October 16, 2000
Gang member taught pastor about ministry
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___HOUSTON--Eugene Rivers learned an unforgettable lesson about Christian ministry from a gang member in Boston.
___The gang member came to see Rivers, pastor of Azusa Christian Community in aninner-city neighborhood, with some questions and some unsolicited advice.
___There's not that much difference between a gang and a church, the visitor said. "You guys are just as divided as we are, but you claim to have the love of God."
___That got Rivers' attention, and as a result, he pulled together a coalition of clergy who met with gang members for dialogue over a four-year period.
___At one of those meetings, held in a crack house, the gang member offered to explain to the pastors why gangs were more successful than churches in reaching children.
___"When Miss Beulah sends Johnny to school in the morning, I'm there; you're not," the gang member said. "When Johnny comes home from school, I'm there; you're not."
___In fact, he concluded, virtually any place Johnny goes, "I'm there and you're not."
___Through messages such as these, "God really convicted some preachers," Rivers said during the Faith in Action conference Oct. 2 in Houston. He was a keynote speaker for the event, designed to encourage churches and faith-based organizations to do more in social ministry.
___Over the succeeding years, Rivers became co-founder of the Boston Ten Point Coalition and a national authority on reducing crime through faith involvement in community life. He is the author of two books and has been featured in national newsmagazines and newspapers.
___"The church wants to build malls and confuses quantity with quality," he said. Instead, "God is calling us to make our faith effective and wise." That means getting out "in the streets, among the poor, where Jesus traveled."
___The church, he said, must recover Jesus' agenda and be inspired by a "logic of love."
___"If we will move out into the community to help those in need, ... God will pour out a new vision," Rivers said. "God is calling on his people to labor in a vision that combines clarity, justice and mercy."
___Effective community ministry must move beyond giving charity to working for justice, he asserted. "We think charity is a substitute for justice."
___In short, he said, a Christian's "hips ought to follow his lips."
___Rivers' opening message set the tone for what was part social work training and part revival meeting.
___The event was cosponsored by Leadership Network and the Texas governor's office. The stated mission of the conference was to "marry the passion and vision of the faith-based groups working among Texans in need with the practical tools they need to flourish and be proficient."
___On one hand, the conference encouraged faith-based organizations to use charitable choice dollars made available through welfare reform. Texas is considered a trendsetter in implementing charitable choice funding in areas such as child care, substance abuse treatment, food distribution and welfare-to-work training.
___On the other hand, the conference offered examples of faith-based organizations providing the same services without any government funding. One of the programs highlighted was Christian Women's Job Corps, a welfare-to-work training program created by Woman's Missionary Union.
___Diane Garcia, executive director of Christian Women's Job Corps in San Antonio, told the conference how Texas Baptists have created three training centers in San Antonio. She was joined by Ann Cook of Houston, who told about the Christian Women's Job Corps of First Baptist Church there.
___"The key to this program is mentoring," Cook said. "They need someone who is a friend. That is a problem for many of these women. They have never had someone who likes them for no reason."
___Through Christian Women's Job Corps, women on welfare learn skills necessary to get jobs, learn how to handle family finances and learn to attend to their basic spiritual needs, Garcia added. "The success of Christian Women's Job Corps is God changes the lives of these women."
___That theme was echoed by representatives of the governor's office and the governor himself, who addressed the conference via videotape.
___Gov. George W. Bush "believes faith-based organizations have an irreplaceable role" in community service and "offer hope and transformation," a representative of the governor's office said in opening comments. "Government can hand out money, but it cannot put hope in people's hearts."
___In his videotaped comments, Bush cited Mission Arlington, a far-reaching ministry begun by First Baptist Church of Arlington, as an example of how the faith community can meet social needs without sacrificing its religious vision.
___The governor called on those present to lead "little armies of compassion" and "fight for families."
___As governor, Bush said, he wants to work with faith-based organizations to help make the lives of Texans better. "Texas leads the nation when it comes to working with faith-based organizations," he reported.
___People of faith are more likely to serve as volunteers anyway, added John DiIluio, professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania.
___"If you are a self-identified member of a church or synagogue, you are 20 percent more likely to give food or clothing or money to a charity ... and 50 percent more likely to volunteer," he said. "The extent to which communities of faith are out there helping the poor ... is much greater than even the most faith-friendly researcher would say."
___DiIluio cited new research by a University of Pennsylvania colleague that found 90 percent of U.S. congregations offer at least one social service program, most commonly benefiting neighborhood children.
___A follow-up survey by the same colleague of 2,000 congregations in Philadelphia currently is finding similar results, he reported. To date, 91 percent of congregations where surveyors have conducted on-site interviews were found to offer at least one community-service program, and the average number of programs offered by churches is 2.5.
___If the volunteer hours contributed by church members were paid at minimum wage, that would account for $200 million worth of labor, DiIluio said.
___When people ask, "Why are things so bad in society?" they are asking the wrong question, he suggested. Instead, the proper question is, "How much worse would things be" if churches weren't involved in community service?
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