Planting Churches among the City's Poor - Volume 1

P ART III: P LANTING U RBAN C HURCHES • 401

With each category weighted according to our standards of desirability in what we were looking for (i.e. high in population, poor, low transiency, low gross rent), a rank was assigned to each tract so the 5 areas could distinguish themselves from each other. Now, what was God doing in these areas? Church planting is more an art than a science, and to go about this spiritual work in a completely cerebral fashion would be folly. To see what God was doing in these communities would take some footwork, personal observation, prayerwalking, discernment, and guidance from him. The first step was to explore each area and recognize/map where the schools, churches, and social service centers were. This would give a great picture into the health, cohesiveness, and activity of a community. After a fairly thorough foray into each neighborhood, I had a good idea of how churched each area was. Seeing in West Shatto an area almost entirely comprised of Koreans with a glut of Korean churches (many of which had been some other church previously), I had a good idea that, although this fit our criteria of urban poor, dense, and statistically desirable, it did not have a high need for more church plants. Had these been African-American churches or Latino storefront churches, I would have come to a different con clusion, but these Korean churches would most certainly be more effective in reaching their neighborhood than a new church plant by a Caucasian missionary who did not speak their language. I encountered the same type scenario in the Westmoreland area seeing many Korean churches and Hispanic churches (mostly storefront – indicating a new and active movement) in an area fairly evenly mixed between Koreans and Hispanics population-wise. So, after prayer walking and taking community-inventory forays into each area, it seemed like the right decision to eliminate both the West Shatto and Westmoreland areas and to decide between Long Beach, East Shatto, and Hollywood. Long Beach had a great community feel and was extremely diverse and integrated. There were very few churches in the area, but the ones that were there seemed to be actively evangelizing and reaching out to their neighbors. On one Saturday of prayer walking, the group I was with encountered three different churches who were street preaching, passing out tracts, and door to door canvassing. They told me they did this regularly, if not weekly. The church going door to door was made up of three different congregations, and was very well integrated and active in the community.