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United Methodists have been doing exegesis of the Bible for centuries, critically examining and using scholarly methods to interpret scriptural texts to search for meaning. But recently, the Greater Washington District set out to exegete its communities, exploring clusters and claiming ZIP codes as they bring geography, faith and mission together to make disciples and transform the world.

The first exegetical walk was held in the Silver Spring area March 9 when lay and clergy people representing Silver Spring Cooperative Parish, Hughes, St. Paul’s and First India UMCs, along with the Rev. Joseph Daniels, the district superintendent, began to connect with their neighborhoods.

They adopted a set of proscribed steps for exegeting one’s community:

Step one: Pray. Fervently and with good intention.

Step two: Open the church doors, the wider the better.

Step three: Step outside, intentionally observing the people and world around you.

Following this simple exegetical process, the group of 20 soon learned that questions and curiosity deepened the experience.

Question: How do people on the street corners learn to twirl those billboard signs? Answer: There are classes. Question: How do you get a paper transfer on the city bus when you’re using your plastic Smart Card? Answer: It’s computerized, you can get on as many buses as you want in a half-hour time frame. Question: How much do the many new luxury apartments cropping up around Silver Spring and Wheaton cost to rent? Answer: Probably too much.  According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a person earning minimum wage would need to work four full-time jobs to live in an average-two bedroom apartment in Montgomery County.

As the group walked and rode a bus around the streets of downtown Silver Spring and Wheaton, they kept Daniel’s prayer that they attempt to “claim their ZIP code for Christ” in mind. Most found themselves on the lookout for needs and began to ask themselves how God might be calling them and their churches to respond.

Along the walk, the group met with two people who work with the homeless.

Montgomery County is one of the 11 most affluent counties in the nation. But standing on a street corner on Colesville Road, by the Discovery Building, Sandra Miller, an administrative coordinator of Interfaith Works, was able to point out several of her clients. In this rich county, 1,004 people live on the streets; 229 of them are children; and an alarming and growing number are young adults between the ages of 18 and 28, Miller said.

As part of the exegesis, the group learned that the homeless in their backyards can not be stereotyped. “The face of homelessness changes all the time,” said Miller. They also learned how vulnerable the homeless are at night, how they can never sleep through a night, and how they’re compelled to keep moving most of the day. Case workers note that after living for 48 hours on the street, symptoms of mental illness often begin to appear.

On a street corner on Veirs Mill Road in Wheaton, Larry White, executive director of Mid-county United Ministries (MUM) , shared how gentrification of this region is challenging groups seeking to assist the poor and those in crisis. MUM’s facility, for example, is slated in the next five years to be demolished to make room for a park.

Following their walk, the group met at Hughes UMC to debrief their two hours of observation.  The question “what did you notice that breaks your heart,” steered their conversation. Those around the table took much of what they had seen to heart. Some talked about feeding people as a gateway to addressing need, others focused on how to provide larger systemic changes, and some felt called to more intense discernment.

“We’re in dangerous waters, folks,” said the Rev. Rachel Cornwall of Silver Spring Cooperative Parish. “In dangerous waters, there are deep possibilities.”

The group agreed to take the remainder of Lent to think about how their exegesis of the community might influence future ministries. But each came away with the certainty Daniels had hoped they would find. “Our communities are our congregations,” he said. “We must step outside the doors of the church.”