I received a note this week from a brother asking about engaging young men. From his seat, young men seem less likely, less eager to step into a discipling relationship. This sentiment is real. Also, it can be awkward… an 'old-timer' approaching a 'young gun,' what would you even say? My answer: bring back what Kuyper called 'the porch.'
"This is my guy, Harp. Keep your eyes on him."
—TC, neighborhood legend, Shawnee, Louisville
In the summer of 2012, my wife Ally and I moved to Shawnee—the west side (best side) of Louisville.
If you’ve ever watched an episode of First48, you know the backdrop: boarded windows, rough streets, a reputation forged in struggle. We were young, new to the area, and for a while, the only white couple on the block.
And yet—we felt safe.
Why?
Because of the porches.
Every day, neighborhood matriarchs and patriarchs sat outside, watching, listening, protecting. They knew every kid, every car, every rhythm.
Shortly after we moved in, TC—an icon in the neighborhood—stood on our porch and made a declaration loud enough for everyone to hear:
"This is my guy, Harp. Keep your eyes on him."
That was it. We were in.
James would pick plums from our tree. Thomas, who was remodeling next door, occasionally borrowed power from our outlet. On weekends, we’d come home to find diapers and wipes—gifts from Thomas and his wife, who worked at Walmart.
Every Saturday, I mowed the lawn for Cynthia, our lesbian neighbor on the left. She returned the favor with homemade cookies and always made sure our back gate was latched.
Everyone had eyes on the street.
The Lost Art of the Porch
Later, I learned that urban activist Jane Jacobs coined the phrase “eyes on the street.” She believed that’s what made neighborhoods livable.
I’ve come to believe it’s what used to make churches livable, too.
It’s time the Church brought back the porch.
Kuyper’s Porch
Over a century ago, Dutch theologian Abraham Kuyper used the image of Solomon’s Porch—a forecourt of the temple—as a metaphor for Christian witness. It was the space between the street and the sanctuary. Not the Holy of Holies. Not the outer darkness. The in-between.
For centuries, Western culture functioned like that porch. Even unbelievers believed in something: God, sin, judgment, heaven, and hell.
They didn’t follow Jesus, but they had the categories.
The porch was cultural memory. A shared moral grammar. An echo of Eden still humming in the bones.
Evangelism was a matter of connecting the dots.
But Kuyper saw it unraveling. As early as 1910, he warned:
"The crowds in the forecourt will dwindle… and abandon it in favor of the life of the street."
Science became ideology. The self became god. Moralistic therapeutic deism became the default faith. Art, academia, and media painted Christianity as dangerous, backwards, or boring.
The cultural dots began to vanish.
And now, in 2025, many pastors are waking up to what Kuyper saw a hundred years ago: The porch is gone.
The Post-Porch World
For a while, America was the exception. After World War II, church attendance soared. Christianity was stitched into the flag. Even skeptics spoke the language.
But now, things are different—even church kids speak in tongues foreign to the gospel. Google disciples them. TikTok confirms them. Christ confuses them. We’ve been unraveling:
Post-9/11: Religion became dangerous.
Post-Obergefell: Christian sexual ethics became hateful.
Post-COVID: Many people left the church and didn’t return.
Even in the Bible Belt, kids aren’t deconstructing faith. They never had one.
So What Do We Do?
We rebuild.
Not with wood and nails—but with hospitality, patience, beauty, and truth.
The porch is not compromise. It’s not seeker-sensitive fluff. It’s the strategic, faithful work of creating space where people can:
See It
Let Christianity be visible—in our homes, our work, our art, our service. Let it be unashamedly strange and stunningly good. A life that can’t be explained apart from Jesus. People will watch us before they listen to us.
Question It
Doubts must be allowed to breathe. No panic. No defensiveness. Ask better questions. Interrogate assumptions with confidence and kindness.
Hear It
Speak the gospel in their language. Address their hunger for beauty, justice, identity, belonging, and hope.
This is what theologian Dan Strange calls subversive fulfillment—and it’s what Paul did in Acts 17. The gospel critiques and completes. It doesn’t just say:
"You’re wrong."
It says:
"You’re right to want that… but you're looking in the wrong place. Let me show you a better way."
Every culture has its false saviors:
The self
The market
The tribe
The state
And every heart has its God-shaped hunger:
For love
For justice
For permanence
For meaning
Christianity affirms the ache, but redirects the worship. This Isn’t Soft. It’s Strategic. This is what Jesus did. What Paul did. What the early church did.
And yes—it’s risky. Because the gospel doesn’t just work. It wounds. It comforts and confronts. Romans 1 says that everyone knows God, even if they suppress the truth. And that knowledge leaks:
They say love is just chemicals… but they treat it as sacred.
They say morality is relative… but they rage at injustice.
They say beauty is subjective… but they weep at symphonies.
That contradiction—that ache—is what philosopher Charles Taylor calls cross-pressure.
That’s where the porch lives. The porch is where the cracks show. The hunger stirs. The gospel is heard, not as noise, but as news.
Start Small. Start Local.
Not every porch has to be Solomon’s Colonnade. Use what’s in your hand:
A backyard BBQ with neighbors
Weekly dinners with believers and unbelievers sitting at the same table
A book club that welcomes doubt
A podcast, a table, a garden, a slow conversation over lemonade
The form doesn’t matter.
The posture does.
Be warm. Be wise. Be unashamed.
Let your porch be a space of witness, tension, grace, and joy.
Eyes on the Street
We live in an age of suspicion. Christians aren’t just seen as wrong, but as immoral. The temptation? Fight fire with fire. Retreat. Rage. Scream louder.
But gospel ministry isn’t about outrage. It’s about presence. It’s not about winning. It’s about witness. Porches let people:
See a better way
Feel disarmed by beauty
Be softened by hospitality
Be readied by the Spirit
We can no longer assume culture will do our pre-evangelism for us.
It won’t. It can’t.
So we rebuild. Slowly. Patiently. Locally. Again.
What’s Your Porch?
What space can you create where outsiders feel like honored guests, long before they become family?
This isn’t retreat. It’s replanting.
The gospel is still the power of God for salvation. But people need to see why it’s true, why it matters, and why it’s good.
We need porches again.
We need eyes on the street.
We need embodied truth.
We need unhurried courage.
We need you. In a world that no longer remembers the porch, we must be the porch.
Not with compromise. Not with gimmicks. But with a gospel so visible, so strange, and so beautiful, it invites people to lean in again. The King still saves. The gospel still works. The Spirit still moves.
So pull up a chair. Keep your eyes on the street. And start rebuilding.
For the King,
— Harp
Need some examples of modern-day porches? I got you:
Hospitality-Based Porches
These are relational environments built around food, presence, and home life. Low-pressure, high-relational spaces that allow non & new believers to see the faith up close:
Weekly Dinners: A standing open-table meal where anyone can come, believers and non-believers alike. Think potluck meets Acts 2:46.
Holiday Open Houses: Use cultural moments (Thanksgiving, Christmas, July 4th) to gather, not for a church service, but for warmth and welcome.
Grill & Grow Nights: A backyard BBQ with good questions built in. "What do you think makes a life meaningful?" "Where do you find peace?" Listen before speaking. My favorite Grill & Grow nights involve fire pits and cigars… just saying.
Intellectual Porches
These are porches for the curious and thoughtful, where big questions are welcomed and Christian thinking is explored with clarity and respect.
Christianity Explored: A non-threatening environment for exploring the basics of Christianity over food and conversation.
Skeptics Book Club: Read secular books (such as Kahlil Gibran, Alain de Botton, or Jonathan Haidt) alongside works by Keller, Lewis, or Plantinga, and compare their visions of life.
Public Lectures on Faith & Culture: Host an evening at a library, church, or university on topics like "Is Christianity Good for the World?" or "Faith & Mental Health."
Philosophy & Faith Nights: Invite local professors or thoughtful Christians to engage questions like "What is truth?" or "Can justice exist without God?" On
Creative & Cultural Porches
These use beauty, art, and storytelling to awaken the soul and invite deeper exploration.
Affinity Nights: Weightlifting. Rucking. Shooting. Ju-Jitsu. Some of my most meaningful discipling relations were born out of a UFC night hosted by a friend. One of my favorite gatherings is called The Forge [in Nashville, TN]. Weekly, young men gather with older men, lifting weights from 5P to 6P, eating a meal and diving into God's word afterward. It's incredible. 100’s of young men have been discipled through The Forge over the last ten years.
Storytelling Nights: Invite people to share 7-minute stories on themes like "rescue," "turning points," or "when everything changed." Believers and unbelievers alike share.
Film & Faith Nights: Watch a great film (sacred or secular) and have a guided conversation afterward about its themes, such as justice, sacrifice, redemption, etc. Need a recommendation? The new F1 movie, starring Brad Pitt, is incredible, with heavy themes throughout, including fatherhood, purpose, and meaning.
Pop-Up Music Nights: Showcase local artists in a warm, intimate setting. Let Christians both perform and host. Faith will often come through naturally in lyrics and conversation
Service-Oriented Porches
These are built around justice, compassion, and the biblical call to love our neighbor, often revealing the heartbeat of God in action.
Job Skill Training with Mentorship: Help people write resumes, prepare for interviews, and build confidence. Mix practical help with spiritual encouragement.
After-School Tutoring + Snacks: Run it in a school, home, or church building. Invite families in. Build friendships. Pray behind the scenes. Share Christ in time.
Community Clean-Up or Beautification Projects: Christians join (or start) initiatives to make a neighborhood better, with joy, generosity, and gospel grace.
Digital & Online Porches
These reach people where they are: online. However, they still adhere to the porch principles of seeing, questioning, and hearing.
Spiritual Substack Newsletters: A newsletter (like this one!) that mixes reflection, story, and clear Christian vision. Written for believers and seekers alike.
TikTok or Instagram Explainers: Short videos answering big questions: "What is grace?" "Why is the world so broken?" Use real language. Be honest and clear.
Anonymous Q&A Boxes: "Ask a Pastor Anything" via Instagram or your church website. Let people submit hard questions. Answer winsomely.
Discord or Slack Discussion Groups: A curated space for spiritual seekers, thinkers, and skeptics to engage with Christian ideas, with a respectful, thoughtful vibe.
A Few Tips for Any Porch:
Make it warm: People must feel wanted, not targeted.
Make it slow: Porches are not microwaves. They're crockpots.
Make it dialogical: Ask more questions than you answer. Some of the best advice I have ever received was "when someone asks you 'your' opinion, ask them 5 questions before you form your opinion and give an answer…"
Make it visible: Faith must be lived, not just argued.
Make it hopeful: Point to beauty, not just brokenness.
Absolutely love this! It’s Jeremiah 29:4-7 meets the Hall of Tyrannus from Acts 19. From that meeting place, Paul reached ALL of Asia!
Will be contemplating how I can construct a “porch” for the Lord.
We’re doing this in my church! The porches in the old houses in our neighborhood all line up beautifully. Most days there are several neighborhood kids on my porch, thanks to my daughter, Hannah. My pastor is doing a whole series called “For the Good of the Neighborhood” this summer and giving us lots of great ideas for ministering in our communities.