Creating an Artful Social Justice Ministry

Image and text by Rick McVicar   

  The church hosting my ministry, First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of Mansfield, Ohio, is not just a typical church to me. It happens to be the church of my youth, where I was active in the youth program, earned the Boy Scout religious award and was ordained as a Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) minister. I feel like I have had a life-long romance with this church. If I write anything negative about this church, it is with a sense of sadness. Also, please note that my ministry is as a volunteer lay person rather than as an official position.

     In August of 2024, I began a ministry of playing my violin three mornings each week on the PrayGround. My ministry began shortly after moving to Mansfield from Columbus to be near my aging mother. My ministry has evolved into also playing ukulele, percussion instruments, publicly meditating, chalk drawing on sidewalks and cleaning the entire church property. My activities have drawn some attention from church neighbors, which have spurred a few pastoral relationships within a short time. Some of the church’s neighbors have begun attending Sunday worship services, which begin at 10:30 a.m.

                                Click on image to go to First Christian Church's website.

   First Christian Church sits at the corner of Third and Bowman streets in Mansfield near the city’s downtown. The building is a massive structure adjacent to the church’s sprawling property. That property includes a lot with fruit trees, benches and a walkway designated as a “PrayGround.” It was erected as part of a Boy Scout Eagle project. The intention of the lot is to provide a place for members of the public to stop, reflect, pray and eat a few pieces of fruit when they are in season. The PrayGround offers an oasis of peace and tranquility amid the chaotic world of poverty, addiction and homelessness that is prevalent in the church’s immediate neighborhood. 

     My ministry has social justice in mind. What does a social justice ministry look like when it is an extension of a struggling and aging church in the middle of an impoverished neighborhood? While the church is white and middle class, the neighborhood is racially mixed and low income.

     This blog is meant to paint a picture of what a church’s ministry to its neighbors might look like. Of course, “social justice ministry” must first be defined. For that, I will rely on the mission of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), which is to be a “movement for wholeness in a fragmented world.” The concept of justice revolves around the human need for wholeness, for both the self and the wider community. 

     Those treated unjustly are often traumatized and need healing from physical, emotional and spiritual wounds. They desperately need wholeness. Their oppressors need wholeness as well, as their desire for power is often driven by a feeling of inadequacy. As for the world being fragmented, that is certainly no newsflash for the current state of the world. The fragmentation becomes even more pronounced at a middle-class church located in the middle of neighborhood that includes an unhoused population.