July Newsletter

Hey people of God,

I've been thinking about our role in seeing God's justice happen to the poor and oppressed. What role does God expect us to play as His agents in the world? How much does he hold us accountable for when the cries of the oppressed are not answered? Are we the Church, part of the oppressors? Probably I should back up.

As I have mentioned before, Kalamazoo is in the middle of the worse increase of violence in its history. Last week another young man was shot and killed in our neighborhood which makes six deaths by gun violence in the last few months. Because Vanguard is a street ministry we have direct contact with the friends and family of those affected by the deaths and have taken many heart-breaking prayer requests over the last several months. But last week Friday was a different evening for us for many reasons. First of all, many of the young people were really upset that their friend had just been killed and we took many prayer requests that asked God for his presence in the lives of the young man's family as they grieved his loss. But as we moved through the neighborhood, we began to hear the cry of those living in the heart of the violence. And this is where I again began to consider our role as ministers of peace and justice.

It began with a lady who had lived in the neighborhood for around 18 years. She had gotten divorced years ago and had moved back into the neighborhood she had grown up in. But as the conflict between the north and south sides of Kalamazoo increased, the level of violence increased right outside her doorstep. As more homeowners moved out and rental properties increased she began to see the social capital of her neighborhood decrease. She was trembling as she told us about the gunshots every single night. She was trembling as she told us about witnessing her neighbor lady being beaten by her boyfriend in the street and calling 911 to get help for the lady. She was near tears as she related that because she had tried to help she was getting threats as someone who was a tattletale. She was near tears as she told us about her friend who was walking home one morning and was followed by a young man who was trying to have sex with her. Her friend had to run into an abandoned house and yell for help. And this has become part of her every day life! She doesn't want to leave the neighborhood but there is a problem: no one is hearing her cry.

Home after home that we went to that evening said the same thing: no one is helping us. The police are receiving the blunt of the blame but there is limited funding and the job is bigger than they can handle. The people who we talked to from the city felt hopeless and actually admitted that they had lost control of certain parts of the city, with no tangible plan to regain it. We even heard, on several occasions, anger directed at the churches of the neighborhood. Residents wanted to know how we could drive into the neighborhood to do Sunday mornings, spend two hours fellowshipping and high-fiving each other, and then drive out and call that good enough. One of the ladies even said to us, “We'll take any suggestions you have, but do something. Help us, PLEASE!”

And so now I am in the middle of going to God to ask him what (besides prayers of intercession which I have had to increase sharply) should I be doing for those who are crying out? Will it be good enough on judgment day to say I prayed for them occasionally? Will God be looking at me when another family loses a son because they couldn't afford to move out and instead of helping I was trying to figure out how to adjust my budget so I could afford a more expensive vehicle? Am I accountable in God's eyes when I know that part of the city's slow moving may be because no one from outside of that neighborhood is filling up the city commission meetings and demanding that justice is served? What would it look like if the many successful men and women that fill up the churches of that neighborhood Sunday mornings took action to see justice happen to those crying out for it? Is my inaction an indictment against myself in the eyes of heaven? After a quick glance over history it seems like power, influence, and wealth are very rarely given up voluntarily. Will God have to give my power, wealth, and influence to someone who will use it for the reason God gave it to me? (Because believe it or not, compared with what we see in the neighborhoods, the majority of us have much more of all three than all of those living in the hood.)

Unfortunately I don't have any answers yet. You are just part of my ramblings as I press myself and my Maker to see where I fit in the conversation. I would ask you to join me because if we are God's agent to help see justice find the poor then our inaction is an action that will be judged. And I don't want that and neither do you.

I love you guys!

N8

P.S. - Thanks for putting up with a little of my madness. It helps to think out loud sometimes.