Well, after getting caught up on all the latest hysteria about Rob Bell’s new book today, I almost wrote this Thursday’s Thought about Love Wins, but since the book hasn’t actually come out yet, I’ll save all of my—what I expect to be negative—comments about it until a later date…
So, instead, this week’s thought will focus on Inner City Ministries. Over the past few weeks, I have been volunteering at ICM a couple of times per week and trying to get my youth to do the same, with mixed results. ICM is a ministry in Hong Kong that reaches out to ethnic minorities (primarily Pakistanis, Nepalis, and Indians) and tries to create avenues to share the gospel with them through a variety of ways, such as after school tutoring, a cooking school, and more. The saddest part about the need for ICM is that in the city of Hong Kong, where there are more Rolls Royces per capita than anywhere else on earth, there is a section of town where these minorities are all squished together and for the most part ignored by the rest of the city. The city of Hong Kong announced yesterday that it is giving 6,000 HKD ($800 US) checks to all Hong Kong permanent residents over the age of 18 because of a budget surplus last year, yet the children in this part of town are going to schools where even if the kids can stay disciplined enough to graduate high school, most of them won’t have a good enough education to go to college.
As I have gotten to know some of these kids and seen the way they live (like the fact that many of them play in the same parks where numerous drug dealers hang out and run their businesses), it has broken my heart that they are so neglected by the rest of society. This has been a reality check for me, because I know there are similar situations to this happening all over the United States right now, some of them a 5 minute drive from where I went to college, and yet I did so little to help them during my time there. Why was this? And why is it that more Christians don’t get involved in helping out in situations like this? We worship a God who—when we were sinners—did not stay on His throne and say, “Well, that’s too bad, hope they can fix themselves,” but rather got off His throne, came to the earth, and died for us. We have suffering and poverty in our neighborhoods, and we can’t get up, turn off the TV, and go outside to play with children so they don’t have to spend their afternoon hanging out with drug dealers. What is the hope we are proclaiming to the world? Salvation by The Office? I sure hope we’ve got something more than that to offer.
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I suspect most people become overwhelmed with the need and don't know where to start. But dealing with individuals as you are able goes far. I grew up in rural poverty. I think I was 1 of 2 from my elementary school class who graduated from HS. I know I was the only college grad. It was through the individual efforts of a few adults that was able to happen. They weren't able to alleviate every need in my life, but they were able to help me become educated. Of course, they weren't believers and therefore were unable to help me with my greatest need... salvation. We have the words of life and the ability to help meet both physical & spiritual needs - of those in either inner city or rural poverty.
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