The book of Lamentations might not be on the top of your reading list, but its lessons need to be heeded. The essence of the book can be found in Lamentations 1:16: “No one is near to comfort me, no one to restore my spirit.” Lament is a part of our faith journey – you would be hard pressed to find a major biblical character who did not go through it.
Lament wrestles with the tension between earthly reality and kingdom pursuit. To lament is to admit we don’t have all the answers. It is the art of deep disappointment. I’m not talking about disappointment because your favorite sports team lost or because it rained most of the time during your vacation. I’m talking about the life situations that, if not dealt with, will lead to despair. By navigating lament, we can transform bad situations into beautiful opportunities.
My lament is decades after President Lyndon Johnson launched the War on Poverty; now there are arguably more poor Americans than ever. According to my research, the number is around 46.5 million, with most being women and children. From all social science indicators, the reality is the plight of under-resourced urban communities is actually trending downward.
The human cost of persistent poverty cannot be calculated. What’s our response? It’s found in Matthew 16:18: “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” The local church is the hope of the world. The best remedy for these communities is to plant disciple-making churches that serve as centers of community compassion and leadership development. This is why we created the area of ministry mobilization at World Impact.
I joined World Impact in July of this year to lead this new ministry area. My job is to oversee the implementation of our ministry focus areas and initiatives. Since then I’ve created a team to achieve results together. Our first steps have been to build relational equity and a common ministry philosophy.
Our strategy is simple. From Newark to Los Angeles our goal is to develop a pipeline of indigenous urban leaders, helping them become everything they can be. Our mobilization team recruits, selects, grows, multiplies, and sustains them.
We think God will use this leadership network to spark a movement of change within some of America’s most impoverished cities. My hope is you will lament with me, and join us to help break the vicious cycle of generational poverty through the power of Spirit-filled urban leadership.
