Building God's Village
Reprint - June 17, 2007
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)
Reading Through The Bible
May
11- Acts 2:1-21; Psalm 104:24-34, 35b; 1 Corinthians
12:3b-13; John 20:19-23 or John 7:37-39
