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By Henri Giles*
7:00 A.M. ET August 1, 2012
Neighborhood interns and adult leaders work together on cleaning up an
area of 110th Street as part of the Neighborhood Intern Project in south
Chicago. A web-only photo courtesy of the Neighborhood Intern Project.
The Rev. Robert Biekman
has a way of simplifying complex issues. He is even known as Pastor B. —
just one example of his preference for keeping things simple and to
the point. For five years, he has served as senior pastor of Chicago’s Southlawn United Methodist Church on the city’s South Side.
For five years, Biekman has taken a hands-on approach to dealing
with the many social issues endangering his church’s neighborhood. His
dedication links directly to his theology. “John Wesley said that the
world is my parish,” Biekman explained. “And if you think about the
world as our parish, then we need to begin in the neighborhood.”
Chicago has seen its share of violent crimes in 2012 and is desperately trying to reverse a recent 38 percent increase in murders since 2011. Some of the murder victims
have lived in close proximity to Southlawn. It would be easy to focus
on delivering a message on Sunday mornings and letting residents and
parishioners solve the neighborhood’s problems, but that is not Pastor
B.’s style.
“I’m a firm believer that when God appoints a pastor, or when our
church is put in an area,” he said, “it’s there to serve not just the
needs of the members, but also the needs of that community. We have to
be a light in that community. We ought to be able to shout on Sunday
morning and still be relevant from Monday through Saturday.”
Pastor B. chooses to be relevant by being active. Members
collaborate with groups in their Calumet Heights neighborhood, including
the Chicago Police Department, local government and businesses. This
partnership resulted in the Neighborhood Intern Project, which seeks to engage young people and allows them to determine how their community could improve.
Bridging the generational gap
“We saw it as an opportunity to be able to provide some positive
influence in the lives of young people,” said Pastor B. “But the part
that really grabbed me was that they would take ownership and
leadership in this program, and the young people would connect with
older adults and seniors. It was a way to bridge that generational gap
in an effective way.”
Like many older U.S. neighborhoods, the Calumet Heights demographics
have changed significantly in the past 10 to 20 years. As original
homeowners move or die, homes become rental property to a younger,
transitional population.
“We suffer from what I call ‘generational tribalism,’” said Pastor
B. “What that refers to is having this kind of polarity of young people
versus old people. Young people don’t necessarily respect older
people, and older people fear young people. A program like the
Neighborhood Intern Project gives an opportunity for young people to be
involved with positive things. It gives older people an opportunity to
see young people doing positive things and to … connect around these
community projects.”
Rather than telling the youth what to do, organizers of the
Neighborhood Intern Project ask the teens to survey the community,
photograph areas that concern them and develop a plan to make a
change.
Ethnic Local Church grant makes difference
“Maybe the project is to clean up a yard or a vacant lot,” said
Pastor B. “Maybe it’s planting flowers on a corner.” Older adults also
help with the community projects and work alongside some of the youth.
“We don’t limit the terms of what the project is,” Pastor B. said.
“The only thing that limits the project is the resources in terms of
people and money.”
Thanks to a $6,000 Ethnic Local Church grant from the United
Methodist Board of Church and Society, the program can expand its
community projects and have a greater impact in Calumet Heights. The
goal of the grants is to strengthen the ethnic local church through
education, advocacy, or leadership training and development as
congregations engage in social justice.
When the Neighborhood Intern Project teams are working, it sends a
powerful message to other young people. “The others passing by
will see our kids cleaning up, and they’ll become interested,” said
Pastor B.
“It’s been a blessing because officers with the Chicago Police
Department will come out and grill hot dogs, and they’ll give us some
special attention because we are in the inner city.”
Participants wear blue T-shirts that read, “Neighborhood Intern Project.”
“Instead of identifying with a gang, with a white or red or black
T-shirt, they’re identifying with this positive program,” Pastor B.
said.
Pastor B. sees Southlawn’s involvement as a way of building
relationships within the community and the church. He believes churches
cannot just occupy space but also must be relevant to areas where they
are established.
“You have to scratch folk where they itch,” he said. “What’s
important is to reach people at their point of need. Most of the time
that takes place outside of the four walls of the church.”
One of seven apportioned funds, World Service is the financial
lifeline to a long list of Christian mission and ministry throughout
the denomination. Ethnic Local Church grants are funded by World
Service. By supporting the World Service Fund, congregations play a part in making sure God’s work in the world is done.
*Giles is a freelance writer and producer based in Nashville, Tenn.
News media contact: Barbara Dunlap-Berg, Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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