Practical Steps for the Church in Topeka, Kansas

First set of proposals

By Ian Johnson, last revised April 5, 2003

These recommendations and are by no means final. Discussion is invited, either through the discussion forum mailing list (link given below) or by private e-mail.

Recommendations:

1. Repent, in the areas discussed on the to which a link is given below.
2. Get our vision back. Recognize that we are commanded to reach the lost and pray for effective ways to do this, individually (first and most important) and collectively. Churches also need to recognize also that programs that seemed to work in the past may not work now, that individual believers must have some freedom to reach out in ways that don't emphasize church programs and events, and recognize that the prevention of sheep-stealing by other local churches isn't the number one priority of the Church.
3. Individually and collectively think of the whole Christian community in our city in our prayers. Pray for other churches that name Jesus' name—even in denominations very different from our own—and their leaders. Thank God for them, pray for wisdom and power for their leaders and for the effective preaching of the essentials of the Gospel there.
4. Leaders of predominantly white churches should go to predominantly minority churches and to Native American leaders to openly express repentance.
5. We must also be careful to be sensitive to the minorities here and their cultures in our approach to confronting demonic influence in the city. Our purpose is NOT to impose white protestant traditions and culture on the community, to publicly impugn minority cultural traditions as demonic, or to seek legal enforcement of our reading of Biblical morality on all dissenters. It is to bring God's purpose for Topeka and for our region into fruition through the power of united prayer. One part of this is to accurately identify, locate and demolish demonic strongholds that stand in the way of God's work. But dealing with enemy positions is only a part of the larger purpose, not the whole purpose, and we must be careful to do it in a way which is informed, accurate, and does not cause unnecessary fighting with or between people. We wrestle not against flesh and blood.
6. Predominantly white churches, particularly those that have fled the center of town, should offer to assist neighborhood minority churches, not with an eye to taking over those churches or stealing sheep, but with the intent to cooperate in building up those churches and their ministries to their neighborhoods. What is important here is that Christians from "white" churches fully submit to the leaders of "minority" churches in mutual effort to reach their neighborhoods, and, likewise, that Christians from "richer" congregations (where people God has blessed with more material goods have segregated themselves) fully submit to the leaders of "poor" congregations in mutual submission to the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 5:21; Ephesians 4:1-6; Philippians 2:1-8; Mark 10:42-45. (I note in passing that, if the economy continues to collapse, neighborhood churches are the wave of the future…)

Links to closely related pages

Home page and site index

Areas for repentance

Prayer list of Topeka churches.

Brief summary of the founding of Topeka and present implications.

Past treatment of Native Americans in Kansas as a stronghold

Brief summary of race relations in Topeka to 1915

Charles Sheldon, Charles Parham and the revivals that almost started here

Injelitance in the Church

Link to Yahoo discussion forum