62459

Why_We_Do:_Community

Social justice, justice, compassion, and mercy ministries  have become a focus, and even a buzzy phenomenon, among Christians in the last 10 years. Many (if not most or all) college students want to serve tangibly in some way, want to make a difference in the world, and are incredibly aware of the imbalances and inequalities in our country and around the world.

But where do you start? When there is so much to do, and so many issues to get involved with, how do you know which one to give yourself to?

For us that began with paying attention to local needs, partnering with local organizations and churches, and learning about the neighborhood dynamics of our city. There are many stories and stats to share, but I think one line sums up the approach we have dedicated ourselves to. 

John Perkins, in the book Welcoming Justice, says that "if you care about a place, you'll care about the kids in that place." And so we have chosen to involve ourselves deeply in neighborhoods and the kids in those neighborhoods.

Most of our partnerships are youth related, and more specifically focused on education. Our Quincy Street community, our partnerships with Episcopal City Tutoring, Adoption and Foster Care Mentoring, and several other youth based organizations and causes are examples of ways that we are living out that commitment to love the kids "in this place."

I could write a dissertation on why this is such a core value and why we have chosen to invest in youth, but I think this image is more powerful. A few blocks from Northeastern University is a K-8 school called Orchard Gardens. I have some experience with the school from my days with Bird Street Community Center. Three years ago it was one of the worst run schools in the city and nearly closed down. However, the city chose instead to revamp the leadership and faculty. Then they closed down a school in the Dudley St/Quincy St neighborhood and decided to bus all those students to the Orchard. The school has many issues but with a majority of the students speaking another language first, literacy is a huge challenge. Many kids will graduate and go to high school not to being able to read at grade level. And it lies in the shadow of a fantastic university. This story can be repeated all over the city.**

One of the great inequalities that exists in Boston lies in the enormous amount of resources that lie in the universities while at the same time the city's public school system is closing down schools and failing its kids. As my friend Nathan says, "brothers this should not be so!"

So our community involvement fights against this inequality while at the same time it provides an avenue for our students to see God's Kingdom play out in a tangible and real way, and it helps fire their holy imaginations for God's justice and mercy, and to experience how they can use their time, talents, and resources to further God's purposes in the world.

Again, there are a million causes to be involved in, but there is where we have committed ourselves, and this is why we do community.  


**From Nathan: 55,000 students in BPS and 300,000 college students in the metro area (ration of ~6:1) and the 2010 graduation rate for BPS students to finish highschool in 4 years was about 62%.