Building God's Village
The idea of a village as the focal point of a people's
spiritual life and culture is deeply embedded in Western
African society. The Village is the place where a tribe
transmits its history, teaches positive self-image,
promotes health and advances economic stability. The
strong in the Village support the weak, share their
resources and supply safety. Too often in Western
society, we witness a much different scenario.
Commonality and mutuality have largely degenerated.
Neighbors rarely know each other. School officials,
teachers, lawyers, doctors, law enforcement people and
clergy don't live in the community. The role models
children look to are too often those who deal drugs, run
gangs or profit in some way from the underground
economy.
The philosophy behind our vision to build God's village
is to make the church the focal point of community
renewal. Moral and spiritual building blocks in this
village are grounding in worship and Christian
Education, knowledge and appreciation of culture and
history, the building of positive self-images, the
promotion of physically and emotionally healthy
lifestyles and the restoration of economic/financial
well being. As we move toward our vision for restoring
and refurbishing our portion of the Shaw neighborhood,
the following are some of the moral and spiritual
building blocks of our efforts at renewal.
Spirituality and Worship - A community
must be anchored in the praise and worship of God.
Everything done to strengthen individuals and community
must be based on helping people see the Lordship of
Jesus Christ as the foundation of all peace, joy and
happiness. Going hand in hand with glorifying and
magnifying God is learning God's word. Christian
Education is the foundation of discipleship.
Historical/Cultural - Understanding and
appreciating cultural history is a key component of the
Village and will be accomplished by work in with
organizations such as ASALH (Association for the Study
of African American Life and History); by broadening
cultural awareness in the Sunday School curriculum and
networking with museums, universities and seminaries as
partnering agencies in this venture. Critical in all
this will be striking a deep connection with the Carter
G. Woodson Museum.
Psycho/Social - One of the most pressing problems facing
African Americans is the continued self-image issues
that stem from the legacy of slavery, substandard
schooling and economically impoverished communities.
One telling statistic that underscores the self-image
issue is that 58% of African American males in
Washington drop out of high school, 71% in Baltimore.
To address these concerns, in this village we will
continue to build on the foundations of some existing
Shiloh and Family Life Center programs while looking for
new opportunities to address this problem.
Physical/Medical - African Americans lead
less healthy lifestyles than other ethnic and racial
groups in America. African Americans have the highest
hypertension rate in the world, one in three Black women
are 80% more likely to die from a stroke. 2.2million
African Americans have diabetes. African Americans are
10% more likely to have cancer; 30% more like to die
from it. HIV AIDS infected Black people are 7 times
more likely to die from the disease and 1.8 million
Black children do not have health insurance. An
important complement of this village will be health care
deliver facilities, such as mothers' health clinics,
prenatal and post natal health initiatives. Progressive
health care for the elderly will also be a substantial
initiative in the village. The anchor of this
neighborhood will be a senior assisted living center
located next to the church.
Economic - Many of the problems facing
African Americans stem from economic malaise. More than
one in ten African Americans are unemployed (twice that
of Whites). In cities like New York, Chicago or
Washington, DC, the unemployment rate exceeds 50%. In
2004, the median weekly wage for Blacks was $523 as
opposed to $677 for Whites; African American median net
worth for Blacks was $15,998, Whites $88,6521.
Attracting banks, developing job training and teaching
entrepreneurial skills by matching successful business
people with young men and women will be initiatives in
building God's village.
The notion of building this village is formidable, but
the poet said, "Ah but a man's reach should exceed his
grasp, or what is heaven for?" In building this
village, we are bringing human beings to God and making
God accessible to everyone from the youngest to the
eldest, Black, White, English and non English-speaking
people. In so doing, we are following the directive of
the Great Commission: "Go therefore into all nations,
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have
commanded you. And lo I am with you always even to the
ends of the earth (Matthew 28:19, 20)___________________________________________________
Readings for Sunday, June 17, 2007:
1 Kings 21:1-21a; Psalm 5:1-8; Galatians 2:15-21;
Luke 7:36-8:3
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