The best way, perhaps, to share the vision of CCDA with you, is to give you a brief picture of Lawndale, a neighborhood in Chicago. Thirty years ago, Coach Wayne Gordon, his wife, Anne, and their Bible Study youth began a church in North Lawndale. Over the past 20 years, by loving God and loving their neighborhood, Lawndale is now a concrete example of Christian Community Development. We spent the afternoon there last Thursday. Let me walk you briefly through the photos in this post.
First pic. is Theo. Theo was our magnificent tour guide. He's a member of Lawndale Community Church, is a certified clown (literally), and works with kids. I loved hearing Coach Gordon publicly edify Theo and affirm him as a "pied-piper to kids". The next photo is a pic of the gym at the Health Center. This is where Lawndale church services are held on Sunday mornings. We took a walk through the health center and fitness wing, a 30,000 sq. ft. bldg that has created 350 jobs for the neighborhood. Just down the block, Lawndale Christian Community Development Corporation has purchased land for a 60,000 sq. ft. addition to the health center that will have 15 dental units, several more doctor offices, and more jobs for people.
Hope House and Lou Malnati's Pizza Place work in conjunction with each other. Hope House is a transitional program for men in recovery, and part of the program helps them to get work. Lou Manati's teaches them job skills and by working for no pay there, they "pay their rent" at Hope House. It's a beautiful partnership. The Malnati Restaurant chain guarantees a paying job at any of their restaurants across Chicago for any man who puts in 800 volunteer hours there.
The next few photos depict a fire house purchased by Lawndale Christian Development Corp. It is being renovated into a youth art center that will have recording studios and music laboratories on the main floor, a culinary arts school on the top floor and rental space upstairs for groups to rent for parties while young people learning the culinary arts cater to the party groups.
Next on the tour, we visited the youth center which houses a technology/computer center where skills are taught to young people. The next photo shows the progress being made on an apartment complex a few blocks away called the MLK apartment complex. Martin Luther King Jr. actually lived on the site at one time. These apartments will be for mixed income renters, and look beautiful. Next photo, is a bldg that looks like an old school being used for youth programs and for legal counsel. Lawndale CDC has hired a lawyer who moved into the neighborhood and is a legal advocate for people in the neighborhood. The building also houses a Jobs for Life program, helping people to grow sustainable work habits and skills and helping them to secure and keep employment.
The last two pictures are just two of a long, long block of greystones that have been renovated in the neighborhood. Absolutely beautiful.
I didn't even take a picture of the church. You can't tell from the outside that it is a church, actually...if it weren't for the lettering on the outside of the building "Lawndale Community Church". The church offices and space are housed in a couple existing buildings along the road...all extended property gained after their church started up in a little store front that is now just a part of the row of buildings they own along the block.
So, that's some of the "look" of Lawndale, but let me share the "heart" of Lawndale. Here's the deal:
1. Though the physical development of the neighborhood is very impressive, it's nothing compared to the development of people that has and is happening at Lawndale. Everywhere we went, Lawndale members were welcoming us with joy, teaching and inspiring us, and love was the supreme feel. We met many indigenous people leading programs and ministries, and we met many relocators who have moved in to join the neighborhood to share life and gifts in community. You couldn't help but feel like God-given gifts were being exercised and human potential was being pursued with great passion, freedom, and intention. Everywhere we went the word DIGNITY came to my mind.
2. All we met were clearly on the same mission. The heart and soul of Lawndale is Jesus Christ. Their mission of "loving God, loving people" is tangibly experienced. God was unashamedly glorified and community was palpable.
I'm reading a book called Jim and Casper Go To Church. Casper, an open-minded atheist, joins Jim, a devoted follower, on a "field trip" to several kinds of churches throughout the U.S., and he shares his reactions and observations. One of their field trips was to Lawndale, and after several pages of dialogue about what Casper experienced at Lawndale, his conversation with Jim at the end of the section goes like this:
"This church integrates Scripture with deeds with proof. ...To someone like me who doesn't believe there is a literal God that we're going to meet someday in the sky, a God that can't be proven otherwise...well, to me, proof of good deeds like they deliver here at Lawndale count more than anything..."
"So let me get this straight," Jim said to Casper. "You're saying that Lawndale is providing the kind of compelling evidence someone could reasonably point to as evidence of a God being active in and through people?"
"Yeah, Jim. I am. And I'm also saying that even though I don't believe in God, I see evidence of the idea of God being a good thing, a great thing, right here at Lawndale." p. 71
No comments:
Post a Comment