I ran across this article in the Cincinnati paper last week: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100506/COL01/5070374/Keeping+faith+with+the+children. I don't know if I feel stronger about the article or the comments that follow. But given that I feel like I "know" the kind of folks that leave comments on sites like that, I'll focus on the article.
1st - the writer notes that out of the 130 letters that were sent out, 30 people showed up to listen to what was said. That's 23%. I know that's not great in the business world, but have to tried to start anything in a church/non-profit setting with just volunteers responding to a form letter? Not too shabby in my opinion.
2nd - "There are few formulas for helping the youth of this or any other city that do not rely on churches, temples and mosques to be part of the solution." I find this to be an interesting observation/statement. Maybe I'm just jadded from my recent city dwelling, but I rarely hear anyone saying that the solution to problems in the inner-city will require help from the faith community.
The statement above really excites me if it is the true belief of those doing good works in our inner-cities. But it also scares me - will the church step up and help? Sometimes it's easier to just do a once a month event than to invest in the daily life of someone else. I think that this woman has a point when saying that she thinks there are people that want to help, but don't know how. But maybe she should walk to one side of the city and talk to my buddy Roger and talk to him about how his ministry could partner with hers to impact the city AND draw in those from faith communities.
Oh and faith folks, don't go in expecting to convert someone. Build the relationship, help folks where they are now. Don't hide your faith, but don't make it front and center - most of these folks are struggling with how to live on either a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Once you help them start figuring that stuff out - you've already developed a relationship that will lead to other conversations.
1st - the writer notes that out of the 130 letters that were sent out, 30 people showed up to listen to what was said. That's 23%. I know that's not great in the business world, but have to tried to start anything in a church/non-profit setting with just volunteers responding to a form letter? Not too shabby in my opinion.
2nd - "There are few formulas for helping the youth of this or any other city that do not rely on churches, temples and mosques to be part of the solution." I find this to be an interesting observation/statement. Maybe I'm just jadded from my recent city dwelling, but I rarely hear anyone saying that the solution to problems in the inner-city will require help from the faith community.
The statement above really excites me if it is the true belief of those doing good works in our inner-cities. But it also scares me - will the church step up and help? Sometimes it's easier to just do a once a month event than to invest in the daily life of someone else. I think that this woman has a point when saying that she thinks there are people that want to help, but don't know how. But maybe she should walk to one side of the city and talk to my buddy Roger and talk to him about how his ministry could partner with hers to impact the city AND draw in those from faith communities.
Oh and faith folks, don't go in expecting to convert someone. Build the relationship, help folks where they are now. Don't hide your faith, but don't make it front and center - most of these folks are struggling with how to live on either a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Once you help them start figuring that stuff out - you've already developed a relationship that will lead to other conversations.
Comments