A.W. Tozer was considered a spiritual giant of the past century; he could lay prostrate for hours praying and praising his majestic God. But as poor blacks moved into his neighborhood, he and his church people became alarmed. One one one, the members moved out into the 'spiritual suburbs.' Finally, his church decided to move as well. The neighborhood had declined so badly that it was 'irreparably damaged.' Tozer did not believe that his gospel could repair/rebuild a poor and dysfunctional community. He ignored Jesus' orders to "release the oppressed."
Tozer's white church is not the only white church that left our inner cities. Arthur Simon, a Lutheran pastor/community developer, reported that over a 40 year period 40 out of 44 Lutheran churches left Detroit. In the spiritual suburbs, I imagine they gossiped about how bad Detroit was, not realizing their contribution to the problem. What if instead of fleeing the oppressed, they had focused on releasing the oppressed.
Most American Christians focus on the damage/dysfunction of the reservation/ghetto, and largely ignore the centuries of oppression that created the damage/dysfunction. For centuries they have ignored the biblical call to repent, restitute and repair---to relocate in the community of need, to do Christian Community Development
Biblical spiritual giants restitute and rebuild; spiritual cowards flee.
In the OT, 10 spiritual cowards returned from the Promised Land with a fearful report; only two spiritual giants said, "Let's go in." I would estimate that the American church is producing 10 spiritual cowards for every 2 biblical giants with a keen commitment to doing justice.
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