Atlanta is home for me.
I grew up in the north suburbs of Atlanta. We didn't travel into the city often, but we always said we lived in Atlanta. As I got older though, I began to feel a draw towards the city. I would travel to Atlanta in the middle of the day just to work at one of my favorite coffee shops, or to walk around. At the time, I couldn't imagine where that would lead me.
Just over a year ago, I began full time work with Atlanta Inner-City Ministry, an organization working to serve the most vulnerable in our city.
During the past year, I've learned a whole lot about the world and the city we serve. Besides the obvious issues of poverty, drugs, and violence that we hear about on the news, I've been exposed to some much deeper problems that are plaguing our city. Issues that don't just affect the physical wellbeing of a child or teenager, but issues that impact their future development for decades to come.
Ultimately, the Lord has shown me that the problems and challenges facing many in our city are much deeper than we're led to believe. These issues are harder to spot and identify, but they are the reason that Atlanta Inner-City Ministry does what we do. They are the reason why we need everyone to come around and partner with us to serve this city.
In this article, I'm going to share a few of the most prevalent challenges that i've seen over the past year. Next week, I'll share how AIM and the church is working towards addressing them.
I grew up in the north suburbs of Atlanta. We didn't travel into the city often, but we always said we lived in Atlanta. As I got older though, I began to feel a draw towards the city. I would travel to Atlanta in the middle of the day just to work at one of my favorite coffee shops, or to walk around. At the time, I couldn't imagine where that would lead me.
Just over a year ago, I began full time work with Atlanta Inner-City Ministry, an organization working to serve the most vulnerable in our city.
During the past year, I've learned a whole lot about the world and the city we serve. Besides the obvious issues of poverty, drugs, and violence that we hear about on the news, I've been exposed to some much deeper problems that are plaguing our city. Issues that don't just affect the physical wellbeing of a child or teenager, but issues that impact their future development for decades to come.
Ultimately, the Lord has shown me that the problems and challenges facing many in our city are much deeper than we're led to believe. These issues are harder to spot and identify, but they are the reason that Atlanta Inner-City Ministry does what we do. They are the reason why we need everyone to come around and partner with us to serve this city.
In this article, I'm going to share a few of the most prevalent challenges that i've seen over the past year. Next week, I'll share how AIM and the church is working towards addressing them.
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1. The Inner-City Church is in trouble
The Church is God's vessel to bring the Gospel to the world. Through a healthy church, a community can be changed and impacted for the good of everyone. Through a healthy worldwide church, the entire globe can be transformed.
Unfortunately, the church is plagued by the brokenness of the human race. Churches all over the world are hurting because of the failures of the people leading these churches and the failures of those in the church. They're hurting because corruption has a way sneaking in. Even in the most holy of institutions, we have allowed the enemy to gain traction.
The inner-city church, at least in our community, is struggling because of the challenges listed above, but also as a result of the community we're serving. Our churches struggle to find leaders who are biblically qualified, reliable, and committed because many in our community consistently disqualify themselves from leadership, or are unreliable and lack commitment. Many of those that are qualified and reliable move out of our community to a better neighborhood.
Additionally, a healthy church needs a congregation who is willing and able to step up and serve the community. This can be through financial means or non-financial needs. This is also a major challenge for the inner-city church, as many who attend are unable to serve, either due to financial constraints or physical limitations.
The leadership and involvement crisis in local inner-city churches takes energy away from the work of reaching, teaching, developing, and encouraging people in our community, and is a major hurdle in building strong, healthy churches.
2. Critical relational support is missing
Each Tuesday evening, we welcome close to 50 elementary school children into our facility for an environment that we call Children's Bible Study. Each kid that comes to CBS gets a hot meal, a story from the Bible, and a caring relationship. Every kid comes because they want to. No one is forcing them.
On Thursday evenings, we have between 10-15 middle and high school students who come to hang out, play games, and study scripture. They come because they want to. No one forces them to be there.
I'm convinced that a caring relationship is the underlying reason why each of our kids and teenagers come each week.
For a variety of reasons, many young people in our community are lacking positive relationships with trusted adults. Everywhere they turn, adults are telling them to go away, leave, or to "try not to screw things up". Very few adults in their lives are actually encouraging them and trying to build them up. Even less are actually investing in them over time.
I can't tell you how many young people we have in our program who are essentially "free range". They come and go as they please, with little to no adult supervision or engagement.
AIM is one of the few places where they feel wanted, loved, and accepted.
Kids and teenagers need positive mentors and adults to care about them and encourage them. Unfortunately, so many young people living in inner-city communities don't have that.
3. The effects of racial segregation are deep and have continuing effects
When you don't live in a community ravaged by racial divide and disenfranchisement, it's easy to not even think about it or to think it doesn't really exist. That was my story for the majority of my life. I didn't experience a profound lack of government resources, poor and underfunded schools, or fundamental breakdowns in the family structure.
To be very clear, some of those challenges did exist for some in my community, but it didn't directly affect me. Overall, my community was well funded and had some of the best schools in the state of Georgia. All of my friends had parents who cared about them, and I knew very few people who were utilizing government assistance. I had a strong family, who cared about me and made sure I had what I needed.
Things are very different in inner-city communities.
Not only are government services overloaded and underfunded, but schools are also lacking the resources they need to serve their students. A nuclear family is rare to see. Significantly more people are on government assistance programs and are struggling to make ends meet.
This is not because the people that live here are lazy or unmotivated. Many of these individuals and parents are hard working and loving people, but they didn't grow up with a model for a healthy family, sustainable financial practices, or healthy personal habits. They didn't grow up with the support they needed.
Instead, many grew up attending underfunded schools, getting power disconnect notices, and relying on government programs like SNAP to help bridge the gap. For many, this trend goes back generations, and a lot of it is rooted in the racial segregation laws and practices of the previous century.
I can go more in-depth into that another time, but as wealth migrated away from the cities and into the suburbs, so did much of the city's tax revenue and resources, leaving the most vulnerable citizens to suffer the consequences. Often these were black families directly impacted by past segregationist polices or poor immigrant families. After decades of this, many are still stuck in cycles of generational poverty.
We still have a ton of work to do to bridge the racial divide in our community and to heal past wounds, but we must see this reality before we can take action. As followers of Jesus, we should work to be a bridge for families who are experiencing this generational poverty, and to help model a better life for our kids and teenagers.
4. Spiritual warfare is real, violent, and prevalent
Spiritual warfare is an unfortunate reality for kids, teenagers, families, and individuals all over the world. This has been going on so long that even the Apostle Paul had something to say about it. He writes this in 2 Corinthians 10:3-4: "For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds".
Even though spiritual warfare is going on in communities all over the world, I have never seen it as clearly and obviously as I've seen it over the past year. Everyday that we work with kids, teenagers, families and individuals, we see obvious signs of the enemy at work, trying to pull them away from the goodness of the Gospel. From violent outbursts and angry tirades to self destructive cycles of sin, I've seen the enemy working in clear and obvious ways to violently pull individuals away from the love of God.
Nowhere have I seen this more clearly than with the teenagers we serve weekly. The enemy is hard at work trying to steal their hope, joy, and passion and replace with anger, resentment, and bitterness. We often see the enemy violently fight against what God is trying to do in their lives, and it reminds us that the battle we're all fighting goes beyond our physical bodies, and is deeper and more sinister than we understand.
The Church must stand firm against all workings of the evil one and actively fight against his influence in our young people.
__
These are just a few of the things that I've learned during my first year serving in Southeast Atlanta. This is definitely a more challenging role than I expected, but I wouldn't want to be doing anything else. God loves the city, and He needs His people to surround hurting communities and to support them.
God is moving in our city. He's working through AIM and everyone who supports us to reach those who need the Gospel in Atlanta. The challenges above are big, but all things are possible through God.
I'll be sharing more here about our work in the city over the next several months. To stay connected, subscribe so you can be notified.
Also, if you'd like to support the work we're doing in Atlanta, you can go to www.aimatlanta.org/give to make a financial gift. Currently, we're asking for 100 people to commit to giving $100 a month. If we can reach this goal, we can ensure that AIM can continue serving our city for years to come.
For Atlanta,
- Bret
The Church is God's vessel to bring the Gospel to the world. Through a healthy church, a community can be changed and impacted for the good of everyone. Through a healthy worldwide church, the entire globe can be transformed.
Unfortunately, the church is plagued by the brokenness of the human race. Churches all over the world are hurting because of the failures of the people leading these churches and the failures of those in the church. They're hurting because corruption has a way sneaking in. Even in the most holy of institutions, we have allowed the enemy to gain traction.
The inner-city church, at least in our community, is struggling because of the challenges listed above, but also as a result of the community we're serving. Our churches struggle to find leaders who are biblically qualified, reliable, and committed because many in our community consistently disqualify themselves from leadership, or are unreliable and lack commitment. Many of those that are qualified and reliable move out of our community to a better neighborhood.
Additionally, a healthy church needs a congregation who is willing and able to step up and serve the community. This can be through financial means or non-financial needs. This is also a major challenge for the inner-city church, as many who attend are unable to serve, either due to financial constraints or physical limitations.
The leadership and involvement crisis in local inner-city churches takes energy away from the work of reaching, teaching, developing, and encouraging people in our community, and is a major hurdle in building strong, healthy churches.
2. Critical relational support is missing
Each Tuesday evening, we welcome close to 50 elementary school children into our facility for an environment that we call Children's Bible Study. Each kid that comes to CBS gets a hot meal, a story from the Bible, and a caring relationship. Every kid comes because they want to. No one is forcing them.
On Thursday evenings, we have between 10-15 middle and high school students who come to hang out, play games, and study scripture. They come because they want to. No one forces them to be there.
I'm convinced that a caring relationship is the underlying reason why each of our kids and teenagers come each week.
For a variety of reasons, many young people in our community are lacking positive relationships with trusted adults. Everywhere they turn, adults are telling them to go away, leave, or to "try not to screw things up". Very few adults in their lives are actually encouraging them and trying to build them up. Even less are actually investing in them over time.
I can't tell you how many young people we have in our program who are essentially "free range". They come and go as they please, with little to no adult supervision or engagement.
AIM is one of the few places where they feel wanted, loved, and accepted.
Kids and teenagers need positive mentors and adults to care about them and encourage them. Unfortunately, so many young people living in inner-city communities don't have that.
3. The effects of racial segregation are deep and have continuing effects
When you don't live in a community ravaged by racial divide and disenfranchisement, it's easy to not even think about it or to think it doesn't really exist. That was my story for the majority of my life. I didn't experience a profound lack of government resources, poor and underfunded schools, or fundamental breakdowns in the family structure.
To be very clear, some of those challenges did exist for some in my community, but it didn't directly affect me. Overall, my community was well funded and had some of the best schools in the state of Georgia. All of my friends had parents who cared about them, and I knew very few people who were utilizing government assistance. I had a strong family, who cared about me and made sure I had what I needed.
Things are very different in inner-city communities.
Not only are government services overloaded and underfunded, but schools are also lacking the resources they need to serve their students. A nuclear family is rare to see. Significantly more people are on government assistance programs and are struggling to make ends meet.
This is not because the people that live here are lazy or unmotivated. Many of these individuals and parents are hard working and loving people, but they didn't grow up with a model for a healthy family, sustainable financial practices, or healthy personal habits. They didn't grow up with the support they needed.
Instead, many grew up attending underfunded schools, getting power disconnect notices, and relying on government programs like SNAP to help bridge the gap. For many, this trend goes back generations, and a lot of it is rooted in the racial segregation laws and practices of the previous century.
I can go more in-depth into that another time, but as wealth migrated away from the cities and into the suburbs, so did much of the city's tax revenue and resources, leaving the most vulnerable citizens to suffer the consequences. Often these were black families directly impacted by past segregationist polices or poor immigrant families. After decades of this, many are still stuck in cycles of generational poverty.
We still have a ton of work to do to bridge the racial divide in our community and to heal past wounds, but we must see this reality before we can take action. As followers of Jesus, we should work to be a bridge for families who are experiencing this generational poverty, and to help model a better life for our kids and teenagers.
4. Spiritual warfare is real, violent, and prevalent
Spiritual warfare is an unfortunate reality for kids, teenagers, families, and individuals all over the world. This has been going on so long that even the Apostle Paul had something to say about it. He writes this in 2 Corinthians 10:3-4: "For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds".
Even though spiritual warfare is going on in communities all over the world, I have never seen it as clearly and obviously as I've seen it over the past year. Everyday that we work with kids, teenagers, families and individuals, we see obvious signs of the enemy at work, trying to pull them away from the goodness of the Gospel. From violent outbursts and angry tirades to self destructive cycles of sin, I've seen the enemy working in clear and obvious ways to violently pull individuals away from the love of God.
Nowhere have I seen this more clearly than with the teenagers we serve weekly. The enemy is hard at work trying to steal their hope, joy, and passion and replace with anger, resentment, and bitterness. We often see the enemy violently fight against what God is trying to do in their lives, and it reminds us that the battle we're all fighting goes beyond our physical bodies, and is deeper and more sinister than we understand.
The Church must stand firm against all workings of the evil one and actively fight against his influence in our young people.
__
These are just a few of the things that I've learned during my first year serving in Southeast Atlanta. This is definitely a more challenging role than I expected, but I wouldn't want to be doing anything else. God loves the city, and He needs His people to surround hurting communities and to support them.
God is moving in our city. He's working through AIM and everyone who supports us to reach those who need the Gospel in Atlanta. The challenges above are big, but all things are possible through God.
I'll be sharing more here about our work in the city over the next several months. To stay connected, subscribe so you can be notified.
Also, if you'd like to support the work we're doing in Atlanta, you can go to www.aimatlanta.org/give to make a financial gift. Currently, we're asking for 100 people to commit to giving $100 a month. If we can reach this goal, we can ensure that AIM can continue serving our city for years to come.
For Atlanta,
- Bret