Should we relocate our church, or can something be done to change the evidence of neighborhoods that are beginning to deteriorate? Are there certain neighborhoods where our churches, Sunday Schools, Reading Rooms, do and do not belong?
Not exactly new questions, and the answers are neither new nor automatic. But for Christian Scientists involved in decisions about church property, location, and neighborhood profiles the answers are at the very least hinted at in Christ Jesus' words and actions.
Luke, for instance, reports, after Jesus chose the twelve apostles, "a great multitude of people out of all Judaea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases." We're told, "And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God." Luke 6:17, 20
