Flyers for Jesus

Summer in New York is unusual. Lots of NYC residents (the wealthy ones anyway) skip town and head to the Hamptons or Connecticut or take vacations to Europe. Even those who are not wealthy find reasons to get out of the city for the long, humid days where the city becomes like a concrete oven. Lots of performers book work at summer theatres and various out-of-town festivals. People visit family in places with more green space. While many New Yorkers leave, many visitors find summer an ideal time to visit New York. Along with your average tourist minding their own business, you also start to see these groups of young white teenagers in matching T-shirts handing out flyers on street corners. They are "missionaries." And their youth groups have apparently chosen New York City as their mission field. They stand there, looking wide-eyed and innocent, so proud of themselves for having the courage to "take Jesus to the city." I really resent these young people in suburbia thinking that they are doing we city-dwellers a big favor by coming here to "save" us. Part of the reason that I resent it so much is probably because when I was a teenager I did something like that myself. I went to El Salvador, specifically San Salvador (the capitol) to save people. I was so proud of my group for "preaching the word of God" in El Salvador's largest city. But when I look back on it now, it wasn't so much courageous as patronizing. One of the things that bothers me the most about my visit to El Salvador as a teenager was that we didn't actually help people in any concrete way. Some church groups go to places and build houses or hand out supplies. All we did was waste a lot of time and money asking people who didn't even have a home if they wanted help...finding Jesus. I would welcome these youth groups coming to the city if they were helping feed the homelesss or helping renovate low-income housing or something, but to just come here and hand out flyers on the street corner so they can feel good about themselves when they head back to Michigan? No thanks. It kind of makes me want to find a reason to head out of town. Thankfully I am headed to Scotland next week for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. And I am sure that there, amidst all of the people handing out flyers for their shows, there will probably be a group of teenagers in matching shirts, handing out flyers for Jesus.