They were well aware of the challenges facing them and their young church plant team. As is true in many cities, downtown Portland is the center of both local and county governments, as well as most social agencies. It is a regional center for the arts, containing art galleries, performing arts centers, museums, artist repertory theaters, and many clubs. It is an educational center. Portland State University, the largest university in Oregon, is located in the heart of the city. The oldest churches in Portland are also downtown. However, most of them have become centers of new thought.
Their mission was simple: “Touching downtown through serving.” Their ministry philosophy was also straightforward: “Small things done with great love will change the world!” Their strategy is to promote community transformation through acts of service. They began by identifying congregations and service agencies that were already there and finding meaningful ways to serve them. They painted the home of the pastor of a youth church called “The Bridge.” They packed lunches for homeless youth on behalf of the Love Drop-In Center. They did yard work for the Portland Fellowship, a ministry to gays. They also helped start the downtown House of Prayer, a prayer center in the heart of Portland. In this way they not only served ministries, they also began to network with them for even more effective ministry.
The downtown district is the cultural and business center of Portland. The poorest of the poor also “live” downtown. Steve described the heart of Portland as being like a third world country, “where the poor and rich live side by side. The downtown has the largest concentration of homeless people. In fact, Portland has the largest homeless youth and young adult population per capita in America. But just blocks from the missions and heroin alleys are new, beautiful and very expensive lofts and condos that attract the upwardly mobile. It is an eclectic mix of the artistic, professional, socially active post-modern generation next to those who have the least.” The need seemed overwhelming, but the Lord had given Father’s House a plan.
Both Steve and Deborah Trujillo grew up in excellent Christian homes. Steve’s father is a pastor from Cuba, who moved his family to Portland as refugees in the 1960’s. Growing up in a sheltered Christian environment did not seem to prepare Steve and Deborah for the challenges of downtown Portland. However, God had given them a heart of compassion for the outcasts in society. They are also motivated to see miracles, to see the glory of the Lord revealed in impossible circumstances. They needed that faith when they accepted the challenge of church planting in the heart of the city.
When studying the history of Portland Steve discovered deep roots of fatherlessness. When the California gold rush occurred, a large number of men left Portland and only two occurred. The largest pre- Roe v. Wade abortion center in American was located in downtown Portland. This deep fatherlessness and abandonment seemed to be feeding into the high number of homeless youth and even the prominence of the gay community. So Father’s House began to focus on serving homeless youth. Service evangelism with this displaced, mobile population had to be out-of-the-box to be effective. They wanted to find a way to communicate to street teens that they valued them, so, as Pastor Steve reported, “armed with back packs and boxes full of colored hair spray bottles, make up, nail polish, glitter and temporary tattoos, they went to the places where street kids hung out and offered them free make-overs.” These kids try to find personal worth by looking unique and different. Make-over teams would come up to kids and say, “Hey, how would you like to try poke dotted hair today, or camouflaged nails?” Most of them jumped at the opportunity. What they didn’t know is that the Father’s House team was praying for them as they served them. The tattoos they applied were Japanese or Chinese characters for “loved,” or “beautiful” or “free.” As the team served them and prayed for them the young people often opened up about their lives and become very honest. As they experienced the presence of the Lord some wept and hung on to the team members. Others were frightened by it and ran away.
Steve proved to be particularly adept at hair coloring. After awhile the teens began to relax and trust him, and would even introduce themselves with their given name rather than their street name. They felt safe. Although they seldom found their way to worship services some considered themselves a part of the Father’s House community. Steve said, “They associated Father’s House as their church because it was the church that came to them, that prayed with them on the streets, that gave them socks, toothpaste, band-aides, or anything else they needed. It was the church that did not judge them, but came to them in love.”
From the beginning, Father’s House clearly understood their redemptive role in the city. According to Steve, “Father’s House believes they are the caretakers of the downtown community. They believe that whatever happens there, it is their job to bring it under the authority of Jesus Christ. As a result, they involve themselves in public intercession on behalf of the community.” In fact, prayer evangelism is another large part of the mission of Father’s House. They spend a significant amount of time “prayer walking” the streets of downtown Portland.
Steve told me a story that illustrates their commitment to prayer evangelism. Every year the city of Portland throws a huge New Year’s Eve party at Pioneer Courthouse Square, “Portland’s living room.” One year there were many problems at the party, including vandalism, assaults, and overall chaos, resulting in several arrests. This was an unusual experience for Portland, so in preparation for the following year’s party, the Father’s House congregation felt the need to provide “prayer support.” Before the actual event members of the congregation gathered on the square to pray. They decided to walk around the square seven times and then pray blessing on the downtown area. At the end of that time, Steve lead them in prayer and declared, “In Jesus name, I speak peace to this square. All chaos is bound, all darkness is bound, let there be peace on New Year’s Eve.” Later during the party city officials noted there was not even one disturbance, not one arrest made. The local media reported how calm and peaceful the crowd was. Although no one knew of the church’s “prayer support,” they believe they were able to serve the city as salt and light in that situation. “Culture was impacted, even though the church received no credit for it,” Steve said. “It is small acts done with love and obedience to Christ that can bring change. In the end God comes through and you are just glad you where there to see him do His wonders.”
At one point Steve felt the need to engage the infrastructure of the city more intentionally. One of the distinctives of Portland is the prominence of neighborhood associations. Through the Office of Neighborhood Standards and Involvement the associations work with the city in deciding what takes place in their neighborhood. Becoming involved in the downtown association seemed to be an important step. At his first meeting Steve noticed that the business community, gay community, law enforcement and social activists were represented, but there were no pastors. So he committed himself to participation in the association and was immediately given responsibility. As a member of the Safety Committee he advises the association on the needs of homeless youth as well as crime problems in the surrounding neighborhoods. As a result, it’s not uncommon for members of the downtown association to refer people with needs to Father’s House.
Father’s House continues to focus on serving the city in small ways. They state their commitment this way: “Transformation and cultural change will not come about if we only focus on building our community and having good services for us. We must get out there where we can impact people’s lives with the love of God.” Their neighborhood strategies include:
Surprising employees of nearby businesses with a basket of candy and a card saying, “We appreciate how you serve the community with your business.”
Giving away bottles of chilled drinking water on hot days around the park blocks and the water front park.
Escorting people on rainy days from parking garages to shopping areas such as Pioneer Place, using large golf umbrellas.
Setting up tables where they can apply nail polish, have a conversation and make a friend.
Recently the Father’s House congregation has moved onto the P.S.U. campus. Pastor Steve told them, “Going to PSU is a logical part of our journey. As we continue to build proper foundations and return the church to its original purpose, the Lord is leading us towards the campus.” The Campus Ministry building had been dedicated to the Lord for many years but was largely unused. When that building became available to Father’s House they jumped at the opportunity. They now have a specific campus strategy:
Open the doors for other ministries to have access to the campus.
Engage in spiritual warfare to bind the strongholds that blind the hearts of men to the gospel.
Penetrate the campus and become a presence on campus through servant evangelism.
Target strategic prayer on campus.
In many ways Portland State University, at the heart of the city, represents the city and the spiritual issues of the city. From that center the Father’s House congregation is determined to see the grace, love and presence of God released in the city.
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