washington; day 5

            Another remarkable person impacting their community today. We met Theresa Mullen this morning, who with her husband Steve started Kids Konnection in 1987 in the Anacostia area of DC, a poor, deprived and much neglected part of the nations capital. Originally connected to Bill Wilson’s Metro Sunday School on the streets  of New York, this is a sidewalk Sunday School which today sees 1500 kids and young people through its programmes every week.  Each week a truck pulls into a public housing site in DC and with games, lessons, puppets and songs the kids are told about Jesus and invited to place their trust in him. They learn that they are special and loved by God, forgetting their difficult surroundings for a while. Every week the family of each child receives a visit from a Kids Konnection volunteer to build relationship and show the love of God.

 

    Other needs of the kids became apparent as Theresa and her volunteers got to know them and so they started life skills classes, a choir, a dance group, photography classes, job skills classes and are currently working on a cyber café with barista training to equip the young people to get jobs and hope for the future. The work crosses denominations and attracts active support from the churches in the area and beyond. All this for $240,000 a year which they have to raise.  The passion to reach and equip kids outside of the church is so real and apparent in the lives of Theresa and her team.

 

     We then met Steve Park who runs a ministry called Little Lights in another part of DC, again working with very disadvantaged kids and young people, only twelve blocks from Capitol Hill, the seat of government in this nation. I have really been struck by the extremes of this city. We have seen the White House and been to Capitol Hill twice with all the opulence of those parts of DC and yet we have been in areas totally deprived with incredible poverty and enormous needs!  How can this be?  Steve runs an after school academic club for kids with tutors and mentors to help them with their studies and touches about 50 kids each week. Another inspiring guy.

 

    We were all greatly struck by Steve’s comments towards the end of our conversation today. He said the culture of the north American church is not living up to the Kingdom values expressed in the New Testament. I wondered if the NI church is actually any different? He was speaking in the context of churches being unwilling to engage with their community and its transformation. Have they, he wondered, as do I, way too narrow a definition of the gospel?

 

Gordon  McDade