonites are renting space, two Sundays a month, in a church at 764 Hewitt Place in the South Bronx. Ive walked past this building many times, admiring its century-old onion domes. Constructed in 1906 as the Montefiore Hebrew Congregation, its a lovely remnant of the areas heyday as a ghetto of European immigrants. The Jewish population departed decades ago, and the building has housed Spanish-speaking Christians ever since. At this stage of their project, none of the Pilgrim group have taken up residence in the Bronx. The entire congregation commutes from Pennsylvania, on day trips, including for their Sunday services. I suggested to Hollinger that head coverings will hinder any proselytizing efforts. City folk dont go for the whole women-are-subservient thing. When he replied that the covering is required by the New Testament, we discussed differences between his way of reading Scripture and mine. Its not unusual to see conservative Mennonites performing public hymn-sings around Manhattan. They drive in from Pennsylvania, spend a few hours singing and distributing tracts, then get back in their vehicles to head home before dark. Several summers ago I encountered a conservative Mennonite group in Washington Square Park, in the heart of Greenwich Village. Ithought that none of them looked happy, though they were supposed to be selling happiness in Jesus. Meanwhile, swirling all around were the denizens of the Village: laughing boys on skateboards, smiling girls on bicycles, grinning geezers on roller blades, swooning lovers on open lawn. The contrast between the hymn-singers and their audience was stark. I couldnt imagine why anybody in the park would be tempted to trade what they had for what these peculiar-looking Pennsylvanians were offering. If anything, I thought I detected envy in the eyes of some of the Mennonite youth, as if they were thinking theyd rather spend the day relaxing on the grass with the fun-loving New Yorkers than be stuck behind an old hymn book. I asked the groups leader why he assumed the people of the park were so sinful. He replied with something about the urgency of getting folks into Gods kingdom. I stretched out my arm, made a sweeping gesture toward the mass of humanity before us a diverse assortment of people, all colors, shapes, sizes, ethnicities and exclaimed: Look around, man. This right here is what the kingdom of God looks like! For a moment I thought he was viewing the scene the way I saw it. But just as quickly he retreated into revivalist cliches. Its not just that conservative Mennonites, due to their 19th-century appearance, will have difficulty making an appealing pitch to a city audience. The problem also lies with the assumptions behind such missionizing urges.

Ithink many rural people view urbanites in stereotypical terms. Cities, they think, are centers of evil and immorality. Yes, more of everything happens in densely populated areas. But the notion that theres more bad behavior per capita in New York than elsewhere is just not true. If one draws a circle on a map of rural Pennsylvania large enough to encompass 2 million souls, the total crime statistics for all the towns and hamlets within that circle will not be much different from Manhattans. I asked Tony Hollinger: What did he think his people, all of whom grew up in an isolated white environment, had to offer the Hispanic residents of the South Bronx? There are, after all, many Spanish-speaking congregations in the neighborhood, including one in the building Hollingers group is using. To his credit, he said they recognize the cultural and language barriers but feel called to be here nonetheless. Unfortunately, Hollingers group will not be consulting the existing Mennonite network in New York City for advice or support. In their view, the members of Mennonite Church USA arent much closer to true Christian faith than the unwashed masses. Since they are visitors rather than residents, the Pilgrim Mennonites are missing out on the learning process that accompanies living and working alongside those they want to save. They might find the saving process goes both ways. Missionary veterans often confess that the more time spent among the heathen the less heathen they seem. It can be disconcerting for a Christian to encounter a Hindu, for example, who not only reveres Jesus but whose ethical lifestyle puts the Christian to shame. Such encounters happen often in the mission field. Missionaries cannot speak of it openly back home, though, for fear of losing support. Living in the city, its almost impossible not to become a tolerant person, one who thrives on diversity, who values different ideas and perspectives. The Mennonites who came to New York decades ago were zealous about saving the city. Along the way, though, some found that they themselves had been converted, to a realization that cities are not inherently evil. That were all literally all of us Gods children. That there are truths to be found in communities other than ones own. I hope we will find ways to convey those realizations beyond the city walls.

Charlie Kraybill lives and works in the Bronx. He grew up in the Seventh Avenue Mennonite Church (now Infinity Mennonite Church) in Harlem.

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